some questions about production

[Choscura]

okay, I've been doing my homework for myself and a friend of mine that wants to set up a gun company. don't worry about legalities, we're talking to lawyers/etc and all this, this is simply physical production methods.

I understand basically how button rifling works and how hammer forging works, but once you've done that, how do you line a barrel with chrome or mollycoat? how do you taper a rifle barrel? how do you attach a barrel to a trunnion (as in an AK) or to the reciever (as in an AR)?

in a rotating bolt configuration gun (semi auto), how thick should the locking mechanism be on a bolt? how thick should the bolt be around the base of a cartridge to prevent too much swelling/damage to the bolt?

now for the show and tell bit, the gun that we're looking at producing is my personal design, it's a bull-pup configured carbine that shoots the 9mm steyr cartridge and is blowback operated (convertable to gas operated/rotating bolt, which will be the second production of the gun, and- get this- all parts will be interchangeable). the design I've got currently would make it entirely immune to slam firing because of a detail of the trigger assembly.

thanks for any help.

[lefty o]

slamfiring generally has very little to do with the trigger mechanism of a gun.
most gun companies (other than the old big ones) buy their barrels from a barrel manufacturer. if you seriously believe you have a workable design, and are asking questions like how thick the bolt should be, you need to hire a mechanical engineer who knows something about mettalurgy. bolt thickness is going to vary depending on which alloy of steel it is made out of, and how it has been heat treated.

[Choscura]

okay, where do I find a mechanical engineer?

[Snakebite]

NASA has a few. Maybe you could hire them on weekends.

[SPOCAHP ANAR]

You should take a gunsmith course! Some of the local Techs offer engineering courses in metallurgy. Take it.

[BattleRifleG3]

I'm a mechanical engineer. What you're asking for are serious calculations that affect a person's health and safety.

There are engineers and there are lisenced P.E.s. I'm the former, looking to become the latter. It takes several years of work in the field to be eligible to take the PE test and get a lisence as well as the endorsement of four current PEs.

The way licensed and non-licensed engineers would work together is that the non-licensed engineer would do work that the PE would then sign off on. This includes calculations, drawings, proposals, etc.

What you would need is to either hire at least one PE to your staff or make arrangements with a self-employed PE as a consultant.