M-16 nail gun
DeWalt's lineup of quality powertools just got some shock and awe with this brand-colored M16 "nail gun," the spectacular creation of David Wiggins.
I’d just picked up a new (to me) M-16 and was in the process of fixing it up a little. It needed new furniture anyway, so I sourced the safety yellow stock, guard, and grip. Then, I went down to the DeWalt factory service place a few miles from the house to get a sticker. There, I saw they had brand new battery casings, so I picked up one of those too. I got home, found a short magazine , and got to work
The battery-cum-magazine is lovely:
Here's an alternative offered by a commenter at its Toolmonger thread:
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Unless that guy has a Class III license, it's actually an AR-15. The difference is that the AR-15 is semi-automatic (one shot per pull of the trigger) and the M-16 is capable of fully automatic fire. When you have the collapsible stock and short barrel, it's closer to what the military calls the M4.
Whatever it is, it's a fun concept.
"Unless that guy has a Class III license, it's actually an AR-15."
One of the other close-ups at Toolmonger shows a selective-fire switch on the left side of the receiver.
@1: you mean I can't get an automatic nail gun?! Curse those meddling bureaucrats!
Sorry, it says here you are insane.
That limits you to three automatic nail guns or less...
Looks like an M-16. Or it might be an M4/M4A1. Check out this pic from toolmonger.
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/Dewalt-16Selector.jpg
Rock and roll!
The Weird Technology panel at HOPE Number Six (The Last HOPE starts this Friday, btw) explained how powder-driven nail guns (e.g. Hilti) are really just retrofit from the path-dependency of firearm development. They really are just guns where the bullets have been replaced by nails; they use the same standard caliber sizes and everything.
This was also showcased in The Wire when Snoop buys a nailgun.
"...and the M-16 is capable of fully automatic fire."
Actually, no it's not. It has three round burst, single fire, and safety. That's it, no full auto. They got rid of full auto after Vietnam. Soldiers were wasting too much ammo by firing willy nilly. Three round burst allows you to keep your target sighted while firing quickly enough. And yes, it's more of an M-4 than an M-16 anyway.
I don't know about y'all, but I prefer Milwaukee over DeWalt myself. Course, these days they might all be the same underneath.
I think there's a little "play" going on here with regard to AR-15/M-16.
(Referencing the picture #5 posted)
1.) There is an engraved "ROCK AND ROLL" but there is no sign of whatever would have previously been engraved there for 3-round burst
2.) On the left hand edge of the picture, on the lower receiver, you can see "-15", in approximately the right place for the model designation to be engraved.
Now, I don't have my rifle handy, as I'm at work, but I'd say it's more likely that he mocked up a selector switch that's "not useful" for the purposes of the photos, so that he could have it point in the opposite direction of "safe" to where he had engraved "rock and roll", but that this is still just an AR-15.
Doesn't make the mod any less cool, but just saying....
safety selector photo of a normal m16
"Now, I don't have my rifle handy, as I'm at work"
This might be the closest we get to a sane American for some time - elect them president quick. (I jest)
If you look right above the word "fire" you will see a pin that is only present on a M16/M4. It is the pin that hold the the auto-sear in place.
The pin is not present on a AR15 unless it is a pre-1986 conversion to a M16. The selector switch on a AR15 doesn't go the 3rd position unless you install several full auto components.
Well, if we want to be technical about fully-automatic fire, the M16, M16A1, and the M16A3 are all capable of full-auto. The M16A2 and the M16A4 are the ones with a three-round burst setting...
They didn't get rid of the full-auto M16 after Vietnam. I was rocking an M16A1 (made by GM Hydramatic Division! - I remember it quite well) in Basic Training/AIT in 1988/89.
Also, we had the later M16A2s that were full auto up to where I got out in 1996 - US Army Reserve unit in Michigan.
M16 = meh . . .. I liked the M60 7.62 machine gun mo' better. :)
Well, if we want to be technical
As if you have to ask...
If you follow the links, you'll find out exactly what gun it is!
Hey, I know the guy who owns the Milwaukee AR!
Why does the post title say nail gun? Its clearly still a full functioning fire arm.
So is this what military contractors use?
A friend who was in ROTC in the early 1980s used an M16 that said Matel on it, they made some of the plastic parts for the early ones.
This is what Chris and Snoop needed on The Wire.
I guess you'd need to be German -- or at least speak it -- to appreciate that I think modifying the sticker to read GeWalt would have been funnier...
Who doesn't have a Class III Federal Firearms License????
OK, guys, I know everyone loves to know everything about guns but it's not an M4, it's not an M16, it's not an AR-15... It is a NAIL GUN.
Nope, not a nail gun. Follow the link over to Toolmonger and the actual owner discusses his rifle and why and how he modded it the way he did.
That's a full auto lower with a permanently installed sear. You can see the sear's pivot pin yourselves in the photo
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/Dewalt-16Selector.jpg
the pin is right above the "FIRE" selection. If this were an AR (semi-auto) selector it also would not be able to be moved all the way forward into the "FULL AUTO" position as it is in this picture.
"Nope, not a nail gun. "
Of course it's not a real fucking nailgun.
and so the tiny flake of snow wanting only to fall and be seen for what it is, sets off an avalanche down the back side of the hill.
I think the gun thingy painted like a dewalt tool thingy is clever & neat...
All the M-16A1 rifles I was issued in the army (1983-86)were fully automatic. Three round bursts were a bit of a trick. It was a matter of good reflexes and only pulling the trigger very briefly.
It's not whether an AR-15/M-16 variant is fully automatic or not that determines the model number. The fully-auto carbine version of the M-16 used by some select units in Vietnam (very similar to today's M-4) was called the CAR-15. Colt names it one thing, the military another, Bushmaster another, etc... And obviously the US isn't the only country using M-16 variants; making the name-game even more ridiculous. There are fully-auto AR-15s and semi-auto only M-16s. (Don't forget that the M-16 is also an anti-personnel mine currently in the US inventory.)
Whatever - Kudos to some creative custom firearms work!
Quote:
"Nope, not a nail gun. "
Of course it's not a real fucking nailgun.
Rob B.
My comment was for the benefit of Lobster in comment #24, who didn't read the post or comments very carefully.
I think I'd be more impressed if it was a nail gun that looked like a rifle. Better pun.
gun nuts scare me.
That's unfair. I'll rephrase it and say that gun fanatics scare me. Of all the things to get excited, why guns?