Legal Loophole Allows New Belt-Fed AR-15 That Sprays Bullets Like a Machine Gun

[krispos42]

16. Technical analysis:

I've seen these kinds of stocks advertised recently in the two advertiser-supported gun magazines I subscribe to. What it is is a "bump-fire" stock.

"Bump-firing" has been around for a while; it's done with a semiautomatic long gun. By sticking your thumb or finger through the trigger guard, then hooking it into your belt loop or pocket, you can then use your other hand to pull the gun forward. As you pull the gun forward, it goes off and recoils backwards, resetting the trigger. Because you are still pulling forward, the recoil is quickly absorbed and the gun moves forward again, and the cycle repeats until the gun is empty.

This brief video (39 seconds) shows how it is done. An AR-15 is shown, but it can be done with pretty much any semi-auto rifle or shotgun.

Here's how the "Slide Fire" stock works. Yeah, it's an ad for the company, but it's short and to the point. You can google for others if you wish.

As you can see, the entire gun, except for the pistol grip and buttstock, is spring-loaded, allowing the receiver and barrel to rock back and forth each time the gun discharges. It's aimed bump fire.



Now, what we're seeing here is the confluence of two separate technologies: the concept of belt-fed guns, which goes back over a century, and bump-firing, which probably goes back about 70 years.


Reloading: compared to guns that feed from a magazine, belt-fed guns take longer to reload. First, the old belt box has to be removed and a new one inserted. The gun has to be opened up, the top of the belt grabbed, and the belt fed in; it's probably a two-handed operation and requires putting the gun on a table or something else solid. Then you have to release the action to chamber a round.

This compares to a regular magazine, which requires pressing the magazine release. The magazine then falls out unassisted. A new magazine is pushed up into the magazine well, and the action is then released to chamber a round. This can be done in a couple of seconds, and one-handed, without letting go of the gun.