Are there any local gunsmith who build guns?

bolus · Feb 16, 2016

I have a Beretta MP12 demilled kit I picked up in a garage sale. After doing research on it for a long time, it does not look like Im going to be able to rebuild it and convert to semi-auto. There was only one place selling receiver blanks for it and they stopped doing business 2 years ago. There are no machine drawings that I can find either. Between the welding and machining tools I would need to attempt it, I dont think Im going to get it done.

I thought of seeing if a gunsmith could build it for me, though with the prices of custom build one off guns out there I might not be able to afford that either. But it may be worth a try.

Otherwise I'll probably sell it. I've seen the magazines sell for more than I bought the entire kit and it came with 2 magazines and an intact barrel

m12_is_a_elegant_but_complex_design_using_more_than_80_parts.jpg

Velzey · Feb 16, 2016

I've looked at them for awhile.. Fires from an open bolt, that's quite the conversion. Would need the stock welded open, 16"bbl installed..
Ruined it for me.

bolus · Feb 17, 2016

LOL, I emailed Beretta not expecting much. I was hoping they had at least a schematic to look at. Their reply was "we cant possibly help you because Italy considers that firearm a 'weapon of war'. But send us pics if you get it made"

cooper · Sep 21, 2016

Shot one of those last arpc auto shoot . I was just happy to handle one....cool look....ran kinda clunky. Iconic lookie loo for me .

wired · Sep 21, 2016

A moderately good welder fabricator could put it together with a internal rail to prevent the insertion of the original bolt and then mill out the original to accept a floating firing pin. Then you could rig up a AR trigger set , or maybe an HK trigger set or something similar looking at the lower housing. It would take more hours than you'd want to pay for. I could do it but so could a lot of guys . You'd probably have 40 hours into it or more. Its more of a labor of love than something you'd want to pay someone else to build for you. No reason to weld the stock open because by the time you get it all together most of the obligatory parts are going to be "US Made" anyway if you care about 922r compliance. Thats one you'd want to build as a closed bolt semi SBR.

Baseacegoku · Oct 4, 2016

I am probably completely wrong but cant you do the paperwork and file a form 4 to register that as a machine gun and build it back to its original form?

wired · Oct 4, 2016

If it was 1985 you could do it on a form 1. That ship has sailed. Thanks Ronald Reagan.

No , you cant build it on a form anything unless you are a licensed 02/07 Manufacturer and even then it would be a "post may '86" dealer sample that could only be transferred to other dealers on a LEO sample letter. Cost to be a 02/07 is now around $3500 a year with ITAR state dept fees.

Baseacegoku · Oct 4, 2016

wired said:
If it was 1985 you could do it on a form 1. That ship has sailed. Thanks Ronald Reagan.

No , you cant build it on a form anything unless you are a licensed 02/07 Manufacturer and even then it would be a "post may '86" dealer sample that could only be transferred to other dealers on a LEO sample letter. Cost to be a 02/07 is now around $3500 a year with ITAR state dept fees.

Yup, I was totally wrong

cooper · Oct 4, 2016

So what else did you get at the sale. Does the guy have a sale every year I wanna go. Thats a find.

bolus · Oct 4, 2016

cooper said:
So what else did you get at the sale. Does the guy have a sale every year I wanna go. Thats a find.

It was a local gun smith who was having the garage sale. Unfortunately I learned about it quite late and missed all the good stuff. But this was still there and without doing any research snagged it. I was really hoping there was a community that was still building these kits. There was a company that made a receiver tube with template but they quit selling them.

Some builders have just used a sten semi-auto tube and receiver and then rebuild the m12 receiver around it. So it functions but really has the internals of a sten.

I dont have the ability to complete it and make it semi-auto so I will try and sell it.