Have you ever seen something in the gun industry that gives you the Forrest Whittaker eye?
Well, I have, and a lot of it. For some reason, the gun industry attracts a lot of different types of people, and a lot of bad ideas.
Some are illegal.
Some are purely unsafe.
Some are just so utterly dumb you can’t figure out the why.
I’ve gathered ten of the world’s worst gun ideas to share with you fine folks. I do recommend cracking a cold one as you read this because you might just need it by the end.
1. Most Homemade Suppressors
Listen, if you have the time, skill, and experience, you can build a decent homemade suppressor.
There are 80% style kits and similar devices that allow you to easily Form 1 a can and make it yourself. We aren’t talking about those kits, no today we are talking about the million and one ways people try to turn random items into suppressors.
It’s almost fudd lore at this point that attaching a soda bottle or the nipple from a baby’s bottle or even a bloody potato will make your weapon suppressed.
These are all terrible ideas and likely illegal.
Although I believe they have to actually lower the volume of the gunshot to count as a suppressor, so who knows.
Suppressors constructed from junk around the house is a bad idea for so many reasons. Try to remember you care attaching a device to the end of a device that creates explosions. There is not a lot of leeway in the Oops department if you want your barrel to not explode.
Those cool manuals for Paladin press that promise to teach you everything from how to steal a plane to make a suppressor are labeled as entertainment.
Not just to avoid the responsibility and lawsuits, but because their homemade suppressor isn’t going to work.
If you want a homemade suppressor, check out Super Precision Concepts; they can get you started making a real and legal, homemade suppressor.
2. Solvent Trap Kit
On the topic of homemade suppressors, let’s take a moment to talk solvent trap kits.
The idea behind a solvent trap is that you attach a container to the end of your barrel to catch solvents as you clean your weapon. This mess-saving design seems largely innocent, and when used as described, you aren’t doing anything wrong.
The most common solvent trap kits use fuel filters. Fuel filters supposedly make great suppressors!
So if you have a fuel filter attached to your gun with a Solvent trap adapter, you can shoot a hole through and have a cheap suppressor, right?
Well, not, not really. A fuel filter really isn’t that great as a suppressor. I hate the NFA but violating it for a subpar experience just isn’t worth the risk.
It works-ish from the few videos I’ve seen of registered fuel filters, but nowhere near as well as a real can.
There was a time when these Solvent Trap Kits had a degree of plausible deniability to them. These days they’ve gotten just plain ridiculous. They look and act like suppressors, and we know that the ATF can get records quite effectively of who ordered what, so playing this game is a good way to lose your gun rights.
Instead of spending the money on a Solvent Trap Kit, consider donating that money to the American Suppressor Association. They are trying to deregulate suppressors and remove them from the NFA.
3. Glock Auto Sears from China
I get it, I really do. Do you know how much fun a full-auto Glock 18 would be? It would be an insane machine pistol that goes BRRRAPPPP.
Lots of people understand this, and lamely enough, the Hughes Amendment prohibits the creation of new machine guns for private-public consumption. Like every other NFA law, this is a direct infringement on your 2nd Amendment rights. People want machine guns, enough so that they order pieces off of sketchy websites to build their own.
One such popular piece is the Glock auto sear.
This drop-in component makes it effortless to make your Glock a machine pistol. These auto sears are mostly coming in from China and are mostly for sale in the shadier parts of the internet.
You know, like Amazon.
Seriously, they’ve been on Amazon for sale before, advertised as airsoft kits. That’s actually a common means to advertise these kits, and just so you know, no one is falling for it.
The ATF has been tracking buyers of these kits down and making arrests on a semi-frequent basis. If you are going to play around with machine guns, then you need to know the law and how to stay inside the law. If not, ten years in Club Fed most certainly awaits you.
4. Trigger Activated Lights and Lasers
My first SHOT Show experience was in 2016, and there I saw something that set a standard for stupid and unsafe products. Stupid is a term that can be applied to a great many things at SHOT Show, but Trigger Point products take the cake.
I was pleasantly surprised that their website is still up, so you can verify this technology for yourself. Trigger Point is a company that creates lights and lasers that are activated by touching the trigger. The goal, according to their website, is to reduce the reaction time of a shooter.
They want you to activate your light, which is used to identify a threat, by putting your finger on the trigger. What if it’s not a threat? Well, then you are pointing your weapon, with your finger on the trigger, at an innocent person.
If you are new here, you may not realize that this violates basic firearms safety. You are not supposed to place your finger on your trigger until you are ready to fire. You don’t place your finger on the trigger to shine a light at something.
They make these trigger activated systems for both AR rifles and Glock style pistols. They use fun to talk like Tier One Operators and brag about shaving up to half a second off a reaction time. Do you know what shaves off reaction time?
Just firing a machine wildly as you enter a room, that doesn’t make it a valid tactic. Things like this are why I drink.
5. Grip and Mag Knife
One hill I am willing to die on is that there is only one place where you should attach a knife to a gun, and that’s off the barrel. Bayonets are acceptable, and that’s it. Well, rifle bayonets are acceptable, pistol bayonets are the big lame.
There is an obsession with attaching knives to guns, and I get it. Gun Kata is cool as well, and to properly have some gun kata, and you have to have tons of melee attacks. Melee attacks look cooler with knives, right?
This ain’t a mid-2000s sci-fi flick with the third-best Batman. Stop trying to attach knives to guns in a way that’s not a bayonet. Grip Knife is one of the more popular and still in business companies try to stick a knife onto a gun.
Their version is an OTF knife that acts as a foregrip until you need a knife, and then its a knife. You can grip and rip the blade and start poking, you know, in case you need to use lethal force, but don’t want to shoot your gun, I guess.
Manly MBX DED Blade (and not so DED Blade) is a magazine baseplate with a knife built into it. So when you pistol-whip someone, you are stabbing them too.
Mag Knife is surprisingly still around and for sale at Blade HQ for almost 300 bucks for the complete package. The complete package even includes a training blade for all the practice you’ll get using your gun as an edged weapon.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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Stop. Just Stop it.
6. WASP Personal Defense Weapon Accessory
Want to take your completely deadly and efficient Glock pistol and make it a less-lethal weapon? No, you don’t because you are a normal person with a normal gun. The WASP is a supposed nonlethal self-defense tool that fits onto the front of your handgun.
The WASP fires a baton that is supposed to provide a nonlethal alternative. The Baton is fired with a live round from your gun. Think about that for a second.
You want me to fire a live round and call it less lethal? What if the Baton fails to stop the round? This is a seriously dumb idea.
The WASP makes lots of big claims, including that the WASP baton has more’ stopping power’ than a real bullet. The WASP will avoid the tragedy of accidental shootings too! That’s a claim the company makes on its website.
This is the most unsafe less-lethal weapon ever. Have you ever seen an orange adorned shotgun used by police? That’s a real shotgun, but its role is a non-lethal shotgun.
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It’s painted orange because it’s forbidden to use live rounds in because police forces wanted to ensure no lethal ammo would ever end up in a non-lethal shotgun.
The WASP says to hell with being careful, stick live lethal rounds in your gun and attach a baton to it!
7. Tufforce Muzzle Brake
I’ve talked about this thing before and will continue to talk about it until the website stops existing. The Tufforce muzzle brake is a muzzle device covered in Picatinny rails. Because you totally want to attach things to a muzzle device.
You know, lights, lasers, sights, and more. Those are things you should most certainly attach to your muzzle brake. Along the side of the muzzle brake is four ports that totally won’t blow accessories off the side of the brake.
You think I’m exaggerating, but this is a direct copy/paster from the company’s website.
Five slots on rail, 65mm length give you 4 bases to connect foldable front sight, laser sight, Dot sight, flashlight…
Yep, they are serious about this thing. The Tufforce Muzzle Brake is apparently patented because someone dumber will try to rip the design off surely. There is literally no reason to even use this device.
Even if the idea wasn’t so utterly ridiculous, mounting a front sight or laser/light to the end of your barrel is an ergonomic nightmare. Reaching the controls for a light and laser is near impossible. Trying to use a folding front sight would be impossible since the front sight would be on a much lower plane than the rear sight.
Prices accurate at time of writing
Prices accurate at time of writing
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Everything about this is dumb.
8. Anything that Attaches a Gun to a Gun
The need to attach a gun to a gun is one that won’t go away. There are multiple companies trying to do this, and I don’t understand why this won’t die? There is only one acceptable time in which you should attach a gun to a gun, and that’s the Predator-approved KAC Masterkey system.
Other than that, the idea is silly but prevalent. There is a silly clamp that attaches a Glock to the rail of your AR 15. It turns your Glock into a foregrip that also fires bullets. FAB Defense has an even crazier device that does the same thing but in a much more convoluted and stupid way.
Let’s not forget the USFA Zip, which had a clamp system that allowed you to attach your unreliable 22 LR pistol to another, much more reliable gun.
This whole idea is stupid. Why do I need a gun attached to my gun? Why is the idea so prevalent I knew of three different ways to do it without even having to Google it?
There is no reason to attach a Glock to a AR 15, and vice versa. It’s silly, and I really just don’t understand the fascination with it. Also, doing so adds a stock to your pistol, meaning you have to tax stamp it.
The whole idea is ridiculous and silly.
9. PSE TAC 15
I don’t know a lot about archery or crossbows, but I do know turning a AR 15 into a crossbow is stupid.
I remember seeing advertisements for this Crossbow upper receiver in every gun mag out there in the 2008-2009ish timeline. Even then, when I knew nothing, I thought, why?
Is it for hunting? If so, why not just get a dedicated crossbow? The PSE TAC 15 wasn’t a cheap option and sold for over a grand, and you still had to provide your own AR 15 lower.
I can’t see a reason to convert my AR 15 to a crossbow, and likely not many other people did either. The PSE TAC 15 was discontinued, and a lot of people don’t believe me that this thing existed at one point or another.
The PSE TAC 15 was apparently a powerful crossbow, and I guess if you really like AR 15 controls, then this was for you. The thing is, a regular AR 15 is, um, well… way more powerful and has substantially more range, and you can buy a KAC upper for the price of a crossbow upper.
10. Pretty Much Any Accessory from Wish.com
Let’s finish it off with the best worst place to buy your firearm’s accessories, Wish.com. Wish.com is the company who single handily props up the fake optics, lights, and laser industry. From fake ACOGs to fake Surefire’s Wish.com has it all.
I expected that when searching Wish for this article, what I was shocked by was the presence of a ton of other firearms gear outside of fake electronics. This includes lower parts kits, rails, scope mounts, pistol grips, and so much more.
Just don’t buy any of it. It’s terrible, awful, and will fall apart. The guys at Recoil built a rifle off of Wish gear, and surprisingly it worked 50% of the time. I get the need to save a few bucks, but you’re not doing that here.
You’re not saving money; you are just throwing it away.
Bad Ideas Are Contagious
As long as the gun industry exists, there will be a cancerous tumor of bad ideas within it. I don’t think the gun industry is unique in the bad idea department. It’s just that the bad ideas involve guns.
Guns are dangerous, controllable explosion causing devices that don’t give room for error. Also, there is a maze of gun laws to navigate with no wiggle room and stiff penalties for compliance failures.
These are the worst gun ideas I’ve ever seen, but what have you seen? Let us know below. How about some better ideas, like the Best AR-15 Upgrades and Best Glock Upgrades articles.
19 Leave a Reply
I can understand the reason for avoiding Wish for accessories, and generally I do, there are two however that I did get mainly due to cost. A fold down rear Picatinny sight, and an attachable shell catcher, neither of which is a truly essential component, and both were under $20. They worked. Anything else, I agree, it is better to buy quality and use some common sense. Unfortunately it seems that some people were born without the latter.
Enjoyed the article.
Pse tac 15, at the time was one of the more powerful crossbows on the market. People made longer distance point of aim point of impact hits than the competition. Ratings for it as I recall were great and people made comparison videos that really kicked ass. So I'm confused to why this was a bad option. Especially for the hunting market..
You forgot “battleworn” finishes .
No chainsaw or battle ax bayonets
I want the WASP! In fact, I'll take 20 of the units. I'm so tired of everyone trying to get through this life safely. Can you imagine the fun to be had at weddings, baby showers, retirement and barracks parties if you would have multiples of the WASP and Lawn Darts?
Just my 2 cents:
1: I get holding a knife, partially a double edge karambit in your support hand while carrying a pistol in close range encounters. I wouldn’t advocate mounting it to the firearm but I understand the utility of having a knife in ones support hand if someone try’s to disarm you.
2: I also understand the urge to mount either a shotgun or a less lethal device like a pepper ball gun or something launching beanbags.
Respectfully, both make sense to me.
PT BARNUM said ( I Think )? There is a sucker born everyday. Well, whatever.Stupid people do stupid things!!
Did you do any research into form 1 cans before you wrote this? Materials and baffles are on par with commercial cans, in most cases less expensive, and the wait time for the tax stamp is a lot shorter.
Did you happen to notice that the vast majority of these "fuel filter" kits for you to Form 1 a DIY can (ALL the "less expensive" ones) have the baffles made of ALUMINUM?
Especially interesting are the ones advertised as "Titanium" where the only actual titanium is a fraction of a percent of the black pigment in the paint used to paint the aluminum black.
Actually they are pretty much fine for a .22LR. And if you drill the hole oversize they are even OK for a .380 or 9MAK. But please let me watch (from a safe distance) the first time you try a mag dump with one in 5.56NATO or (OMG) 7.62NATO.
Deeply grateful for the laughter!
I’m 63 and still don’t know enough about my guns
On election day, this is just the kind of entertainment any competent psychiatrist would order.
What about attaching an M203 to a M4? Don’t see anything wrong with that...
A real M203? Sure thing -- if you can find some company willing to sell to you and don't mind doing the federal licensing and paperwork for each round. You used to be able to buy the 40mm chalk rounds like the military uses for training. But the ATF now considers them "explosives" so you need a Federal Explosives License. Some places decided to sell "disassembled" 40mm practice rounds for about $13 each, provided you buy a box of 25 but those are hard to find. Even the 40mm flares and smoke rounds are hard to come by. Best bet is to get one of the adapters to shoot pistol or shotgun rounds from your 40mm grenade launcher.
A 37mm "Flare Launcher" toy masquerading as an M203? Not so much.
Where is the tac sac?
Let’s not forget bump stocks and their predecessors the Hell-Fire triggers. Binary triggers ride the fence of being useless though I have to admit they are a hoot in a .22 rifle. Foregrip “bipods” aren’t very good as bipods, and I’d rather use an angled foregrip if any than a VFG any day.
Fudd alert.
Turkey alert. Again, people aren’t “Fudds” for recognizing reality. At no point did he suggest that any of the mentioned items should be illegal. You want to waste your money, feel free.
I will say though, VFG vs AFG (or nothing) is all about preference, whenever you can legally choose one or the other. Not being able to put a VFG on a pistol is one of the dumbest restrictions...
Leave wish out of this there damascus blades are the highest quality chinese steel on the market. Lol