@PhenomX6 @LukeAlmighty @Curvin @nugger There were high end home made guns in the 1700s. I watched Mac 10s be made in a garage (home machine shop, small mill, sheet metal bender, lathe) in the 1970 once. A very good local gunsmith known for high end custom rifles was asked how hard it would be, he studied it, and knocked one out in an evening that worked quite well.
"Out of the more than 300,000 long arms used by the American line troops during the War for Independence, probably in excess of 80,000 were the products of America’s scattered gunsmiths using mixed components."
27% of the guns that were needed to form this country were made at home. There would not be a United States if it wasn't for "ghost guns." They have existed longer than this nation has.
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2010/3/29/american-made-muskets-in-the-revolutionary-war/