[elmer fudd]

I think that full auto conversion is probably a little beyond the capabilities of your average street punk, but it is something someone of average intelligence with a decent home workshop could accomplish. Generally it involves blocking the sear that catches the hammer after each pull of the trigger, (something that is very easily done). It gets more complicated though because if that is all you do the cyclic rate will often be too high and cartridges will not have time to fully seat in the chamber before the hammer is released, resulting in jams, stoppages and loss of eyes and other body parts.

Getting beyond the simple mechanics of creating a full auto weapon though, what is being overlooked is that they aren't really that effective unless you're talking about belt fed machineguns. Submachineguns or select fire assault rifles aren't significantly more deadly than their semi-auto siblings. It's all a myth perpetrated by Hollywood.

[A Strict Constructionist]

And if I remember correctly, most full auto versions fire from and open bolt configuration where semi-auto's use a closed and locked configuration

[jaydubya2]

"Submachineguns or select fire assault rifles aren't significantly more deadly than their semi-auto siblings. It's all a myth perpetrated by Hollywood."

I agree with you there. I've never fired a full auto, but I would imagine a shoulder fired full auto would be much harder to control and have a lower round to hit ratio than a semi. I've played enough first person shooter games to know your get more kills by aiming carefully, fire, then move to next target. Instead of spraying the entire area.