HKs are modular. The whole trigger group comes off and is replaceable with a select fire version. This is what I was told. They used to have the trigger groups for sale in gun magazines such as shotgun news to anyone, but it is a felony to put one on your rifle unless your rifle was previously registered as a machine gun. I would expect these parts are no longer available without an FFL or class 3. You also used to be able to buy parts to build suppressors too, but if you bought a complete suppressor, you were breaking the law unless you had the proper license. In fact, just possessing a suppressor would get you a felony. But there’s no law against possessing suppressor parts(that I know of). It took the system a long time to catch up to the laws. I imagine they are all caught up by now.
Got potato? How about a 2 Liter soda jug? So many field expedient solutions to an age old problem. For me Class IIIis fun plain & simple but never a tactical necessity. For up close and personal give me a Benelli M4 and a collapsible stock.
I just had a talk yesterday with a buddy that works on machineguns for these camps where people go to shoot full auto weapons. He tells me you can still buy the parts through catalogs to make things full auto. BUT, the catch is that ever since 911, those orders for those parts are automatically turned over to the ATF. And if your name isn’t on the list of people that legally own full auto firearms, then you might get a visit from your freindly ATF agent. Apparrently it is still legal to own the parts however, it’s just not legal to assemble them into a working full auto weapon.
He told me some other interesting stuff too. For instance, all full auto sub machine guns firing pistol ammo operate by the open bolt principle...save one. THat is the HK MP5. THis is one of the reasons it is easier to convert HKs to full auto. You see, all the other submachine guns are open bolt mechanism unless you buy the civilian semi-auto only version, then they are closed bolt mechanisms. So you cant take the open bolt parts and use them in your closed bolt civilian version. But with the MP5, you can take the full auto closed bolt parts and use them easily in the closed bolt semi auto version.
Apparently, the uzi is such that it is very easy to take the closed bolt civian semi auto only version and convert it to a closed bolt full auto version via hand fabricated parts. The incredible thing about this conversion is that it is actually superior to the military open bolt full auto version. THe reason is that the open bolt design completely sucks if you are trying for an accurate first shot. A closed bolt select fire weapon is the best of both worlds because it has an accurate single shot and also full auto capability. This is exactly why the MP5 is so well regarded.
It seems the uzi is the only one that has this characteristic.