2. How does a semi-automatic gun work? A semi-automatic gun uses the energy from the fired cartridge to eject the spent round and load a new one, readying the gun to fire again. The AR-15 full auto works by utilizing a gas piston system to cycle rounds through the firearm automatically. When the trigger is pressed and held, the recoil from the fired round pushes the bolt carrier group back, extracting and ejecting the spent casing while loading a fresh round from the magazine into the chamber, allowing for continuous firing as long as the trigger is depressed. News4’s Paul Wagner reports. D.C. police are becoming increasingly alarmed over an illegal device called a giggle switch that can turn a semiautomatic pistol into a fully automatic machine gun Machine guns, as defined by the ATF are weapons that fire more than one round per pull of the trigger. This includes burst fire weapons as well. This also includes devices that can be used to convert a gun to fully automatic. This devices are regulated and treated like just like a standard machine gun. Before we delve into that, let’s do a quick refresher on how hammer-fired guns work in general. Hammer-fired actions perform as the name suggests. When a hammer-fired semi-automatic gun is cocked a spring is compressed. As the trigger is pulled that spring moves the hammer, rotating it forward. The battery powers the internal motor of the gun, which then transmits to a gearbox with 3 gears inside it to pull back a piston which compresses air and propels the BB out of the gun. Electric airsoft guns can shoot both automatically and semi-automatically. They may even have the option for a 3-round burst. In fully automatic mode the Glock 18 has a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. While the Glock 17’s recoil is very manageable, a rate of fire for 1,200 rounds a minute was something else It has a long pull because it requires two actions to fire. The first action cocks the gun and the second fires the gun. The double-action trigger exists primarily for safety reasons. It takes a lot of effort to complete the pull (though, you should still follow gun safety rules and keep the safety on if the gun has one). OPCk2Ry.