Nivell Rayda – The roads of Cipacing in West Java are lined with small shops selling air guns. But behind closed doors in Indonesia's "air rifle capital" a dangerous trade is taking place in real firearms.

People involved in the business say the air rifles manufactured in the area could no longer compete with the influx of imported airsoft guns.

When a Jakarta Globe reporter visited – without revealing his identity – some air rifle shops were seen selling handcrafted souvenir rifles. Others were offering real firearms to whoever had the money.

Usman, not his real name, a 64-year-old fourth-generation gunsmith, is one of those involved in the illicit trade.

"Producing firearms is actually more straightforward than producing air rifles," he said. "There are fewer parts involved. But it's the danger of getting caught that slows the process down."

Usman said Cipacing-made pistols can cost as little as Rp 2.5 million ($285), far cheaper than real handguns that sell for as much as Rp 15 million on the black market.

"I can make knockoffs of just about any model. Just give me a drawing or a picture and I'll make it for you," he said.

"I personally don't care who buys my guns. If they use them for protection that is good, but if they use them to do bad things it is OK, too. It all comes down to the individual person. Just like a knife, you can use it to put food on the table or use it to kill someone."

Experts say these homemade guns – from Cipacing and areas in Lampung and Central Java – are of poor quality.

"The hardest part to produce is the barrel," weapons expert Suryo Guritno told the Globe.

"Metal alloys specifically designed to withstand the heat and explosion of firearms are not produced by local steel manufacturers," he said, adding that barrels produced by state-owned Pindad are also of low quality.

"Most of the barrels produced by these gunsmiths use the same materials as the air rifles. That is why there are numerous cases of homemade guns misfiring, injuring the shooters."

Arms dealer Gatot, not his real name, said complicated mathematical equations were used to produce the right twist rate for the barrels' grooves, better known as rifling.

"It all comes down to the type of caliber used, how long the barrels are and how much the projectile weighs," he said.

He said he gave sample pistols to gunsmiths to copy. "But even then, there's the metal itself, because they use materials not designed to fire live bullets. I'd say most of the barrels can only fire up to 10 times before they become deformed and lose accuracy."

Taufik Andrie, research director at the Institute for International Peace Building, said private gunsmiths also cannibalized seized weapons.

"Sometimes officials only destroy the handle, keeping the barrels intact," he said. "One rifle barrel can also be cut in half and sold to make homemade pistols. It is easy to smuggle a barrel from the police warehouse because it looks just any other metal tube."

But he said the homemade gun industry in Indonesia was not as big as it used to be. "If Indonesia had a conflict area like the Philippines or southern Thailand, demand for these types of weapons would be high and of course the skills of the gunsmiths would eventually get better."

But Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurullah, chief of police in Sumedang, West Java, said gunsmiths in Cipacing no longer produced firearms.

"The industry is no longer dangerous, unlike in 1998 to 2000 when we saw a lot of sectarian conflict across the country," he said. "At that time, there were a lot of people who produced firearms. Now, most of the skilled gunsmiths have either died or have been arrested."

But he said the police still kept an eye on the town's gunsmiths. "Over time they will acquire the same knowledge as their predecessors."