Full-time carer Ryan John Huie jailed over construction site nail gun modified, by him and his grandfather, to fire rifle bullets

He spent his days caring for his grandmother, but an Adelaide man is now serving time thanks to his grandfather’s legacy – a homemade firearm in the ceiling.

A man has been jailed over a homemade Winchester-style rifle – which he and his late grandfather had crafted out of an ordinary nail gun – hidden in his ceiling.

Ryan John Huie was serving as a full-time carer for his grandmother, who had dementia and declining physical health, when police found the weapon in November 2019.

In sentencing remarks published online, District Court Judge Julie McIntyre said Huie told police he had “forgotten about” the gun – but she had “some difficulty” accepting that.

“It was in an easily accessible area close to the manhole and not hidden in any way,” she said.

“You told the police that you and your grandfather had modified the tool as a project together over 20 years ago (and that he) had told you to grab it if you needed it.

“Even if you had not intended to use it for an illicit purpose, there is a market for unrecorded firearms such as this to be used for criminal purposes had it come to the attention of criminals.”

Huie, 40, pleaded guilty to possessing a prescribed firearm without a licence and to five breaches of bail.

He was on bail for an unrelated firearms matter – of which he was later acquitted – when police found the silver, cylindrical weapon laying atop his ceiling insulation.

The Ausmark model 3.1 powder actuated tool was converted to a gun.

In sentencing, Judge McIntyre said the gun was originally an Ausmark model 3.1 powder actuated tool – used, on building sites, to drive nails into steel or concrete.

The tool uses a controlled explosion of a small chemical propellant charge to do its work, but Huie and his grandfather had “modified” it to “discharge .22 long rim-fire cartridges”.

“A Winchester cartridge was located in the firearm … it had been discharged, leaving only a spent casing within the chamber,” she said.

She said prosecutors did not allege any connection between the gun and Huie’s methylamphetamine use, nor his “former involvement in an outlaw motorcycle gang”.

“This would not have been an particularly effective weapon given that it only fires one bullet at a time and reloading would be slow (and) unwieldy,” she said.

“Further, it would be inaccurate as there is no rifling in the chamber.

“Nonetheless, it is still a weapon that could inflict harm or be used to threaten harm and you ought not to have had it.”

Judge McIntyre said neither Huie’s recent poor health, nor his grief over his grandmother’s death earlier this year, warranted suspension of his sentence.

She jailed him for 17 months, with a nine-month non-parole period.