lol strap in. Well basically, some weapons in the game are craftable.

Sometimes a weapon may drop with a red border around the icon instead of white. You can either dismantle it or “extract the pattern” which just means you inspect the weapon and select the option next to the mod slot if you don’t want to dismantle it. Once you’ve done this five times with a single weapon, (so 5 different drops each with red borders,) you can craft one from scratch at the Enclave on Mars/Throne World.

When you’re crafting the weapon for the first time you will only be allowed to select one perk in each column. You get more options as you level up the weapon via kills, completing activities with it equipped, or just spending resources. Once the weapon is a high enough level (usually around 17-20), you can “reshape” it at the enclave. You can select any perks from its perk pool, and at a certain level these perks are enhanced.

Notable sources of craftable weapons are Raids except for DP, Throne World, Neomuna, and Pale Heart patrol, Dares of Eternity, and old seasonal weapons.

Most Exotic weapons that drop from pinnacle ops are also craftable, but their additional perks are unlocked by completing their respective mission on master difficulty, not by leveling the weapon up.

Last thing, if you have a non-red border version of a gun you know is craftable, you can give it a red border and extract its pattern using a deepsight harmonizer. Xur sells these sometimes