Can I break down a weapon into mods (not junk)?

Let's say I have 10mm pistol. Can I break it down so I'm left with no pistol, and a [barrel, magazine, sight, grip] etc?

I ask because I'm finding myself in the early game with mods across 3-4 pistols that I'd like to combine into one, but I lack the extra junk/spare mods to swap things around.

Solution 1:

It's not possible to do this without any component cost. Scrapping a weapon destroys its mods.

But it shouldn't take long to find a few spare weapons, break them down, and make enough components for a swap at a relatively low component cost. If you can manage to afford the Level 1 Scrapper perk this gets even easier.

It sounds like you might know how to do this already, but in case it helps you or others—let's say you have a Powerful Receiver mod on pistol A, and you want to move it to pistol B.

1. At the weapons workbench, select Pistol A, select the Standard Receiver mod, then choose Build. Though this isn't free, it's really pretty component-cheap.
2. Look in your inventory to confirm. You should see a Powerful Receiver mod in the Mods inventory tab. This mod is now available to apply to other pistols.
3. At the crafting bench, choose Pistol B and navigate to the Powerful Receiver mod. Since you already have one, instead of Build you'll see an option to Attach.

Solution 2:

You cant completely disassemble a weapon. You must be able to have enough mats to replace the mod with the base option at a minimum.