Hi all,

taking a break from the smartgun to concentrate on my pulse rifle.



so far (as you can see) I've removed all of the unused hardware from the Thompson, cut the spas cage to suit the deactivated shotgun and done a test fit.

next thing I need to do is to get the under barrel mount sorted and fix the grenade launcher to it. After this I will need to cut down the overhanging part of the pump tube to suit the cage. all good fun.

the one variation I made to the original parts list was to use a manufrance rapid shotgun instead of the remington 870. I did this on a whim because I could get hold of a deactivated one for £280 rather than the £600+ for an 870. The dimensions looked to be very similar so I took a gamble and it appears to have paid off.

Looking great!! The alternative shotgun seems to fit well.

Thanks, the only worry I have is that the back end of it intrudes a little too much into the cavity where the counter electronics will go. I maybe need to mock up a circuit board from cardboard and see it it'll fit

cheers

An 870 will stick out too, you should be fine

Great build mate

_________________
AKA: Simon

can anyone recommend a preferred way of attaching the launcher to the gun?

my current thinking is to drill and tap the shotgun receiver, screw in threaded rod and then drill holes in the Thompson under barrel block to accommodate this for bolting.

thanks

small update.

trimmed my shotgun up so it will fit inside the cage. Next steps are to attach the pump grip to the pumping arm, looks like welding will be involved....my favourite



slow progress but i'm getting there.

Looking very nice!!

bit more progress tonight.

I decided that with the barrel extension I really want a solid platform to hang the launcher from at the front end. I had been toying with the idea of chopping off the barrel interior to the shroud and then welding a barrel extension back there as I've seen done before.

what I instead thought was that it would be nice to slide an appropriate piece of tube over the original barrel with a view to maintaining the strength and line of the barrel (can't say I would have been able to weld straight anyway)

so here's where I'm at.

barrel end cut off


slide some 20mm x 1.25mm wall thickness steel tube over the end. (the original barrel end was 3/4in (19mm) OD, 3mm wall thickness so it was necessary to cut back to where the taper of the end piece accepts the new tube)


so the plan is to bondo around the join and maintain the taper of the original barrel. not planning on welding the new barrel onto the original at the moment as it seems quite secure without


cheers

Rich

not had a lot of time on this recently and to be honest I've been putting off the scary grenade launcher work.

however I've bitten the bullet and spent a few days in the workshop. First of all most of Saturday and several hours since have led to this.



very little to show for so much work but this represents the back of this project broken.

I found the hand guard to be particularly challenging. I knew it would be tight on the spas cage when the shotgun is in there but I hadn't bargained on how difficult it would be to expand it so that you can rack it. In the end it took a 10 minute soak in near boiling water whilst being wrapped around this.



all in all a few scary days and at one point I thought I'd fully screwed up. managed to bend the circular steel of the pump arm to the point where it wouldn't go over the pump tube. in the end some careful re-shaping seems to have worked although it could be smoother.

managed to sort out the mold of my GL front end. The first cast came out ok but i'll need to do it again because some of the fine detail is lacking.



also did a custom IR tracker unit for my smart gun. it's not screen accurate but I fancied something a bit different. Again I screwed up the cast but since it was my first ever go at resin casting I'm fairly pleased. looking forward to getting a good cast painted and installed.

mounted the launcher now. coming together quite nicely. Very sturdy connection feels great.



unfortunately the pump action is still quite stiff. damn near breaks your arm to rack it. sigh...... time to take it apart again and re-tune.

this is a slow burning project due to family commitments but i think I've nearly broken the back of it.





abandoned the idea of sliding tube over the existing barrel to form the barrel extension. Instead I've gone the whole hog and turned a barrel extension on the lathe. So while i was doing that i might as well do the other tube parts as well (after careful examination though i think the gl extension is too long so i will redo this)

I made the vent a long time ago on the mill and i struggled to get accuracy which resulted in the piece you see today. I will need to clean this up before welding on the barrel attachment ring.

well it seems like an absolute age since I started this but i'm pleased to present my completed 'hero' build. I realise as hero's go it's not 100% but it's good enough for me.

thanks to all of the resources and good folks on this site for making it possible.

and some more

what I didn't show is that the counter does light up and does indeed count down which was no mean feat to wire up on a deactivated Thompson. I probably flopped around getting the trigger mechanism to work over about three months....fail

oh well its there now

A thing of beauty! I imagine the last year and a half doesn't seem like quite so much work when your holding her and and showing it off, eh?

thanks I must admit that I giggle like a kid when I hold this thing. but not for long....it weighs a ton

I can Never get enough of these PR builds, fantastick work.

Are those shrouds alluminium or resin?

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Cpl N.Storey A12/TQ2.0.02132E1
MARINE RAIDER

thanks,

they are resin from Matsuo. they are about the only thing that are not metal though.

Even for resin they Look excellent,pretty impresive work there well done.
I have the Spas12 Cage fitted i just Need to get the shotgun fitted,and Thats the Part i have also been Putting of for some Time now.

Here is where i am at the Moment.

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Cpl N.Storey A12/TQ2.0.02132E1
MARINE RAIDER

looking good. what parts have you got there? is it airsoft? if so are you going with the airsoft m870?

always wanted to get the airsoft version but the violent crime reduction bill came into the uk which meant I could no longer buy airsoft. (unless I wanted to run around an airsoft field every sunday - which I don't)

ironically I could quite legally buy the deactivated real steel parts with no trouble....crazy.

It's a Snow Wolf airsoft which is pretty good i just wish i could fing some better shrouds for it i mean there ok and all,and there pretty solid but they are still Plastik but They will do the Job.

I don't know at the Moment what i'm going to use for the grenade launcher there are some realy good airsoft M870 out there like APS wich are verry realistick i don't know at the Moment,i to don't actualy Play airsoft i just wanted a PR so when i sore the Snow Wolf i just had to buy One.

It's no Problem to buy airsofts Here in germany but it's a Little harder to buy diactivated weapons.

What ever i decide to do i just hope it Turns out as good as yours

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Cpl N.Storey A12/TQ2.0.02132E1
MARINE RAIDER

i wouldn't know how to go about getting aluminium shrouds. I was lucky with mine, Matsuo was selling a set on ebay. guess one of his commissions fell through. they have aluminium powder in them so they weather up really authentically.

in point of fact I didn't do any actual weathering. the rifle took some knocks as I was building it and I went with it.

Same here I ended up repainting mine to my brown bess substitute, so I lost much of the effect, but when it was "new" the shrouds took the exact right amount of punishment during the construction phase that I didn't feel I had to add weathering when I finished. It is a great natural look.

Contact Matsuo, he's able to source the Al shrouds since he's a wizard
I contacted him a few months back and he was able to find a set in about 2 weeks.