Building a Shooter

[joberg]

Excellent work Eltee (with Rich help).Eager to see the vid for sure

[Staar]

[Ki-Djowac]

Looks great indeed !!! Looking forward to seeing a vid

[eltee]

Here are some preliminary photos. I am amazed at how this blaster turned out. All the latest Coyle upgrades, etc. The Steyr replica upper is beautiful, the photos do not show how smooth and shiny it really is.

It weighs way more than a typical blaster, even the all metal ones like the Sidkits or Coyles.







Will take more pics showing cylinder open, etc. and eventually some shooting pics.

[Staar]

eltee your shooter build and Riskbreaker's jaw-dropping replica are quite honestly the most exciting and inspirational developments since Karl posted the WorldCon photographs.

Congratulations mate - keep us posted...

Highest regards

Mark
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[joberg]

I second that motion Staar! Really great work from your part Eltee; building guns is already complex, but building a gun to copy a movie prop is even more difficult (as a few have shown us on this board lately).
Props to you

[panaflex]

Mind blowing. Wish I could see you fire it at the range in person.
Congratulations.
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Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation.
Orson Welles

[andy]

OUTSTANDING!

Andy

[eltee]

Well, thanks for the comments but this could not have been done without Rich Coyle. Being a licensed gun dealer, I acquired the Bulldog and bought some barrel material. Based on Rich's specs, we set the computer controlled lathe and mill, etc. to cut, turn, thread, contour and crown the real barrel. The ejector rod was milled down and the barrel installed. The firing pin was removed temporarily for safety.

Then, Richard did his magic. He hand picked the parts from his latest version of the blaster. I was going to buy an available Steyr .222 SL upper but his newest Steyr replica was so amazing I went with his version. I do not regret it.

He painstakingly fitted my Bulldog into his replica, which took alot of patience, machining, measuring, etc. to get it perfect. I asked him to create a blaster as it might look brand new, as it might appear before being issued to a cop. No holster wear, etc. but looking as if it just came from the P.D. armory.

Rich found a source for a new terminal screw (that foward facing screw) so he added a "found" part that was new, the one I sent him was old and worn. IIRC, this blaster utilizes "new, improved" Coyle parts that include the upper, grip frame, amber grips, bolt and bolt handle, and the incredible looking magazine (battery and switch box) with a replica .222 round on top (looks good in and out of the blaster).

Rich had to build this on the premise that it would be shot using live rounds, so it had to be tightly fitted and sturdy. The physics involved in shooting a gun include gas pressure, heat, recoil, and inertia forces but I am confident in Rich's skill so as soon as I can work up some escalating .44 loads I plan to shoot this bad boy.

Anyway, I am very happy with this. The Bladerunner blaster replicas have been evolving since the early Marco Enterprises I saw in the 80's. I have several blasters, collected over decades, but this one is my pride and joy. Coyle really came through for me and I am grateful.

[SynaMax]

Simply stunning, Gary!!

[joberg]

Great work Rich! This new Steyr upper is crisp for sure Glad you were part of this great build with Eltee.

[Staar]

Cheers Eltee and thanks also for giving us more info regarding Rich's contribution. Aside from using his parts, I wasn't aware of the extent of his involvement - surely the most valuable input and assistance one could wish for.

Bravo fella's

Highest regards

MARK
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[Noeland]

Now you just need some "replicant" targets.

Might have to fire up the old photoshop and make some for myself too.

It's an exceptional piece if work, that blaster of yours!
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I don't have enough blasters!

[eltee]

A few more shots (no pun intended) of the build. FYI I have been a licensed live firearms dealer and gunsmith since 1985, I am not new to this. I have also been a police range instructor and sometimes range master. I am a certified NRA instructor. The machinist I use is a genius IMHO and he has built semiauto guns out of blocks (billets) of aluminum. I have built or modified live guns for photo or film work, and I have friends down in LALALAND who do this full time. My point is, this is not a DIY project and mistakes can cause injury or death. Seriously, a Dremel, bench grinder and a set of tools will not make this work. We used industrial, computer controlled milling machines, lathes, etc. to do the gun barrel conversion and we threaded it to factory specs including leade (sic) and shouldering.

The threaded .44 barrel material (stock) came in long lengths in this diameter. Look closely and you can see the lands and grooves of the rifling:



It was turned to the proper diameter and cut off as you can see here:



The barrel was crowned and mounted to the Bulldog. Here it is on the completed gun:



The gun is beautiful, with a smooth and shiny upper receiver:





It shoots. I will be posting some video of it in action very shortly.

[joberg]

Never tired to look at it Eltee...without a proper sight on the gun, I guess it must be tricky to shoot accurately for the first few times
Eager to see the vid.

[eltee]

Once it warms and dries up a little after the Holidays, I plan of video recording the blaster being shot.

What is the best way to post a video on Propsummit? I don't want to post on Youtube for the world to see, just something for the folks here. I will be filming it with a Nikon D7000 camera that was recently acquired.

Any help appreciated.

[racprops]

If there is a problem viewing a video here you can do what i do.

I put my video of handling my model on Photobucket and you can have a folder that needs a password to open it and view.

You then just give the password out here or by PMs.

My 2 cents worth.

Rich
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I never have enough time to do all I want to do!

[eltee]

To those of you planning to shoot a real Bulldog fitted in a blaster frame, DO NOT USE FULL LOADS is the best advice I can give you. I ordered custom loaded rounds for this, light loads so as not to over torque or over tax the soft metal blaster parts. Lead bullets, light powder. Also, there is drilling in the Bulldog's crane and barrel, high stress bearing components. The loads I spec'd will kill a person at close range, but are not full boat .44 loads.

An advisory for those of you interested in shooting blanks out of your Bulldog. Many of the off the shelf .44 special blanks use black powder. If you use these loads, you need to clean you gun thoroughly after each day of shooting. I have no idea what the long term affect it will have if left on pewter, but I know it is hard on gun metal.

[hirohawa]

[joberg]

TFS Eltee. I would be interested to see what's the long term effect of the powder has on the pewter. That's if someone uses the gun regularly