A New Magnum Blaster

[DaveG]

While work on the fabrication of the Snub Nose Blaster is "on hiatus" I've started designing my next concept blaster, the .50 caliber Magnum! The basis for the gun is Smith & Wesson's massive X-Frame .50 cal revolver.



This will be a weapon licensed for military Offworld use only (or perhaps for hunting big game in the Outer Colonies!)

Here is a preliminary illustration showing the Magnum in the center, along with the Standard blaster on top and my Snub Nose Blaster on the bottom. The Snubbie measures just under 6 1/2" long, the Standard Blaster just over 9 1/2. In comparison the Magnum comes in at a whopping 12 1/4" from butt to muzzle!



The barrel extends a little further in proportion to allow for external threading to accept a silencer. I am also planning a stereographic, video targeting scope.
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Dave

"I just want to say people... Get A Life! Move out of your parent's basement! It's just a movie!"

[Daddy Solo]

Here we go again!! Now I have more to drool over

[nonner242]

Sweet Jesus! Now we need a shotgun Blaster!

[Staar]

Unstoppable ----

You and this blaster mate!

Highest regards

MARK
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[The Loyalizer]

[cratercritter]

Looking pretty cool DaveG.

The magnum looks slightly "front heavy" because it is so long. How about trying a larger grip size (longer) with a butt-plate style end to it... a bit stylized so it looks different to the standard blaster. OR.. same grip shape you showed on your magnum, but with a butt-plate fixed to the end of the handle with slightly different shape to the standard blaster's butt-plate (?). Although the steyr ammo clip is elongated, make it slightly chunkier at the base to fit 5mm LEDs instead of the standard 3mm diameter LEDs (?) or slight change to the shape of the ammo clip housing to indicate magnum apart from being longer (?). From the drawing, looks like it will be able to fit bigger LEDs anyway which would be cool.
Also... has two round "knobs" on the magnum... looks cool! Hmmm... how about one oversized round knob instead of the two (?).... although two round knobs looks cool in that it is distinctive!.
...Just throwing around a few ideas while it is at the 'two-dimensional' stage.

[Staar]

[DaveG]

Glad you guys are so excited! I certainly am. The design is in the very early stages and will no doubt evolve. Please weigh in with suggestions, likes or dislikes. No guarantee that I'll listen but...

Several things that had been mentioned had also crossed my mind. The shape of the grip needs a lot of development, most of that will have to wait until I get back to my shop as I want to cut out and rough sculpt the shape to know that it feels right, like I did with the Snubby. I didn't draw a butt plate but the more I think about it, the more it needs one. It's just one of the very distinctive features on the original, especially the angle. But I do want something slightly different than the plate on the original.

The extra Weaver knob was just a cut and paste. I will do some sort of additional control below the regular Weaver knob but it is likely to look different and be a different size, and probably be set back a bit.

The receiver, barrel, Steyr clip housing, bolt lever, etc. are all scaled up about 14% from the hero. I've also elongated the receiver and lengthened the curved portion slightly. The triggers and guard are the same size as the original. Again, as with the Snubby, I don't want it to just look like a scaled up version of the hero. I want this blaster to feel more muscular so I'll be curving out some of the flatter surfaces or straight lined edges, especially on the Steyr clip housing. Not a lot, but a subtle style change.

The design actually started in 3D, scaling up some of the parts I had already modeled for the Snub Nose. Then to 2D to refine the profiles, then back. Back and forth, back and forth. It's never too late to modify something just because it's modeled in 3D.

As to a shotgun blaster... I have played around a little with the idea. The only problem is the cost of 3D printing and molds for such a large piece. It would be a pretty expensive kit. I'll have to see how well the Snubby and Magnum sell first, then, who knows...
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Dave

"I just want to say people... Get A Life! Move out of your parent's basement! It's just a movie!"

[Mr_Creepy]

Great looking designs, both this and the snubby.

How about having provisions for mounting a shoulder stock? Several of the Civil War and Old West era revolvers had this option (see Leone's A FEW DOLLARS MORE for Lee Van Cleef's use of one!). I doubt it could be fully functional; I have no clue if resin would stand up to the stress & weight without some sort of internal bracing.

My thinking is that "just knowing" it could be turned into a carbine would add to the "bigbadassness" of a magnum.
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- Brian (formerly ToothTech)

[panaflex]

I'm going to have to get another job...
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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

[Noeland]

Love the idea of a big bore blaster! The duel knobs on the side is cool.

My suggestions, position the entire top portion a little further back and move the bolt handle back so it's between the triggers, or at least over the front trigger. Let the top lines of the grip match the side cover more closely as it does on the standard issue model. Create a bigger/heavier/different binding post. That just looks tiny amongst the massive design.

Whatever design options you go with, I look forward to seeing the prototype take shape.


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I don't have enough blasters!

[Bwood]

OK Dave, you asked. Myself, I would prefer keeping it short but more stout. The elongated design just looks like an elongated blaster, indicating greater range perhaps, but no outward signs of a larger payload. The longer design would also be much more cumbersome to handle and harder to conceal - not much use to a detective. Larger (circumference) barrel with a larger bore, larger cylinder with redesigned covers (to handle a more powerful blast). Extra knobs would not be necessary since the basic functions are the same, but instead replace them with a lever for a quick clip release. Anything else you could imagine that would make it look "beefier" would be great, but I don't think longer is the way to go. It just kind of looks front heavy now.
Only my 2¢ of course ….

[hirohawa]

Looks great!

I love the idea of a longer blaster.

HAving said that I do feel that the length of the side covers for the extended cylinder looks off. I think the way the trigger guard, ammo housing and side cover all intersect on the original create the best design unity.

I think it should be more about the barrel length than the cylinder length. As I think the ammo housing and Steyr receiver do look really great lengthened. Also as another member suggested making everything thicker works as well but you seem to have addressed that as well.

If you are going for the longer cylinder cover I would suggest lengthening the trigger guard and also making the Steyr cocking lever/handle wider.

Already addressed but I agree it definitely needs a butt plate.

[The Loyalizer]

My 0.02 cents would be to make the side covers big enough to cover the cylinder but not much bigger or longer than they need to be. The barrel length, and the increased length of the steyr receiver sell the idea of it being a magnum. Besides, any time you have a gun with a barrel that long, it's going to be front heavy.

As for the buttplate... I'd say mock one up, but I do kind of like the look of just the grips without it. Kind of like what Rick did with the PKD II, gives it its own look. Another idea is if you're going with the classic side grips as opposed to a grip that covers the whole frame, is you could always put in a finger relief on the bottom of the grip frame while leaving the grips as they are. Kind of like what Cold Steel did on their AK-47 knife.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQz-6Ep2PB0pCGJW4NOQDC6_o60qvMQA-MzRh0svxh-5sPd-nLr
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"We began to recognize in them a strange obsession..."

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[DaveG]

Great ideas guys, keep 'em comin'! It's too bad I can't make it all things to all people. Hey, maybe I'll have to do more than one model!

A shoulder stock is a cool idea. Maybe someone can do that as part of a custom build up...

I'm pretty happy with the extended length combined with the larger bore and barrel it really screams "Canon!". It is a bit front heavy, but that's inherent with the Steyr clip housing being out there. Also this is a military issued weapon, not intended for use by Police. So concealed carry isn't a problem. I see it being carried low on the hip in one of those big tactical style holsters.

The grip outline on the drawing is from the left side grip, the right side one will conform to the bottom profile of the cover as the hero does.

The binding post shown was just a cut and paste. I am working on one that is bigger and of a unique design for this blaster.

I may play around with the idea of a clip release instead of the second Weaver know (good idea, thanks!). Especially in keeping with the military application. I see extended length clips in the future...

The trigger guard definitely needs extended a bit to balance out the bottom profile and to give enough clearance in front of the second trigger. The right and left side covers need a lot of work still. I did lay them out to be big enough to cover a 5 shot .50 cal cylinder, even though I don't enivision my blaster as having a cylinder, more of a reaction chamber of some type. But sizeing it based on a real S&W500 helps to ground the design in reality.

I love the look of the buttless grips Rick did on his PKD3 but I do agree the my magnum needs the butt plate to balance out the length. Maybe I'll do a buttless grip variation on my version of the standard blaster. Ooops, did I just say that!
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Dave

"I just want to say people... Get A Life! Move out of your parent's basement! It's just a movie!"

[hirohawa]

Looking forward to your "standard" version as well.

I think you need to do some metal casting or since the CAD files already exist... CNC Aluminum run - just saying.

[joberg]

Excellent stuff Dave (glad you took my suggestion of a "Magnum Blaster" ...I'm sure I wasn't the only one with that idea).
Others have chimed in with other good ideas to transform the original drawing. I think that it would be fun to play with the "3 red LED"design on the side of the Steyr clip instead of the 2 we have now (and by the same token extend that part to fit the better the long barrel).

Agreed on the butt plate stuff too: better balanced; as for the two knobs, maybe we should get rid of that design altogether and come up with a brand new one (maybe no knobs at all) since it's going to be Army only use...my 2 cents

[DaveG]

Here's a (very) slightly modified drawing. I've added the Buttplate to the grip, extended the trigger guard, and shortened the barrel to be in proportion to the standard blaster. For the silencer I'll either make a longer barrel with external threads or, more likely, use internal threads.

_________________
Dave

"I just want to say people... Get A Life! Move out of your parent's basement! It's just a movie!"

[cratercritter]

Looks better with the butt plate shown on your drawing.
Single 'weaver knob' OK ...maybe make it bigger diameter or different styling (?)
Threaded barrel is pretty high-tech. With my kit plastic/metal guns I use
a low-tech, "easy way out" rare earth magnet inside the barrel to hold the silencers.

[joberg]

Here's my cut & paste (no trigger guard...a la Robocop ) of the gun and with the 3 LED on the side. The post under the barrel is aligned with the tip of the Steyr. I also moved the second trigger forward by 3 mm...and no weaver knob at all.

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