Big Iron rides again!

[Rusty Brass]

The build thread for this thing went *poof* with the old forum so I guess it's time to make a new one.

Basically, The Concept:
Single-Action Triple-Tube Spring-Fed Paintball Pistol... because I want two of them and no one makes such a thing.
I'm calling it Big Iron even though there's pretty much no iron in the thing at all. The frame is aluminum. The various components are stainless. The tubes are brass. The completion date for a working prototype is someday - you'll know when it happens from my victory WHOOOP!!! - which should be audible for a fair distance.

This is a sticker Bellicose made for me, cuz, priorities. First things first, gotta get the important stuff out of the way



The CAD model:



The progress:

Waterjetted parts



The Trigger doing its thing:



Innards made by Kit because my machine tools kind of suck and Kit rocks:



So that was the beginning...

[Rusty Brass]

And then came winter, and forum destruction, and the 'Rona!, and then it was now, and I finally got off my ass and this happened:




My shop is the perfect temperature for getting things done now so I'm going to try to make as much progress on this thing as I can in the next couple of weeks. I got most of the barrel tube milling done last night. The feed tube will go in the vise next.

************************************************** ************************************************** *

Well, the feed tube got put off until I can get a tube bender set up and ready to go so I moved on to making it functional - which happened a hell of a lot faster than I expected!



So, uh, IT'S ALIVE!!!!

And now it's sprung a third tube! The bend idea seems to have worked but I think it'll be hard to replicate reliably. I'll try to mangle another tube tomorrow to see if I need another strategy. And for giggles.



Worked on the detent and feed over the weekend.

[AnarchicArctic]

Does it feed reliably with that Phantom feed gate? I know a lot of spring feeds rely on powerfeed style plugs to get the balls to the breech

[Rusty Brass]

It's not fully operational yet. I got the tube soldered on last night and dumped some paint in there to test it before I realized I still haven't installed a detent. Chop city without one. Once I get that in there it should work fine as just a rock&cock. When the springfeed happens I'll be working up a gate like Apoc's phantom dual-feeds. The feed cap will just be there to make using 10 round tubes easier.

[AnarchicArctic]

Won’t hear me complain about rock and cock

[Rusty Brass]

Reserved.

[Rainmaker]

Glad to see this thread come back!

[Alexndl]

I remember this post from the old forum and was wondering recently if the project was still ongoing
The center part of the body is which material? And the sear and trigger?
Is the water jet cut smooth enough or you had to polish the mating part for the trigger action?

I am looking at local place to cut lever for a brass pirate build

[Rusty Brass]

The center section of the grip frame is aluminum along with the side plates. The sear and trigger are stainless, 304 I think. The smoothness isn't great, some polishing will be required, but I planned for it when I had the parts cut. The bigger problem with waterjet cutting isn't a rough kerf it's the fact that it cuts at an angle - the cut sides aren't perfectly square to the flat faces. They call it "taper". You can get around it, mostly, by paying extra for low taper cuts or you can jump ship on waterjetting and get stuff laser cut instead. Laser cutting will have a rough kerf/edge though. Nothing's perfect in this here world...

[Jonnydread]

Wicked cool! I'm excited to see the progression.

[AnarchicArctic]

Yeah man! Keep it coming!

[XEMON]

So so glad this is back on the table ... Definitely would love to be rocking one of those 😎

[Rusty Brass]

Edits don't bump the thread so if I may say so...

WHOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!

[Alexndl]

Wow, that thing look sweet!!!
very nice work I was not expecting to see a functional prototype this quickly!!
Where do we sign up?

[XEMON]

Congrats man, it looks great!
Are you planning on letting them go as "kit" or make them all yourself?

I'd be in for a "kit" if you'd do that

[AnarchicArctic]

So stoked to hear that WHOOP!!!! You didn’t disappoint! Might not have the feed tube, but it makes a hell of a single shot. That pole is toast!

[Rusty Brass]

Wow, that thing look sweet!!!
very nice work I was not expecting to see a functional prototype this quickly!!
Where do we sign up?

Congrats man, it looks great!
Are you planning on letting them go as "kit" or make them all yourself?

I'd be in for a "kit" if you'd do that

I didn't think I'd get one running this quickly myself but it all just kind of fell into place once I actually put my head down and got to work. There's still plenty more to do before even the first one's fully operational. I want to make a springfeed with a gate like Apoc's phantom feeds which will likely be some trial and error, emphasis on the error.

My initial goal was to just build two of the things but getting five frames cut was where the waterjet shop gave their first bulk discount - so I have five frames. I'm going to keep two; the test bed that's being built right now and the last one I finish. I haven't decided what's going to happen with the three in between though, assuming they all survive to completion. Mistakes happen. They'll be complete guns though, not kits. They're based on Crosman valves and everything else is purpose built so there's no Sheridan compatibility at all - the valve stem, I guess. More than likely I'll just put them up for sale as they're finished and they'll go to the quickest on the draw, as it were.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Super cool build! Looks super usable to love it!

[KMDPB]

Wow that's incredible!!! Does the hammer strike the valve stem or is it decorative with a sear dropped hammer in the tube? Also how will the bolt be reciprocated? Connected to the hammer? Manual? Blowback? Looks great!