Well, I've been talking about this for months. Maybe not on the boards, but the plans to make it were completely finalized in my notebook months ago, and my first mention of it was to Bob over e-mail, 3+ months ago now. Anyway, this is the third version, with many iterations in each version. The second one worked well, but the plastic sheath it relied on exploded after two shots. Coolest thing ever.
Anyway, I present, my 26" minimized Pistol Splat:
So the objectives for this were as follows:
Create a linked breech that accepts Longshot clips (1), doesn't eat darts (2), shotgun loads (3), and can be put on virtually any springer (4).
Side objective: Make it removable.
So for 1 through 3, we already have a perfect solution for that, made by our seemingly most famous contributor - FA's Angel Breech. His goals were to make it take the clips without eating the darts. In the end he realized that it will also shotgun load.
What about putting it on any gun though? Especially on the pistol splat that I am working on. Since the Longshot works in a very specific way, in that the bolt goes back and then forth, to put this breech on any gun would require the part that the bolt is linked to to move back and then forth on a guide.
Simple enough really. Make an Angel Breech (the one used in this mod compliments of Hereticorp, if he even remembers haha), and make a guide out of 15/32" brass. Then something needs to hold the front barrel in place, and to guide the "bolt part" back along. This is where the plastic sheath came in to play before. V3 uses 3/4" pvc, with some very specific cuts though.
As for linking it and making it removable, a polycarbonate piece attached to the "bolt piece" that slides through the pvc, and fitting the PVC into a coupler, attaching the 15/32" brass guide to the same part as the coupler (typically the plunger tube for both).
Enough talk I suppose.
This is all the temporary set up, since this is more of a proof of concept mod, rather than one that I would (personally, not my style) wield all day long.
The first picture is the breech open, and the second is it closed.
You can see the polycarbonate piece in these. It's a ring with a 19/32" inside diameter, and an outside diameter just smaller than the inside diameter of the 3/4" pvc. That way, it's tight to the bolt piece, and guided by the pvc. From the ring moving upwards is a 3/8" wide rectangle that fits into the 3/8"h (heavy, means slightly larger) guide in the pvc. Above that is a bigger rectangle to attach the link to.
The last picture is the top view with the breech closed. The breech travels 3" and can chamber a 2" stefan. Clips need to have the tab at the top cut, and need to be modded to take stefans. You can see the guide for the polycarbonate, and that I used the pistol splat's normal breech link as my link.
~~~~~How to make. Warning: Lots of numbers and precision required. ~~~~~
I'm just going to lay it out really.
The angel breech is as follows:
Barrel
9/16 - 12", half pipe starting from one end that lasts for 3". Tightening rings after that.
"Bolt piece"/Closer
19/32 - 5"
9/16 - 1"
17/32 - 7/8"
1/2 - 4 1/8", pinched in one end (done by cutting with pipe cutters)
Guide
1/2 - .5"
15/32 - 3 3/4" + however much is needed to attach to the gun. For the pistol splat, this meant the half of the coupler that I attached to the plunger tube, and a little extra for tolerance. Pinch one end.
The assembly of each is pretty straight forward:
There is none for the barrel.
Closer- Epoxy the 17/32" onto the non-pinched end of the 1/2", with none hanging over. Epoxy the 9/16" over that, and then the 19/32" over that.
Guide - Epoxy the 1/2" onto the non-pinched end of the 15/32". Drill a 1/2" hole into your plunger tube, and insert it. Epoxy/hot glue (in layers for strength if using hot glue) this into place, as straight as possible.
After that, attach your 3/4" pvc (all sch.40) to your plunger tube.
While that's drying, you can make your pvc sheath.
Start with 12" of the pipe. Shave one end to make sure that it slides into the couple smoothly.Mark both 4 1/4" and 7.5" from the shaved end, making the circles go all the way around the pipe. After that, vise the pvc. Now, while looking straight down at it, mark a 3/4" channel across those distances. Dremel the cuts that go the length of the pvc in the path of the radius at that point (basically, go straight down into the line, as opposed to going through the thickness of the pvc). Cut away the rest, leaving only the channel in that section.
Now mark the center of the channel, and extend that line along the length of the pvc. Starting on the side with the shaved end, slightly past (about 1/2") where the channel starts, mark 3/16" from each side of the line. Run these lines back to the end. Mark a line perpendicular to these three, 3" from where the channel starts, still on the side with the shaved end. Cut out the area that you just marked. This will be the guide for the polycarbonate link.
Make your polycarbonate guide here. 1/4"+ thickness works best and lasts the longest. I used 1/8" on my final iteration, and it broke after about 60-70 cycles (yes, I thoroughly test my experiments before they come onto the boards). The specifics are above in this guide.
The next part can only be done once all of the epoxy is dry.
Mark 3/4" from the end on the 15/32"
Place the barrel completely into the closer. Slide the closer over the 15/32", making the end stop at the mark.
Take your polycarb piece, and slip it through the guide spot horizontally, then turn it.
Slide your pvc over the brass setup, making sure the 9/16 and then the 19/32" go through the poly carbonate.
Once the pvc is in the coupler, make sure your closer is still at the mark on the guide brass. Slide the link piece into place, so that its end, that's closer to the barrel tip, lines up with where the channel starts. You may be able to see how it all works. The guide for the link is 3" long, and the breech travel is 3".
The poly carbonate should still be inside of the 3/4" pvc. Epoxy it there.
Holding the closer steadily in place, pull out the barrel. Wrap it in e-tape until it's straight in the pvc. Hot glue it in place.
You should be basically done, except for the linking part. Assemble it all and grab onto the poly carbonate link. You should be able to slide it back and forth and have the breech closer move with it.
To link the breech, find a part that moves 3" and attach the poly carbonate piece to it. This is where Bob got stuck on the pistol splat if I remember correctly. The thing about levers is that the further away from the pivot you are, the higher the travel distance you are on the same radius of movement. This is how they're used to create mechanical advantage. It takes a lot of force to pull the Pistol splat spring straight back for 1", but it takes a lot less force (per inch travel) to do it over 6".
As such, you need to find the distance from your pivot that travels 3". It's somewhere around 2.5", but double check all of your numbers before your start drilling.
If you're really good with this breech, you can just increase the travel of it. Have a gun with a 4" travel? Extend the closer and the guide and the half pipe each by and inch, making the right corrections on the pvc channels, and you can directly link the Angel Breech.
Well. Now that I've talked forever, how about some results.
If you cut the pvc as I described, your clip should be extremely tight:
And here's the beasty in action:
Notice the pull for the breech is 3", while the pistol splat's plunger travels barely over 2". You can keep opening and closing the breech as well. My link was a hair off, so my lever doesn't stay all the way down on its own (rubber bands in first picture solve that).
So, all in all, all goals accomplished. You can see in the first pic that the breech is removed.
Ranges? No clue. They should be normal pistol splat ranges if you seal everything up real nice, minus a little bit from the dead space in the 15/32" and 1/2".
Some quick notes:
The version of the pistol splat I used is the "Predator PR-1000". It has a substantially weaker spring than the PS-800's. It's a bit shorter, and weak enough that I can bend it and compress it (about an inch) with my hands alone.
This breech works best on guns with high volume outputs; a Maxshot would benefit more than the pistol splat.
If you're desperate to link this to something, pulley blocks and gear trains also trade distance for force, so look into those systems.
Thus endeth this first post.
