112 replies to this topic

[murakumo32]

I'm still amazed by your FAR and now you whip up this thing. Calling you a god is an understatement, seriously. That is sexy. Sexier than the FAR, and the FAR was orgasmic...

[six-five-two]

Godlike.

How much money and timedid this take...?

[Sqiggs89]

Frickin' sweet. Another great job!

[boltsniper]

Thanks for all the feedback!

I will try to answer the questions in the order they were asked.

Carbon,
I have not weighed the plunger so I do not know it's actual mass. I will weigh it on Monday when I get access to a set of scales. I finished the surface of the rifle in teh same manner I always do, creating fillets, smoothing roughness, and filling holes with lightweight spackling. I just spent more time on this rifle to make it look nicer. In the unpainted pictures you can see the spackling, especially around the pistol grip and stock.

Paloose,
The action is pretty smooth. I had attempted to account for the pssoible paint scracting. I masked off tracks and ground down the inside of the slide to amke contact points that woud ride on the masked off areas. Apparently I didn`t groind enough bceause there are two points that ride on the paint and scrape it off. I kind of figured something would scrape the paint som I`m not too pissed about it. I`ll probably just leave it and let it scrape what its going to scrape. The paint doesn`t cause the slide to stick or require more force or anything.

Ronster,
I will probably not be making custom mag wells to sell. That pieces took about 13 horus to build and weighs about hald a pound. Cost on machine is about $1400. I may be able to make another and sell it but I can`t make any promises. It definitely won`t be a mass produced thing.

Crazyberry,
Shellless meaing you breach load each dart. You can not load just darts into the magazine. They would fit but the mag spring is too strong and will cause the darts to jam. But I am still very happy with the fact that you do not "need" to use the shells to use the rifle.

Enigma,
I have no idea how much it would pull. Intersting thought though. I really have no idea. I guess you guys could tell me....

Rambo,
FN has their SCAR-L and SCAR-H for entry into the SCAR program competition. I image those are the rifle taht are in the game. I named my rifle SCAR because it follows the same philosophy as the actual SCAR program. Plus it's just a catch acronym.

Piney,
Yes, lots of orange will be the way to go when I take this thing outdorrs. I imagine it will get most of its use indoors as the FAR does. I agree the magazine makes it look all too real. I am definitely going to paint a magzine solid orange for outdoor use. So at elasy the orange magazine and the orange muzzle cover. I am also thinking about some other orange dressing just to insure that it is not mistaken for M4, etc.

six-five-two,
The most expensive thing was the brass. I picked up 3 feet of each size which ran about $30 for all 5 sizes. PVC is cheap. The mgawell is expensive bu I didn`t pay for it. Carbine length XP AR15 spring was $15. paint was $10. I spent a long while designing the gun in CAD. When I was happy with it it was just a matter of fabricating the parts. There was a minimal amount of designing-as-you-build in this rifle. I only spent about 6 days fabricating the rifle.



As with teh FAR I have a few hundred pictures at various stages of construction and the finished rifle. If anyone wants to see anything in particular let me know and I`ll post a picture or video.

[SG Pilot]

Not too shotgun style-like but thats yet another whooping homemade made by you, Bolt.

So whats the status of the BTR semi-auto right now? Just curious

[SKIZ]

Firstly great job!!!

Secondly will you be posting writeups for this and a substatuite for the mag well and AR-15 mag as unfortuantly dont really have access to $1400 machines, not all quite as lucky as some!!! I swear i dont envy you

[Maverick Master]

I know the names are almost identicale but that looks a lot like the M8 carbine(see almost identicale)
Also yours dose look great but I think you could make it better by adding the top arch or rail like the M8 dose.

[GeneralPrimevil]

When I was thinking of this gun, I thought of a modified Remington 7600 called the 7615P. A pic can be found later in my post. I think that eventually you should move away from the pistol grip stocks and attempt to make a crescent stock. If I had self-contained internals to throw in one, I could pop out a wood stock in a little over two weeks, once I get my woodshop back in order after the move...

Picture of 7615: Edit: it's a short-action 7600 which is chambered for the .223Rem cartridge and has a modified receiver to accept AR15 mags.


Anyway, it would be kinda cool to base something off of that. It gives me ideas, ideas that I'd like to combine with other ideas...

Edited by GeneralPrimevil, 19 March 2006 - 09:19 AM.

[Denaeron 12]

Bolt -
Is there any chance you could post a video of it firing?
So we could see it in use, pretty much...

[boltsniper]

The BTR is still in the works. I`m still trying to figure out propulsion and where that gun is going.

You could probably pretty easily make a mag well out of balsa wood or lexan or any other flat material you can work with. There are no curves to deal with or angles. the magazine inserts vertically and 90 degrees to the receiver. I figured I would catch some flak for using RP for the magwell since it pretty much prohibits anyone from attempting to make one themselves.

I did kind of look to the G36 for some asthetic inspiration. Since the XM8 is a G36 then I guess they do kind of look a like. I couldn`t really add that carry handle arch as the XM8 has. There is stuff inside the receiver cover so I couldn`t cut a section out of it.

I don`t see the advantage of a crescent stock over a pistol grip practically. Especially in Nerf where most combat happens quickly at close ranges. But it would be interesting just to do something different.

Yes, I am going to post more videos of the rifle in action. I need to make more shells first. I only have the one prototype at the moment. I've been working all weekend so haven`t had time to make them yet. Hopefully tomoorow I`ll get some time to make some shells and shoot some video. I`ll be sure to post when I get them up.

[Ronster]

Boltsniper,
Would it be possible to replace the brass with CPVC? I have access to a lathe which would allow me to thin out the walls of the CPVC, but I don't have access to any brass... Would this work or can it only be brass?

[ompa]

You'd have to use a different magazine, as cpvc would be too thick.

~ompa

[Ronster]

You'd have to use a different magazine, as cpvc would be too thick.

No. That's what the lathe is for. I could thin out the CPVC as needed.

Bolt,
One more question, what size PVC is the slide? 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" couplers?

[Rip32]

Wow, great job.

On a scale of one to ten, your FAR is beyond ten. Considering that, this gun makes your FAR look bad! But all in all they are both pretty sexy.

[TimberwolfCY]

First of all, excellent job Boltsniper, that thing is a beautiful piece of work.

Secondly, what kind of spring did you use? I'm trying to get a good replacement spring for my Crossbow, and am failing to find one. Thanks.

[ShortShit]

well done. Looking forward to the in-action footage.
congrats.

[CaptainSlug]

Boltsniper,
Would it be possible to replace the brass with CPVC? I have access to a lathe which would allow me to thin out the walls of the CPVC, but I don't have access to any brass... Would this work or can it only be brass?

You can order brass through Mcmaster. CPVC in such a low thickness would be likely to buckle, warp, or just crack.

If he can tell you the wall thickness you may be able to make short lengths of pipe from rolls of brass shim stock which is much cheaper than pipes.

[boltsniper]

The wall thickness of brass is 0.014". If you turned down CPVC to that size it was just collapse. So I don`t think that would work too well.

I got my brass from tower hobbies. They have pretty good prices as well.

[TimberwolfCY]

Hey Bolt, what kind of spring did you use for the SCAR?

[CaptainSlug]

Hey Bolt, what kind of spring did you use for the SCAR?

Carbine length XP AR15 spring

[pat 1st Lt]

Boltsniper,

excellent job on this latest creation. It truly is a joy and a privelage to be able to read about your mechanical innovations, and apply them to my own works. I would like to congratulate you on this newest carbine of yours: it seems to have exceedingly met all of the goals you set out to achieve.



However, the action of the ejector interests me greatly.


I am unable to watch the videos you have posted, as my computer refuses to work, and was wondering if you would be so kind as to explain the workings of the ejector in conjunction with the unique bolt system.

If it is not too much of a hassle, and time permitting, could you write out all the mechanical goings-on as the SCAR is primed and fired? (As in, the pump is pulled, moving the operating rod which moves the plunger through the bolt-carrier, compressing the spring until the aluminum on the plunger itself engages the plunger catch, locking the plunger assembly... etc)



Also: are the brass shells feeding niceley out of your AR-15 magazine?
You stated that at the current time you were in the possession of one shell only, but as my reply comes a day after your original posting, I was curious as to whether or not you had managed to obtain more shells and were able to fiddle and experiment with the feeding and ejecting of several shells in succession.

I tried to replicate your setup, and found that the brass shells seemed to fit very nicely into a standard magazine. However, upon my attempt to extricate the shells, I had quite a difficulty getting them to feed smoothly. After the same result after a thorough cleaning and oiling of the magazine, I began to wonder.

What brand of brass did you use? Was it sanded or filed at all? What brand magazine did you use? When was this magazine made? Did you Have to modify the magazine at all (such as filing of parts, a different spring, etc)?


I do apologize if this post is too long, or if I have asked too much at once.



Sincerely,

Pat

[munson20]

Hello boltsniper. I must bow to you, that gun is amazing!!! I really would like to actually see it in action, for example, a video of it shooting. i know you have videos of it but i want to see the dart in the video flying, than i can understand how it works!!! thank you and please post a video like i described!!! thanks, great job

[boltsniper]

I am making more shells as I type this. It's a pretty time consuming process as each shell is made of 6 pieces of brass and once made each shell has to be length adjusted for headspacing in the rifle. I`m wokring on a batch of 5 at the moment.

What you have conjectured for the cycle steps are correct. I`ll try and get a step-by-step up soon.

The shell(s) feed fine out of the magazine. I had some issues with the shells jamming on the break in the ffed ramps between the lower and upper receivers, but I`ve fixed that issue for the most part. I get the impression you have access to AR mags. I didn`t go into the magazine too much because it wouldn`t mean much to most people. I did modify the magazine a little to accomodate the larger cartridges. As I stated I modified the follower by grinding off the dummy round that instigates the double stacking with 223. To allow the larger rounds to feed out of hte magazine I had to grind the fonr of the magazine a little to allow the lower portion of the shell to exit. You can see this in the following image.



That is it as far as modifications to the magazine go. You may or may not be familiar with the .50 Beowulf cartridge that the AR15 can be chambered in. Those shells are almost identical in length and diameter to my shells. They perform the same kind of magazine modifications that I did to get that round to feed properly. Cleaning and oiling the mag shouldn`t make any difference. I don`t think I have ever cleaned or oiled any of my magazines. Some of them look quite nasty but I have never had a problem with them FTFing.

All the magazines I have are LaBelle mags and were made anywhere from 02 to 05. I got a bunch right after the AW ban ended so I have about 8 mags that are marked LE only. Pretty sweet. The particular mag I have in the SCAR is stamped 04.

I used K&S brass. I had to file the ends after cutting it with a tubing cutter to get it to fit together but other than I did no finishing or polishing to it.

If you are familiar with AR mags then I assume you are familiar with the AR15. The action in the SCAR operates just like the AR15 does. From the rotating bolt down to the ejector. The extractor and ejector are similar to the ones in the FAR. I`ll try and get some CAD imnages up that show the bolt operation better.


Another video!

I shot a quick video of the chambering, firing, and ejecting of the single shell I have. I will get more up as soon as I can.

Single Round

Edited by boltsniper, 19 March 2006 - 10:59 PM.

[Falcon]

Bolt, I agree with the fact that you should do something to keep yourself from getting shot by local law enforcement when you take that outside...

Once you do, do you think you'll ever make it out to so-cal for a war?

*drools*

Then again, we'd probably never get around to playing, because we would all just be staring at it the whole time...

Excellent work. I'm not one for homemades, but I'm telling you now (as though you didn't know it already) if you're ever in a financial pinch, make another of those, and ebay that sucker.

That is what we call a down payment on a house.

In Southern California.

As always, great job. I'm not particularly one for homemades, but you certainly peak my interest.

[boltsniper]

I`m not sure attempting to take it on a plane would go over so well......

I would like to eventually get out there to at least meet you guys and nerf with you as well. Unfortunately, the upcoming armageddon will be right when I am to defend my thesis so I don`t think that will happen. Once I graduate I`ll be working somewhere. it could very well be that I end up working out in CA somewhere....

Edited by boltsniper, 20 March 2006 - 02:11 PM.