PKD Blaster Cylinder Safety

[doc3d]

Well I've seen the inside of what has to be the best PKD that exists, and it confirms my contention of the absolute importance of a front cylinder locking system. I don't know the gunsmith who did this work, but he's first class. If you look at the attached photo, you can clearly see his workaround for removing the stock Bulldog extractor and cylinder locking sleeve and make it possible for the cylinder to swing open without taking the Steyr magazine off. This pistol is made from a real Steyr SL, not a casting of some sort. The steel is good-- not a lead/tin or potmetal alloy. The machining work is superb. The round extension placed on the shortened extractor rod will lock with the frame.

Doc has to admit, this solution is much more elegant than my idea of using the "Weaver" screw to hold the swing arm. In fact, I may try ordering a few extractor rods to play with and try this-- they're cheap from Charter Arms parts dept.

But the key thing is that that you don't turn a PKD into a shooter by cutting off the end of the swing arm, as is done in the replica pewter kits. People who saw this mod on a toy and thought it might have worked on a real gun should never even think about experimenting with a pewter shell or a chopped up Steyr and a firearm. The pewter kits are toys. A gun is a gun.

(BTW, image used by permission of the gun's owner.)

doc

[andy]

Very cool. I do appreciate the safety reminder. I love simple solutions (not usually the same thing as easy ones)

I have heard about in the past somebody putting an aluminum barrel on a real Bulldog as well as some of Rich Coyle's cast parts to make one of these. He was warned by everybody to never fire it.

I want to see more of the one in your picture though.

Andy

[doc3d]

The guy who owns this gun is entitled to some privacy and not getting ton of emails about how to do this and that. So I can't say who has it. However, we both felt that this cylinder safety issue was important enough to get the word out. Too many people think the pewter or resin blasters are actual representations of the prop inside, and they're not. I can see several custom parts just looking at the picture, and the machine work is extensive. The only other photos I have of the gun focus on this specific area from different angles; the shot I posted explains it clearly. I can see things on the pistol I'd love to go over with him in detail, but I'm not going to bug him myself either. Some of the stuff done is very subtle, btw.

Re Coyle's pewter castings, you've seen my Coyle fired with live rounds on You Tube, so it can be done, and safely, but it's a hell of a lot of work. Tomorrow I'll add the side shroud gas relief ports on the upper front halves of the left and right shrouds. This will take a lot of stress off them from released chamber/barrel gap gas pressure. One more refinishing job, installation of the lighting rig and maybe the laser sight, and it's good to go.

Although it would certainly handle real bullets, the guy with the pistol only shoots blanks through it. I'll post some blank firing pics with mine, because the blanks are intended to make more flash. (plastic .44 blanks are about $45 per hundred from Cheaperthandirt.com. )

I plan to finish mine up next week, take a few photos and vids, and go to the Washington Arms Collectors gun show in Puyallup, WA. Maybe a high roller collector will want to buy it. Would never sell it at a sci-fi con, but there's a different sort of mind set at a gun show. A bit of funding would give me resources to start on a new PKD and my next project, the never built artist's concept of Leon's gun (made from a COP .357 4 barrel derringer. Yes there's a Sid kit of it, but it's not a real gun. I've always liked the design.

Also the more I look at the 8mm PKD gun firing on You Tube, the less impressed I am by the pyro gag-- e.g. the muzzle blast. A full tilt blank round is is really what the PKD and the Leon gun needs, and large caliber blanks are designed to look impressive (but they're also corrosive, which is why you have to clean your firearm thoroughly as though you were shooting black powder when using them.) And if I want more flash, well, I worked as a pyrotech Crew Chief for Northwest Display Fireworks for nearly fifteen years as a moonlighting gig, so I know how to reload a blank to make a gun muzzle burst look just about any way/color I like. Also have a yen to build a motorized electronic monitor VK, which would cost more bucks than I have without raising some. Kind of fun getting back into model/replica fabrication.

doc

[joberg]

Good pics Doc!! Though hard to see where the vents are to minimize the pressure inside. As for blanks, and you probably know , the gun handlers have a tendency to prepare their own so you have maximum flash/smoke coming out of their weapons...not the case with real bullets in real life.

[doc3d]

I was just editing my previous post to address the blank composition issue. I know how to do it from my years as a pyro.

Re porting, probably not necessary for the gun in the pic (but I think it's there anyway-- safety first). Everything attached is steel to steel, not pewter or pot metal to steel. It has a real Steyr, real Bulldog, and a bunch of what look to me like superbly done custom machined (presumably steel) innards. However I think I see a venting port in the pic posted at the beginning of the thread. Look to the left of the lower red circle. That seems to be an oblong hole machined into the right shroud, but I don't have external shots of the right side exterior. That little oblong cut also shows in another photo posted below. Looks also like it vents above the right cylinder shroud. I think I see also see venting at the forward left cylinder but don't know for sure.

doc

[Noeland]

[doc3d]

Yep, that's my poorly exposed video, hosted on my son's You Tube site. You can see by the gas burst and kick it's sending real bullets down the pipe. BTW don't confuse my do it yourself shade-tree gun with the one I posted the large pics of. Those are of a PKD made by machining out a real Steyr SL.

I just wanted to see if I could do it inexpensively, and I finally sat down and toted up the receipts. In other posts I've said "under $700" for everything, including the used gun and new barrel. Since some of the parts from Rich Coyle came as part of trade deals I had to do a little guesstimating, but a closer accounting makes it about $625.

Rich sells kits, including the Bulldog casting for $400, but it requires some modeling and metal skills to build it. And if you plan to mod it to shoot, that requires a quantum leap in skills, because you don't want a .44 blowing up in your hand.

This evening, I'm making a mod (as seen in the photos of the super quality gun) by using a similar process for shortening the extractor rod so I don't have to remove the magazine housing, yet still get solid lock between cylinder and barrel. If it works I'll post pics. If not, I'll send Charter Arms a few bucks and buy a new extractor rod.

doc

[doc3d]

Well I did it. No longer have a push rod extractor, but that's no big deal. I shortened and threaded the existing extractor, then made a brass bushing. Using a dremel, I took out metal a little at a time until I had a secure fit, and of course, retained the cylinder lock function.

I'm in the process of completely refinishing the gun, but thought you might want to see this. I don't recommend doing it. Big pain in the ass to do, and I had to build a jig to reassemble the cylinder with its multiple springs and tiny retaining pin (which passes through three parts that have to be in perfect alignment!)

However, the end result is that I no longer have to pull the magazine to reload.

doc

[joberg]

Good job Doc3d

[Mr Webber]

Awesome.
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Formerly offworld66