Some updates

I've figured out most of the technical problems, especially the bolt and how it shoots. Found this guy on YouTube (Tacome1942) who also built his own gun, but out of paper. Reinforced paper, made by layering lots of paper together, held by white glue. Its strength is quite like wood, but only a tad weaker. It can be a time consuming process but it can really be used to make small bits like the trigger, sear, firing pin, etc.

Also from him I've found out how to make my gun shoot stuff. Look at this video to know more:



From this video, you can see he is shooting airsoft BBs but not from an airsoft gun. He simply put a BB inside the cartridge and let the primer do the rest. Looks like a primer alone can already shoot that good, just couldn't imagine the power if he had gunpowder too inside. From another of his video I've learned how to make my own primer. I'm looking for this:


Yes, you might have seen this before. Used to have it with my toy grenade, which I load the round in and slap it on the ground to give out a loud bang. It's so hard to find this nowadays and if you know where to get it, please do tell me.

I also need some copper/brass tubing to make the cartridge but those are hard to find too. I've also thinking of using the strengthen paper instead but I'm not sure if it can withstand the combustion.

To wrap it up, these are the materials I'll be using:
Cardboard (for the body)
PVC Pipe (for the barrel, but if I can't find the size I want I'll just use-)
Paper (more flexibility)
Springs
Spray paint
Airsoft BBs
Cap gun rounds (the primer)

I think that will be all. Now its all up to my wallet to decide when I can start building this.

Step 1: Research, research, research...

Every piece of technology in this world always start off from this step: research. To study how stuff works, to plan your building, draw blueprints etc before you actually start with the real thing. I've spent like 3 days just to figure out how it all came about.

I'm still stuck on the idea of a perfect bolt mechanism that will extract and eject shells, cocked into the barrel and out respectively. I couldn't make the exact same mechanism as the real thing because many parts are just too small to be handmade.

I started off googling images of the M95. First I've found this nice CGI-looking image. It can certainly be my next wallpaper but it isn't going to help me much in my project from that angle.


After a few long minutes of googling without success, I told myself why not just go straight to the manufacturer's website? So immediately I went to www.barrett.net and when I went to the M95 page, I'm surprised to see so much useful information that I could use. A huge jump from initially googling to this. They have a user's manual that has many incredibly useful diagrams and stuff.

This picture is better than the last one because it is as straight as my Woody Woodpecker when I get excited. Good for scaling too.


The diagrams from the manual pretty much serve as my blueprint. Pretty much one of the simplest assembly I've ever seen (not so simple when it comes to building it yourself, huh?).






Because of the thickness of cardboard, I cannot use it for parts that need to be both thin and strong (like the magazine lips at the tip of the magazine). Some guy made a working Colt M1911 from just paper but has about the strength of wood. I heard he made paper strong by layering paper, hold together by white glue. I have to try it out to see for myself.

So 3 major materials needed for this project; cardboard, paper and PVC pipe. I'm also still stuck on how to make a working shooting mechanism. I think spring-loaded mechanism is good, so I will go and get myself a toy gun to study more about that.