Hoo, boy.
It's been a loong time since I've posted, or even just visited.
Time to fix that.
And do I ever have a big project to come back with.
I've still been thinking of Halo projects, even though I haven't been on the boards.
And the thinking has been starting to include combining some gunsmithing experience, my job as a CAD worker, and my engineering degree to do something very awesome.
I'm going to build a real-steel, live firing MA5C.
I have been staying at the office after hours, and spending lunch breaks at my desk for the last year, and I finally have some models far enough along that it's time to share some screen shots with the folks here.
About a year ago, I was reading about old, unusual rifles, and ran across a video of the internal components of the German FG42 Paratrooper rifle. Seeing how short the action in it is, I started thinking about using it to make a functional MA5. After somewhere north of 500 hours of design time during the last year, I've gone away from the FG42 operating system, to my own custom derivation of a Leader Dynamics T2 rifle.
I've given up on fitting the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge into the rifle that the fiction specifies, since it's just too big to work. (That's where most of the 500 hours went.)
Instead, I'll be chambering it for 5.56x45, since I already have rifles and the reloading equipment for it.
I'm currently looking at building a custom reciever around a stock AR15 barrel and barrel extension, with a custom bolt carrier and a modified AR15 bolt.
This design has the advantages of using off-the shelf parts for the barrel extension and bolt, since they have to be cut from tool steel and hardened fairly precisely. It also will use standard GI magazines, to remove some complexity there.
I don't know exactly how soon I'll be cutting metal, since I want to have the models fully complete and detailed before I begin ordering parts.
I suppose I should add that Yes, this is legal where I live. It will be semi-auto only, to stay legal to build and own.
Glad to be back, and I hope to stay around from now on.
It's been a loong time since I've posted, or even just visited.
Time to fix that.
And do I ever have a big project to come back with.
I've still been thinking of Halo projects, even though I haven't been on the boards.
And the thinking has been starting to include combining some gunsmithing experience, my job as a CAD worker, and my engineering degree to do something very awesome.
I'm going to build a real-steel, live firing MA5C.
I have been staying at the office after hours, and spending lunch breaks at my desk for the last year, and I finally have some models far enough along that it's time to share some screen shots with the folks here.
About a year ago, I was reading about old, unusual rifles, and ran across a video of the internal components of the German FG42 Paratrooper rifle. Seeing how short the action in it is, I started thinking about using it to make a functional MA5. After somewhere north of 500 hours of design time during the last year, I've gone away from the FG42 operating system, to my own custom derivation of a Leader Dynamics T2 rifle.
I've given up on fitting the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge into the rifle that the fiction specifies, since it's just too big to work. (That's where most of the 500 hours went.)
Instead, I'll be chambering it for 5.56x45, since I already have rifles and the reloading equipment for it.
I'm currently looking at building a custom reciever around a stock AR15 barrel and barrel extension, with a custom bolt carrier and a modified AR15 bolt.
This design has the advantages of using off-the shelf parts for the barrel extension and bolt, since they have to be cut from tool steel and hardened fairly precisely. It also will use standard GI magazines, to remove some complexity there.
I don't know exactly how soon I'll be cutting metal, since I want to have the models fully complete and detailed before I begin ordering parts.
I suppose I should add that Yes, this is legal where I live. It will be semi-auto only, to stay legal to build and own.
Glad to be back, and I hope to stay around from now on.