he completed BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle looks cool and runs well. The ECO sight is robust and effective while the fifty-round X-Products drum keeps you shooting until you get tired of it.

By Will Dabbs, MD
Photos by Sarah Dabbs

In 1977 I was 11 years old and a movie debuted that was literally without precedent. Chatter on the playground was that the Bad Guy was a huge black guy in a space suit. I envisioned Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Neil Armstrong’s moonwalking togs. When finally the opportunity arose for me to see the movie myself, I sat on the front row in a tiny little movie house in Brookhaven, Mississippi. 121 minutes later I was a changed young man.

Star Wars introduced the planet to the world of Jedi Knights, light sabers, and the Dark Side of the Force. In the process the movie’s creator, George Lucas, arguably did more to advance the science of movie making than any other single person in history. Lucas’ creative genius gave us THX sound, Pixar, and Industrial Light and Magic as well as the video game company LucasArts. As I was at pretty much the perfect age to ride the crest of the Star Wars phenomenon, I’ve always been a fan.

Hardware

The original Star Wars movie was shot in England on a fairly modest budget and the weapons used in the movie were of European origin as a result. Han Solo’s Blaster was at its heart a Mauser Bolo Broomhandle and the heavy weapons used by the Imperial Stormtroopers were essentially unmodified MG34 machineguns. The small arms used by the archetypal white-clad galactic thugs were, according to the backstory, BlasTech E-11 Blasters.

The E-11 is a heavily modified L34 Sterling submachinegun that incorporates cooling fins on the front and an optical sight that originally came from a British tank. The guns used in the original films were blanked for theatrical use. Astute observers can spot empty casings flying from the guns during action sequences in the early movies. I built a facsimile of the original E-11 Blaster out of a registered full auto Sterling submachinegun and it remains one of the most prized pieces in my modest gun collection.

Now fast-forward 38 years and Star Wars has yet again captured the imagination of the planet. In the spirit of the newest Star Wars Episode 7, it seemed time to retreat to the workshop and build ourselves a BlasTech E-15. This Heavy Blaster Rifle is suitable for arming Stormtroopers in combat on the ice planet of Hoth, the Desert wastes of Tatooine, or the hardscrabble tenements of Coruscant. Wherever the First Order’s forces of oppression operate, the BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster enforces their dark will.

Raw Material

Eugene Stoner’s AR15 rifle has been modified, chopped, extended, and otherwise molested unlike any other firearm in military history. As there are literally countless barrel lengths, buttstocks, magazines, and accessories available for this most versatile of rifles, the ubiquitous AR was the obvious starting point for our build. The modular nature of the design makes it easy to customize without a lot of dedicated tools.

We used a set of AR15 building fixtures from Present Arms to facilitate our project. While you can build one of these rifles with nothing more than a shop vice and some basic hand tools, the Present Arms fixtures are precision milled out of an indestructible non-marring polymer and provide that third hand you need to manage some of the more tedious aspects of building an AR rifle at home. The process is completely safe so long as even the most basic attention is paid to construction details and YouTube can address any specific quandaries that might arise.

We started with a basic no-frills M4-style rifle because it was cheap. We chose a lower receiver wherein the right side of the magazine well was left bare to accept the insignia of the Galactic Empire. The first step was to disassemble the upper receiver into its component parts. These pieces could have been purchased separately but they are cheaper when bought as a kit. I cut the front sight base down using a cutoff wheel on a table saw.

For a buttstock we settled on a clubfoot polymer stock from Choate. Choate is a respected stock and accessory manufacturer located in Arkansas and their products are both innovative and robust. They produce the side-folding polymer stock HK chose for their MP5K PDW submachinegun. The M16 clubfoot stock looks cool and is robust enough for hard use from the forests of the Endor moon to the unforgiving vacuum of space. The Choate stock comes stripped and requires an M16A1 buttplate and similar accoutrements for completion.

NCStar offers an extensive selection of reasonably priced tactical accessories for the shooter on a budget. Their extended keymod rail reaches out to the end of a standard 16-inch carbine barrel and gave us plenty of real estate for movie prop window dressing. To add a bit of flare we picked up some raw aluminum u-channel stock from our local home supply store and mounted it at the 2, 4, 8, and 10-o’clock positions using standard machine screws. The braided stainless steel vent tubes purportedly included to vent cooling gases from the plasma generator forward are actually matching water fill hoses intended for a domestic ice maker.

The NCStar ECO tactical sight began as an idea on a napkin and offers some truly nifty real-world capabilities at a reasonable price. The sight sports a 4X magnification as well as an integral green laser, back up iron sights, and soft red and white navigation lights. The reticle is battery illuminated and there is a mounting point on the top for a micro red dot optic. The entire unit is hardened and the glass is nice and clear. Everything feeds from a common CR123 battery. On top of all that, the ECO exudes a diabolically cool science fiction ambience.

Inteliscope produces a cell phone mount for a standard tactical rail. While this might theoretically give you access to your favorite tunes during tactical operations, the real strength arises when the mount is combined with the FLIR One attachment on your cell phone. The FLIR One turns your cell phone camera into a legitimate thermal sight and apps from both FLIR and Inteliscope optimize the device for use as a tactical tool.

To provide a certain aesthetic balance we mounted up a standard 5.5-inch CAR15 flash suppressor. Our Imperial Blaster feeds from a skeletonized X-Products 50-round drum magazine. The X-Products drum is maintenance free, loading from the top with a large front-mounted wheel to manage spring tension. It has been reliable with everything we could find to run through it and sealed versions are available for those who might want to use them for more serious pursuits.

Set Dressing

The primary color theme for Imperial Stormtroopers is white despite the fact that they operate frequently in desert and jungle environments. As a result, flat white was the color we chose for the majority of our blaster rifle. Your local auto parts store will carry ceramic-based high-heat engine block paint in spray cans. This stuff sells for less than ten bucks a can and, when properly cured, produces a finish that rivals the most expensive dedicated gun finish products. Thoroughly degrease all the parts before beginning and carefully mask off areas you want left black with some quality masking tape.

The insignia of the Galactic Empire is a bit tedious but nicely geometric. To produce a template of this design just lay some masking tape out on a piece of wax paper and draw the insignia out with a compass and ruler. Carefully measure the magazine well on the rifle to determine the maximum diameter. Once the design is drawn just cut it out with an X-Acto knife, peel off the wax paper, and position it in place. Press the edges down nice and tight before spraying the receiver white and it will produce a great end result. Spray a little paint into the can lid and apply it with a Q-Tip or toothpick if you need to camouflage minor mistakes.

Once the spray paint has air-dried it must be heat cured for maximum toughness. This can theoretically be undertaken in your wife’s oven though, if you do so, you will have likely eaten your last home-baked chocolate chip cookie. In this case the parts can be cooked in a cheap box-store toaster oven as well. We left the resulting parts pristine but if you prefer a more combat-proven look you can run over everything with a little fine grit sandpaper. This takes the light colors off the high spots and leaves a been-there-done-that sort of ambience.

Once properly cooked the flat white had just a bit of a tan flavor such that the plastic stock ended up a markedly different hue. While that bothered me a bit at the beginning the resulting spectral discordance actually looks kind of cool. We stenciled out a unit designation using the most appropriate font we could find and improvised a digital identification block using a cardboard stencil and a Sharpie marker. Be forewarned that the curing process for the paint involves temperatures of 550 to 600 deg F and can warp your rails if they are too thin.

Range Time with a Star Wars Blaster

The resulting blaster rifle ran flawlessly with anything we could stuff into it. The cool-looking ECO sight runs as well as it looks and dropped our rounds on target out past 200 meters. The laser and navigation lights make the rifle remarkably effective out here in the Real World. The aluminum faux cooling fins actually do a fine job of keeping your sensitive fingers away from the hot barrel. I would be completely comfortable stowing our BlasTech E-15 Imperial Heavy Blaster at my bedside for those times when the dog just won’t shut up at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Building an AR rifle at home has never been easier and the capacity to customize the gun with various tactical widgets and then color coordinate the whole shebang just adds to the fun. Building up something that legitimately looks like it stepped off the set of a science fiction movie makes the project even better. Be creative, have fun, and May the Force be With You…

www.xproducts.com
www.presentarmsinc.com
www.riflestock.com
www.inteliscopes.com
www.ncstar.com

The New BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle brings unprecedented combat capabilities to the Stormtrooper in contact. Longer range, better fire control, stabilized optics, a thermal detection suite, and improved armor penetration are all combined into a tactical package that is 10 grams lighter than the legacy E-11 that it replaces.

By Will Dabbs, MD
Photos by Sarah Dabbs

The venerable BlasTech E-11 Blaster was an undeniably tried and true weapon system. Striking a tactical balance between power and portability, the E-11 armed the Stormtrooper Legions throughout the Galactic Empire’s sphere of influence. Whether the area of operations be the jungles of Kashyyyk, the desert wastes of Tatooine, the frigid arctic plains of Hoth, Boarding/Search/Seizure missions aboard captured vessels, or in the vacuum of space itself, the E-11 has rendered yeoman’s service. However, as is the case with perhaps every weapon known save the Jedi Lightsaber, there is always room for improvement.

The popularity of the E-11 arose predominantly from its portability. At its heart a particle beam projector, the E-11 included an integral optical sighting array as well as an infinitely adjustable power setting. When used in areas of limited visibility and away from the image intensifiers built into the standard Stormtrooper armor, the optical sight of the E-11 allowed respectable visibility independent of illumination. The controls of the E-11 allowed instant fire selection ranging from stun settings selectable for the physiology of the target all the way up to full power bolts adequate to burn through up to 5cm of tempered iridium armor.

The BlasTech E-11 was itself a development of the warhorse DC-15 Blaster that saw widespread usage during the Clone Wars. The E-11 was purpose-designed to address the combat shortcomings intrinsic to this effective but bulky Infantry combat weapon. While operational DC-15’s still turn up from time to time in the hands of terrorists, criminals, warlords, and thugs, this antiquated weapon has been completely supplanted in the armament stores of the Legions.

While there are countless veteran Stormtroopers now mustered out of the Legions who would no doubt take issue with the claim, the E-11 has always suffered from a few serious deficiencies. Among them, the E-11 had a limited range due to its abbreviated beam focusing array as well as spotty accuracy beyond CQB (Close Quarters Battle) distances. Any Stormtrooper who saw service on Hoth and had to face Rebel Irregulars armed with their antiquated but powerful Mk 47 Blaster Rifles will recall the range advantage Rebel forces held during these operations in open terrain.

Now armaments engineers working under the auspices of the First Order have finally developed an adequate replacement for the standby E-11. As is well known, the First Order arose from the chaos that befell the Empire after the untimely demise of our Emperor, may his dark soul find eternal peace, at the hands of the renegade traitor Darth Vader. It is the turmoil that spawned from these sordid events that set back the development schedule of the new E-15 until now.

BlasTech—A Legacy of Armament Innovation

BlasTech, short for Blaster Technologies, began life as a consortium of arms manufacturers maintaining its corporate headquarters on Coruscant. BlasTech’s primary production facility has always been located on Geonosis for its responsible and industrious workforce combined with ample raw materials. When BlasTech production could not keep up with demand, the E-11 was produced under license by both the Soru-Suub and Merr-Sonn corporations on their respective home worlds as well as the Terran concern Anderson Manufacturing. E-11 Blasters may be found in Legion arms rooms bearing markings from all four companies. Unsubstantiated scuttlebutt notwithstanding, subcontracted Blasters are truly interchangeable with the original BlasTech variants. License-produced versions meet the same stringent standards of quality, reliability, and effectiveness as the original BlasTechs.

What is not so commonly known is that BlasTech produces larger caliber weapons as well. BlasTech has filled contracts for the Turbolaser space defense systems used on fixed Imperial facilities as well as the fast-firing powerguns used on both TIE fighter as well as TIE interceptor platforms. With this established legacy of quality and innovation in weapons design and production, BlasTech was uniquely positioned to develop and produce the new E-15 Blaster Rifle that will itself eventually supplant the E-11.

The E-15 Heavy Blaster, the Next Generation in Stormtrooper Small Arms

The first thing any seasoned veteran notices when he hefts the new E-15 for the first time is that, compared to the E-11, the E-15 is big. Where previously the E-11 could be hung from a belt carrier when a Trooper was in garrison or performing maintenance or administrative tasks, the new E-15 must be managed on a sling. However, widespread use of cutting edge polymers and ceramics in its construction gives the E-15 a paltry weight of 3.1 kilos. Any Stormtrooper who has force marched with an E-11 will note with satisfaction that this is actually 10 grams lighter than the smaller weapon it replaces. While the extra length has been a cause for concern, particularly among units requiring operations in tight spaces like built-up areas or airlocks, the additional capabilities that the E-15 brings to the table more than offset its size penalty.

The E-15 Heavy Blaster has a markedly more advanced beam focusing system that allows the Stormtrooper so equipped to bring lethal and effective fires on target well beyond what would typically be considered line of sight limitations. This feature alone results in markedly more effective applications in areas characterized by mist, dust, or vegetation that might otherwise disperse the beam of the less powerful E-11. The maximum effective range of the E-15 is actually almost twice that of the E-11 with commensurately better armor-piercing and anti-aircraft/spacecraft capabilities. The E-15 Heavy Blaster allows the individual Stormtrooper access to man-portable firepower adequate to down light attack and fighter craft as far as his sensors might allow detection.

To take advantage of this increased long-range lethality, BlasTech has partnered with NCStar to produce an integrated targeting suite for the new Heavy Blaster Rifle. NCStar has an established reputation for innovative illumination, sighting, and target designation systems. Additionally, their reliable combination of effectiveness and reasonable cost is always appealing to First Order comptrollers.

The NCStar ECO (Enhanced Combat Optic) sight combines 4-power visible spectrum magnification with an onboard focused-beam target designator and dual-mode visible illumination options. All systems operate off of a common power supply and there is mounting space on the top for an additional piggyback CQB sight for use at bad breath ranges.

The clubfoot polymer stock is the brainchild of Choate stocks, a Terran company with a long history of producing rugged Blaster components. Their stocks and accessories have been used on a variety of combat-proven weapon systems. The Choate clubfoot stock provides a reliable cheek weld for accurate fire as well as a handy gripping surface for applications wherein the E-15 is employed from fixed emplacements in the heavy fire support role.

Magazines for the new E-15 come from X-Products. X-Products produces ammunition feed devices for a wide array for small arms in both solid and skeletonized versions. Skeletonized drums allow the Stormtrooper in contact a quick reference to ammunition remaining while simultaneously reducing weight. X-Products is at the very cutting edge of ammunition feed devices for directed energy weapons.

Integral forend rails, also from NCStar, allow easy mounting of any standard Imperial accessories ranging from navigation systems to less-than-lethal attachments. Inteliscope produces an applique thermal sighting system for the E-15 that allows tracking and targeting of homoeothermic targets in any environment independent of battlefield obscurants. The Stormtrooper so equipped remains markedly more capable than his forebears.

Controls are simplified over the E-11 to allow faster manipulation while under stress. The basic E-15 comes in a white ceramic finish composed of the same near-indestructible composite that makes up modern Stormtrooper armor. For operations in jungle, desert, aquatic, or space environments the E-15 may be oversprayed with alternative colors as necessary.

Range Report

The integral power selection rheostat allows the BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle to be configured for available range facilities. When used by recruits in the training Legions lockouts prevent the E-15 from operating at lethal power levels. In a combat environment the individual Stormtrooper can manage plasma levels quickly and easily. Maximum settings should be reserved solely for combat. On standard range settings accuracy and recoil mimic combat power without so much collateral risk to range facilities. In our case we ran the E-15 through basic combat protocols for both accuracy and maneuverability at ranges from contact out to 1,200 meters using the ECO image enhancement suite.

For starters the E-15 Heavy Blaster is indeed a much more stable platform than the stubby E-11. There is no more fumbling with collapsible stocks or craning to utilize the weapon’s sights. The E-15 lends itself to a repeatable cheek weld both within the standard Stormtrooper helmet and without. The E-15 is responsive and maneuverable during MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) scenarios and the new high-capacity drum magazine will power the weapon for literally hours on moderate energy settings. While the E-15 Heavy Blaster is an effective and formidable close range weapon, where it really shines is against more distant targets.

The Enhanced Combat Optic makes for first round hits out as far as sensors can visualize. As the E-15 is a directed energy weapon it is immune to gravitational and wind effects. The new smart technology built into the NCStar ECO sight allows the Stormtrooper to lock the E-15 Heavy Blaster onto a target and clear the weapon for firing. The E-15 then instantly calculates an optimal firing solution and actually fires a bolt automatically when the weapon has clear line of sight to the target. This feature alone is sufficient to keep an enemy occupied at distance such that indirect fire weapons and air support may be employed. When properly utilized, the E-15 Heavy Blaster eliminates the need for the close fight, something about which Stormtroopers of campaigns past could only dream.

Big Picture

The new BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle is a true combat multiplier that allows the contemporary Stormtrooper to do more with less. Thusly equipped, modern Stormtroopers are more agile, more precise, and more lethal than their predecessors armed with the legacy E-11. The fall of the Galactic Empire and the pyrrhic rise of Rebel authority in so many diverse systems have made the peacekeeping mission of the modern Stormtrooper markedly more complex than was previously the case. In today’s fluid battlespace, Stormtroopers must remain flexible and seize the initiative. With the E-15, modern mobile Stormtrooper Legions are poised to do just that.

The Stormtrooper legions are all that stand between order and chaos. When properly trained, equipped, and led, this versatile force can enforce the will of the government anywhere and anytime in any environment. More than any other piece of equipment, a Stormtrooper’s individual weapon is his constant companion, his measure of authority, and the single most critical component of his survival. Now that the BlasTech E-15 Heavy Blaster Rifle is seeing general issue, the Stormtrooper Legions are finally positioned to enforce tranquility throughout the galaxy.

www.ncstar.com
www.riflestock.com
www.inteliscopes.com

The Walther CCP employs an unconventional application of fairly conventional firearms technology and in so doing revolutionizes the concept of concealed carry handguns. By incorporating a reversed gas piston to retard recoil forces the engineers at Walther designed a tiny gun that still manages large cartridges comfortably.

By Will Dabbs MD
Photos by Sarah Dabbs

What would happen if you took the chassis from a lightweight, polymer-framed Walther P22, arguably the most popular .22 pistol in the country, and re-chambered it as a direct blowback 9mm? Dislocated fingers? Broken bones? The resulting gun might even eventually explode. Who knows, the local Orthopedist might finally get his boat paid off.

Well what if you took the gas piston from a Kalashnikov or FN FAL, miniaturized it, flipped it around backwards, and then pinned it to the front of the slide? Now you have a 9mm P22 that fits the human hand just about perfectly, launches serious bullets, shoots sweet, and in a pinch rides in the front pocket of a pair of jeans. In short, it is a truly revolutionary concealed carry pistol.

Carl Walther was a firearms luminary. His PP and PPK introduced the world to the single action/double action trigger system used in most of the world’s autoloading handguns in the pre-Glock era. These ground breaking pocket pistols came of age in the 1930’s and melded the concealability of an autoloader with the safety and convenience of a double action revolver. The subsequent P38 was arguably the most advanced service pistol of World War II.

In the years since the Second World War, Walther has been a consistent innovator in modern firearms design. The Walther MPL and MPK submachine guns represented the state of the art in the immediate post-war years and their combat handguns in the modern era are as good as they get. While James Bond is not a real guy, his tastes in firearms are well-vetted. Whether it is a customized PPK/S or a tricked out suppressed P99, 007’s handguns always seem to have Walther engraved on the slide.

Raising the Bar

It has been my lot to see a fair number of gunshot wounds up close. While I have carried quite a few .380 handguns myself, the argument could be made that for serious social work nothing less than a 9mm firing heavy 147-grain bullets is really consistently up to the task. The challenge is that, while the 9mm may seem anemic in an MP40 or an MP5, in a true pocket pistol this zippy little round can be punishing.

There are several accepted ways to ameliorate the recoil forces of a firearm. The most basic is manifest in the aforementioned Walther PPK and involves simply configuring a beefy slide and firm spring adequate to handle the recoil forces involved. While this approach works and it does lend itself to mounting a sound suppressor, the resulting guns can be heavy and exhibit snappy recoil, even in modest calibers.

The second broad approach is to contrive a mechanism that locks the barrel and slide together at the moment of firing such that these two major components recoil briefly as a unit before separating to enable ejection and feeding of a subsequent cartridge. While there are literally dozens of variations on this theme, most combat handguns in the world today subscribe to some variation of this locked-breech recoil mechanism.

It was the inimitable John Moses Browning who first observed the grass laying down in front of a firearm being discharged and had the epiphany that this wasted energy could be harnessed to operate a self-loading gun. Anyone who has ever fired a gas-operated firearm has tasted his genius. Examples include the AR15, the AK47, the M1 Garand, and any other sort of firearm that incorporates a gas port. The science behind this concept is well established. What is most impressive about the Walther CCP, however, is the way Walther engineers adapted this conventional concept in such an unconventional way. The guys at Walther took this basic gas piston operating principle, turned it around backwards, and used it to slow everything down rather than speed everything up. The result is mechanical genius.

Details

The recoil spring on the CCP wraps around the barrel like its grandfather the PPK. The barrel itself is fixed, also akin to that of the PPK. There is, however, a nifty ancillary gas system mounted below the barrel that taps off propellant gases and uses them to impinge upon the slide indirectly via a piston to retard the opening of the action. The piston is attached to the front of the slide and orients toward the rear. This delivers several salient benefits.

First, the Walther CCP is really small. The CCP actually compares favorably to many full-figured .380 carry guns on the commercial market today and both looks and feels about like the esteemed .22 LR Walther P22 in the hand. This compact envelope equates out to comfortable concealed carry and easy manipulation for smaller-statured operators.

Second, the retarded gas system used in the CCP allows for a weaker recoil spring. This makes for a softer shooting gun that is easier to charge. As women represent an absolutely exploding slice of the concealed carry handgun market in America, the ease with which the gun may be put into action is a real plus. I’m a pretty average sized guy with pretty big hands and there are a few guns in my stable that are hard to charge when sweaty, rushed, or both. By contrast the Walther CCP slide is relatively light and easy to rack.

The Walther CCP has a reversible button-style thumb-accessible magazine catch and a pair of drop-free 8-round magazines. The gun itself is striker-fired for a consistent and predictable trigger pull shot to shot. The trigger is long and creepy with a surprising amount of crunch throughout. However, keep in mind that this is a pocket pistol. The argument could be made that a light target trigger on a gun that will be carried in deep cover is not necessarily an asset.

The slide is cut from stainless steel and is available in both raw silver and blackened finishes. There is a discreet manual safety that is easily accessible with the right thumb. The grip has finger swells and aggressive stippling molded in. The trigger guard is squared and undercut slightly to lower the bore axis.

Comfortable Carry

CrossBreed Holsters has established as its forte the most comfortable, accessible, and effective carry of concealed firearms possible. Their quality is impeccable and their designs ingenious. Their products are also very reasonably priced. Their SuperTuck CCP holster is fitted perfectly to the gun
and rides discreetly.

The SuperTuck is designed both for comfort and accessibility. The belt clips are adjustable for cant and the generous leather body of the holster spreads the pressure of the gun out sufficiently to ensure comfort. The polymer body of the rig is molded meticulously to the shape of the gun and is devoid of sharp edges that might abrade skin or clothing. I carry the CCP in a SuperTuck underneath a pair of hospital scrubs 12 to 14 hours a day and can honestly forget it is there. CrossBreed produces matching magazine carriers and top-quality leather gun belts as well. It seems to me if a holster lets you carry comfortably in what is in essence a pair of pajamas it is doing a pretty good job.

The CCP chassis is designed from the outset to be carry friendly. That means no extraneous appendages to catch on clothing or gouge sensitive anatomy. The slide tapers towards the top and the sights are low profile with the expected three dots. The rear sight is drift adjustable for windage and the front sight has three optional inserts to adjust for elevation.

The safety is mounted on the left and is small enough to stay out of the way while remaining large enough for easy manipulation. The polymer and stainless construction makes the CCP about indestructible in the face of sweat or rough handling. There is a length of Picatinny rail molded into the dust cover for accessories if desired.

Concealed carry of a firearm is a reflection of one’s personality. Some will want a round in the chamber and a quick access carry solution so as to be instantly ready for anything. I personally balance my desire for protection against a near-insensate lust for safety. I’m a physician and I have seen some terrible firearm accidents. That being said, with the safety on and the gun in a quality CrossBreed holster I am comfortable carrying the Walther CCP with a round in the chamber. Every cop in America carries this way and accidental discharges are thankfully quite rare. However, most of the armed citizens I met on a recent trip to Israel carried with the chamber empty and they do just fine thank you very much. Different strokes…

Range Report

The Walther CCP really does strike a nice balance. When stoked with some high-end Winchester Train and Defend ammo the gun is comfortable without being docile. Winchester’s Defend line of tactical handgun ammunition sports nickel-plated cases, low flash powders, and some of the most vicious expanding bullets in the inventory. Their Train counterparts push FMJ bullets that are ballistically matched to their more sinister counterparts only cheaper. Using this ammo you can save the good stuff for serious social work and train on rounds that run and feel exactly the same only at a lower cost.

Given the compact platform and creepy trigger I really had not expected the CCP to be any great shakes on the range. However, much to my surprise I dumped the first twenty rounds easily into a pie plate at 20 meters without a flyer. The gun shot quite well. Recoil is remarkably similar to a comparably framed .380 while the effort required to jack the slide is a marked improvement over comparable full-framed heaters. The gun feels about like my .380 PPK/S during the recoil stroke while launching a commensurately spunkier round. We ran half a dozen brands of ammunition through the gun without failures. As always, however, autoloading handguns are potentially sensitive mechanisms and deserve regular cleaning and maintenance if carried daily.

Disassembly of the CCP requires either an included tool or the tip of a screwdriver. The gun is a bit tougher to strip than your Glock but once you get the hang of it the details are not a challenge. The pure unfiltered brilliance of the reversed gas operating system is simply inspired.

Parting Shots

In a crowded field of self defense handguns the Walther CCP is a legitimate mechanical innovation. Combining most of the commonly-accepted features we demand of more conventional defensive iron with its revolutionary reverse gas piston system, the CCP is easy to carry, easy to shoot, and equipped with enough downrange thump to take the uncertainty out of a social exchange of gunfire. In addition, the CCP is also surprisingly reasonably priced. With the CCP, Walther has rewritten the book on concealable handgun design and in so doing taken pocket pistols to an entirely new
level of performance.

www.waltherarms.com
www.winchester.com
www.crossbreedholsters.com

By Will Dabbs, MD, Photos by Sarah Dabbs

If Big Is Good, Then Bigger Must Be Better

Everybody with access to a bit of wilderness needs a reliable and accurate .22 rifle. If your palate favors venison, then you need a decent large bore deer gun with an optical sight. Should you choose to carry a concealed firearm for personal protection, then you obviously need a proper defensive handgun. When it comes to other sorts of guns, however, the scope of the pursuit is limited solely by the imagination.

To investigate something as ethereal as personal proclivities for firearms will inevitably take one outside the realm of the practical. In no other aspect of American culture are fantasies better realized than in motion pictures, so the influence of popular movies on the perception of big bore handguns must therefore invariably be acknowledged. We will flavor our discussion with some of these seasonings as a result.

The pursuit of the ultimate big bore handgun is one of those things that really has no readily quantifiable terminus. In this manner it is not unlike love, greed or the capacity of little boys for mischief. Just about the time you feel like you have found its limits, then some other cool, noisy something shows up on the market to expand the boundaries yet further.

Sam Colt’s Equalizer

The compulsion regarding large-bore handguns is no contemporary addiction. Samuel Colt made a fortune producing quality revolvers 150 years ago and, in so doing, shaped both the American West as well as the rest of the world. Streamlined, aesthetically seductive and ergonomic beyond its years, the classic Colt Single Action Army was actually marketed to the American public before the U.S. military. Heft the Colt SAA while thumbing back its enormous manual hammer and try not to be viscerally moved by the experience. It is hard to fathom why something that looks so unnaturally industrial could so seamlessly interface with the human form, but the Colt Single Action Army is one of the most comfortable handguns in the world, even given today’s modern plastic competition.

John Moses Browning’s Extraordinary 1911

At a time when the world’s militaries seemed satisfied with a 9mm Parabellum round that pushed a 115-grain bullet, the esteemed Mr. Browning simply built one twice as big. John Browning was born five years before the onset of the American Civil War, yet the guns he designed remain in active service even today in the Information Age. Of all the inspired mechanisms to spring forth from the mind of this self-taught engineering luminary, few can compete with the 1911 service pistol.

The 1911 carried American Doughboys through the War to End All Wars and then the 1911A1 served their sons for the planet-wide encore two decades later. Mr. Browning’s powerful hand cannon was not displaced from U.S. military holsters for yet another forty years. Many American gunmen retain bruised feelings regarding its contemporary Italian interloper even today.

In practical use, the GI 1911 has marginal sights and is indeed at the top end of the envelope for small-statured shooters. However, Browning’s recoil-operated objet d’art works every time you pull the trigger and nearly half an inch of copper jacketed pain means not having to say you’re sorry in most any language.

Comrade Kalashnikov and the Spawn of the AK

The AK is an archetype. More than any other physical object, the Kalashnikov assault rifle has come to embody what it means to be Russian. That Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the world’s most prolific firearm is indisputable, but the party line tale of the heroic young peasant designing the Avtomat Kashnikova while recovering from wounds incurred at the hands of the Nazis smacks a bit of the Communist ideologue.

Built in countless variants by most all industrialized nations at one time or another, there are at least 100 million copies in circulation and that number goes up daily. The design is legendarily robust and indisputably effective while being simple enough for a child to use. The misguided teenaged malcontents comprising Liberia’s Lord’s Resistance Army have proven that beyond question.

In the mid-seventies the Kalashnikov got a facelift and the AKM was re-imagined as the small-caliber AK-74. The subsequent Lilliputian AKSU carbine tried to pigeonhole the assault rifle into a submachine gun envelope and, like most compromises, was almost but not quite satisfactory. The weapon is as handy and maneuverable as a pistol caliber subgun but the short barrel, itself roughly half the original length as that of the parent rifle, belches a muzzle blast and flash that are fairly atrocious. To produce something from this platform that will satisfy U.S. import restrictions and gun laws is sufficient to tax the most creative gun-bodger. Fortunately, the good folks at Century International Arms are indeed fairly creative.

The resulting Century PAP 85 is produced in Serbia, chambered for the .223 cartridge and incorporates a lot of the product improvements of the AKSU. The top cover is captive and pivots on the gas block. The rear sight is rigidly affixed to the cover to maximize the sight radius given the abbreviated barrel. The barrel is threaded for the classic conical flash suppressor.

When presented with an outstretched stance akin to that of the stockless MP5K submachine gun, the PAP 85 Frankenpistol is surprisingly effective. Like many of the guns on this list, it might not be the most practical shooter in the vault but it represents a splendid way to turn ammunition into noise on a pleasant Saturday afternoon at the range.

The Cultural Phenomenon That Is the Desert Eagle

If ever there was a production handgun that required testosterone for lubrication, it is the Desert Eagle. The design for this gas-operated behemoth was naturally birthed in the United States, but it was the Israelis who eventually brought the gun to market. The Desert Eagle made its commercial debut in the 1980s and has armed a veritable battalion of action movie stars since that time. Given its ubiquitous prevalence in his films, Arnold Schwarzenegger likely showered with one.

The design is a clever combination of tried engineering concepts that tamed the recoil of the massive rimmed revolver cartridges it fired. The gun was initially available in .357, .41 and .44 Magnum chamberings before being offered in .50 caliber Action Express. If you have never seen the Guy Ritchie movie Snatch with its hilarious commentary on the .50 caliber Desert Eagle, put down the magazine and go watch it now. It will cure what ails you.

The Desert Eagle action is driven by a gas piston built into the slide. The enormous single-action trigger is actually quite comfortable and lends itself to accurate shooting. The bolt bears a striking similarity to that of the M16 assault rifle and the iconic trapezoidal cross-section of the weapon when viewed muzzle-on cemented its unassailable position in movie arsenals. Schwarzenegger’s Commando and his under-appreciated Last Action Hero from the film of the same name, the Agents from The Matrix, and countless other muscle-bound celluloid stars, wearing hats both white and black, kept the gun firmly entrenched in the imaginations of American gun owners.

On the range the Desert Eagle in .50 AE is indeed a handful. The same weapon in .44 Magnum, while indeed sacrificing a few cool points, is the more enjoyable smoke pole. Recoil and muzzle flip are pronounced enough to be comical without crossing the line into pain and emptying a full magazine in a rapid string will indeed put a little hair on your chest, regardless of your gender. The characteristic bi-lobed muzzle flash that the gun produces both forward from the muzzle and downward from the gas port when fired at dusk will elicit the gyrating fantods in even the most jaded observer. Despite a literal lifetime of effort, a legitimate practical tactical application for this gargantuan hand cannon eludes me, yet it remains a personal favorite nonetheless.

Mad Max and Big Bore Handguns Sporting an Unconventional Genesis

To ingloriously paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that Mel Gibson’s Mad Max sporting a cut down side-by-side 12 gauge handgun kicks serious butt. The bit of personal combat that takes place atop a rolling tanker truck filled with dirt in the post-apocalyptic cautionary tale that is The Road Warrior introduced a generation of American males to the sawed-off 12 gauge Sicilian Lupo. Long a favorite of gangsters and similar ne’er-do-wells, the sawed-off shotgun is the only entry on our esteemed list requiring a transfer tax.

A cut-down shotgun is arguably one of the easiest weapons to obtain worldwide yet its practical utility on the range is not commensurate with its aesthetic mystique. A custom-built side-by-side 12 bore handgun will all but wrench your arm off if stoked with high-brass loads. This gun’s ferocious close-range firepower is unmatched in anything that doesn’t pack an impact fuse.

When fed custom-loaded low-recoil rounds or those magnificent Aguila mini-shells, however, the cut down side-by-side 12 bore has some legitimate practical applications. Thirteen deceased water moccasins have fallen to my particular copy in defense of my rural Mississippi farm. However, the trigger guard on my custom gun has drawn blood more than a few times and the rare unfortunate who touches off both barrels at once had better have a good orthopedic surgeon on speed dial.

SIG Gets Strange

One must wonder if Eugene Stoner had any idea what a can of worms he was opening when he had the original epiphany to form a holy alliance between aluminum aircraft technology and small arms. The Space Age assault rifle he sold the U.S. Air Force in the late 1950s, with its aluminum receivers and black plastic furniture, turned the gun world on its ear.

The SIG P516 pushes the very edges of the technical and legal envelope unlike any of its predecessors. The lower receiver upon which the gun is built sports sling sockets, a textured mag well, and ambidextrous everything. The operating system is an adjustable gas piston that is veritably immune to abuse and fouling. The proprietary bolt carrier is lightened, custom-designed, and coated with some bit of extraordinary voodoo finish that shirks filth like a politician shirks responsibility. The truly extraordinary feature that makes the gun revolutionary rather than simply evolutionary, however, is the Pistol Stabilizing Brace.

The SIG Pistol Stabilizing Brace straps to the forearm for a one-handed firepower solution sufficient to induce the vapors in the Terminator. When properly equipped with an EOTech Holosight, a laser designator, and a 100-round Beta C-mag, the SIG P516 is utilitarian and intimidating in comparable measure. The resulting gun tucks behind the seat in the truck, waiting patiently for the inevitable day the zombies come.

Philosophical Musings

Be forewarned, gentle reader, that to embark upon a quest to discover the Ultimate Big Bore Handgun will stress your bank account, your friendships and your marriage. The good stuff is expensive, the results will intimidate all but the most ardent fellow firearms enthusiast, and it is the rare spouse who will not at least raise an eyebrow when you slink in from the local firearms emporium with some of the aforementioned exotic iron in tow. You will engage in hushed conversations along the periphery of the local gun show with your few fellows comparing such seminal features as magazine capacity, calibers and barrel lengths, inevitably interspersed with the occasional giggle or admiring exhortation. Once on the range, the ear-splitting report or the muzzle blast sufficient to dislodge your spectacles serves as its own reward. Once the tendinitis has resolved and the retinal burns have had time to heal, it is the satisfaction that comes from owning something truly weird that keeps us striving for the next big thing. When some enterprising American engineer finally contrives a method of launching 105mm howitzer rounds from a handheld platform, rest assured I will be standing at the head of the line, credit card in hand and divorce papers tucked into my back pocket.

www.centuryarms.com
www.hprammo.com
www.sigsauer.com

Scraping together the parts for a project such as this takes a little scrounging. The parts kits are available from several sources. A little serious comparison shopping produced a high-mileage version from Centerfire Systems for little more than a song.

The lower receiver came from McKay Enterprises. In a sea of manufacturers producing AR lowers, McKay makes a top-quality product at a very reasonable price and they don’t clutter up the magwell with a bunch of fluff. There are times that Jack Rackham’s Jolly Roger or The Punisher might be desirable on a rifle but this was not one of them. The McKay lower yields a finished product that is subdued and conservative in a refined sort of way.

Due to the barrel import ban all barrels for these projects must be domestically produced. Original thin profile A1 barrels are being scalped online for up to $700. As the point of the exercise was to build up the rifle and not feel violated at the end of the day, something cheaper was needed.

McKay Enterprises did yield one of the last remaining original A1 barrels for this build project but there is another option. Thick profile commercial HBAR barrels are still available at reasonable prices and any local machine shop with a proper lathe can turn it to the A1 profile without any real fuss. The enterprising builder might also consider just turning down the portion of the barrel ahead of the front sight base. In this manner the end result is a spitting image of the original A1 but gives the additional accuracy potential and rigidity afforded by the heavier tube. With all the parts in place it was time to get to work.

Beauty is Indeed Skin Deep

There are several commercial purveyors of do-it-yourself gun finishes and they typically yield great results. However, the point of this project is to build a respectable rifle on a modest budget so it was time to think outside the box.

Any local auto parts store stocks spray-on engine block paint. This stuff runs less than $10 a can and comes in a wide variety of colors. This product is ceramic-based and is designed to be cured with heat for maximum surface toughness. In the case of an engine block the paint cures while the engine runs. For gun parts it requires a bit more creativity.

You can cook these parts in any conventional oven though the chemical smell will likely taint any of your subsequent chocolate chip cookies until the end of time. An inexpensive toaster oven renders fine service but restricts you to small parts. Regardless, follow the instructions on the can as regards heat/cool cycles and the resulting finish is just crazy tough. After dozens of gun parts and scads of magazines it is extraordinary to appreciate just how easy to use and effective this automotive paint is. There are refinished examples in my personal collection that have been subjected to more than a decade of hard use and still look sharp. Just be sure to degrease and prepare your parts thoroughly before painting or the residual oil will cook out during curing and make your parts look lame. My modest little shop includes a discarded old kitchen oven wired into the wall that yields yeoman’s service for all my martial baking needs.

Pitiful Plastic

The stocks on my kit were rode hard and put up wet. The fiberglass material that comprises these parts is actually quite robust but this was a high-mileage rifle. The buttplate was cracked in several places as were the front handguards.

First, strip the buttstock down to components and don’t be discouraged if the top of the buttplate tries to fall to pieces. This is a common failure point on these rifles. Clean everything well and open the cracks enough to gain access.

JB Weld is duct tape’s educated cousin. You can fix most anything with the stuff. It can be purchased at any hardware or auto parts stores as well as your ubiquitous Wal-Mart. It comes in the standard variety that sets overnight and my favorite, JB Quik, which sets in fifteen minutes. In the Information Age who wants to wait overnight for his gun parts to set?

Mix equal parts of the hardener and steel components on a clean piece of cardboard with a toothpick and then mash it down into the cracks of the buttplate before squeezing them together with a vise or tape. Once it sets the excess material may be sanded or ground smooth. The resulting product is stronger than the original part.

The front handguards get the same treatment. Sand out the flaws and squeeze a little JB Quik into any cracks. I even used JB Quik to build up one of the “teeth” that had broken off from the top cooling holes in the handguard. Once the repairs are complete, sand the handguards smooth and clean them thoroughly. Paint them with high-quality flat black automotive spray paint formulated for plastic and the resulting parts could pass for new. Now use the money you saved on the build to take your wife out to dinner and apologize for making her kitchen oven smell like a chemical factory. (Good luck with that.)

Legal Stuff

The internal parts that come with these kits are salvaged from an original military-issue full auto rifle. The hammer, selector, and disconnector can be readily converted to semiauto only with nothing more than a Dremel grinder and a little patience. Take the notch off of the top of the hammer, cut the tail off of the disconnector, and grind the full auto tab off of the selector. It won’t take you ten minutes and you can find diagrams with the details online.

However, my kit was missing a few little pieces so this build demanded a new set of semiauto internal parts. They are cheap from a variety of sources and using new guts ensures that none of the critical stuff is worn unduly. It also puts you unambiguously within the realm of legality. This may cost you a few extra bucks if needed but it does put the semiauto-only issue to rest.

Cottage Industry

One of the many appealing aspects of the AR-15 rifle system is that the parts just slip together. There is no welding or grinding required and the hobbyist really requires few dedicated tools. A barrel wrench is a must but a conventional shop vise is fine so long as you wrap the upper receiver generously with a towel. Care must be taken when installing the bolt catch not to mar the lower receiver while tapping in the roll pin that secures the device but most of the rest of the project is fairly stupid-proof. Mounting the barrel is not hard and the details are available online.

A thirty-caliber cleaning rod makes installation of the front pivot pin much easier. Slide the cleaning rod in from the left and use it to hold the detent and spring in place. Then insert the pin from the right and ride the pin and cleaning rod through until the detent pops in place. This is important – wear safety glasses and you might consider doing this in the bathtub. If you slip and let that little detent launch into the stratosphere you will never find it again in deep carpet. If it hits you in an unprotected eyeball I hope you look cool in your new eye patch.

There is a wealth of information available for free online should you run into any problems. Big picture: the assembly is just that – putting pieces together rather than truly fabricating and the entire project can be undertaken in an afternoon.

It is Alive!

When complete these tired old surplus parts look and perform like new. The resulting rifle looks showroom fresh and adds flavor to any black rifle collection at a fraction of the cost of a factory gun.

On the range the rifle reminds you of why the M16 was so appealing back in the days before we started hanging so much junk on them. The rifle’s light weight and fast handling characteristics are legendary. Our tired old resurrected parts gun ran without a hiccup through several hundred rounds in initial testing and shoots straight to boot. Zeroing the rifle’s iron sights requires the tip of a live round and is a bit archaic but slap an inexpensive imported clone of that nifty 3-power Colt scope that was so popular back in the Eighties and you have a whole jar of awesomesauce.

The sound of that M16 buffer cycling back and forth next to your face as the weapon is fired is unique among military firearms. The sensation brought back memories of being wet, miserable, and tired after having forced marched to the rifle range back in the day. Some memories are just visceral and that is one of them.

Epilogue

If you are patient, willing to scrounge, and possess even trivial manual dexterity it is possible to build one of these neat rifles of yesteryear for a fraction of the cost of the store-bought version. In the process you can imprint on the project such that the finished product reflects your personality and gives you the satisfaction of having done a little creating yourself. Finishing materials can be as close as your local auto parts store and, so long as basic steps are taken to maintain domestic tranquility and preserve your eyesight, the project can be undertaken on the dinner table.

In these days of copious plastic packaging and disposable everything, it can be oddly satisfying to build up a spanking new rifle from a pile of surplus garbage. With a little creativity, patience, and elbow grease the project is well within the capabilities of the typical hobbyist.

M16A1 Technical Specifications

Caliber: 5.56 x 45 mm
Operation: Gas Impingement
Overall Length: 39 inches
Barrel Length: 20 inches
Weight: 6.3 lbs empty
Feed: 20 and 30-round Box Magazines
Muzzle Velocity: 3,250 fps
Sights: Front Protected Post, Rear Aperture
Dismountable Fixed 3x Optical with BDC

Rules and Regulations

Amazingly, there really aren’t any. If it uses separate ammunition and loads from the front you can build, buy, or own most anything you want without so much as a nod to the federal government. Coehorn mortars, Parrot rifles, and Napoleon howitzers – the world is your playground, go wild. Without all-encompassing government regulation how is it that we are not simply awash in cannon-related crime? Indeed, I suppose some things are simply imponderable.

Interestingly, it does not cost a great deal to get into miniature artillery so long as you are handy in a workshop. The same money that might get you a low-end black rifle would set you up with everything you need to add a truly respectable black powder cannon to your collection. The modest version profiled here cost less than half that.

We selected a 1/3-scale Napoleon howitzer. The originals sported a three-inch bore so ours is an inch exactly. That is the equivalent of a 4-gauge shotgun. This yields a size and footprint small enough to be manhandled readily without a team of horses yet still sports enough boom to put a little hair on your chest.

Now a bit of explanation is in order. This project really is within the capabilities of the average American handyman in possession of a back porch, an electric drill, and a few basic carpentry tools. The components are available at very reasonable cost from the internet and Home Depot and the resulting artillery piece will add a definitive flair to any decent gun collection. If properly executed, the resulting gun and carriage are quite attractive and your spouse may even let you display it as décor in the living room – maybe.

Components

The barrel is the hard part. Everything else you build yourself. A little internet research uncovered a howitzer barrel of the appropriate dimensions. There are sizes and configurations available for any budget ranging from those that launch little musket balls all the way up to the full-scale Civil War-era real steel. The barrel liner in our example is high quality steel nested within a sand-cast iron casing. The fuse hole must be drilled by the user but the barrel is otherwise ready to go out of the box.

Our cannon was a home-school project and it took a day at a local military park to draw and dimension the carriage from the static display versions at the Vicksburg, Mississippi, battlefield. The American South is dotted with these parks but if you do not live near one the internet will provide whatever pictures or schematics you might need. Don’t fret too much about the details. Just make it really stout.

The wagon wheels used on this artillery carriage would be a bit tedious to build from scratch so a pair of decorative wheels from Harbor Freight Tools provided a starting point. These wheels are available online and are dirt cheap. The downside is that they are subsequently fairly flimsy. The wheels are designed as garden decorations and are not intended for hard use. However, after firing this cannon regularly for fifteen years these cheap decorative wheels are still soldiering along. We did form rims for the wheels out of aluminum stock to make them a bit more robust.

The lumber for the carriage itself came from Home Depot. The center piece to the trail began life as a 4×4 fence post. Figure out what you want and design it from scratch. That is half the fun. If the artillery carriage with its wagon wheels and elevation device seem too onerous just build a naval carriage. This design uses the same gun tube but incorporates small solid wooden wheels and can be fabricated by stacking two-by-fours in place. It is little more than a chunky box. If having fun on the range overwhelms your desire for historical accuracy just forget the wheels altogether.

Details

The elevation device began life as a hefty machine screw and a nut secured in the carriage. This is not really necessary, some naval carriages just used a wooden wedge, but it is cool to be able to dial-in your shots. The bore mop is at its heart a cleaning attachment designed for a 10-gauge shotgun mounted on a dowel. A homebuilt ramrod had a similar genesis. Large bore eyebolts mount both attachments on the carriage.

A steel rod serves as an axle and clevis pins allow the wheels to be removed for transportation in an SUV. A little time with a hammer and some small-caliber steel bar stock beats out the rest of the appliqué accessories for the carriage. The internet will provide pictures of the originals.

Drilling the fuse hole is painless with a hand drill just be careful to get it aligned properly. Measure the depth of the bore with a dowel or cleaning rod to set the position of the hole along the tube’s length. If desired the gun can be fired with nothing more than waterproof cannon fuse available in rolls online. For a little extra bit of coolness we designed a lanyard system that uses musket caps.

Thread the hole with a hand tap to accept a standard musket nipple. The tap is maybe three bucks from the local hardware store and anyone can use it. The nipple seats in place and accepts Civil War-era musket caps. An old belt and some scrap steel form a little housing with a manual hammer that pivots on a machine screw. A little work with a Dremel tool produces a groove for the lanyard cord that applies enough mechanical advantage to detonate the cap. It is easier to build than to describe and works swimmingly though the lanyard must be snatched with some vigor to detonate the cap consistently.

There are a few aspects of the design that are critical for safety. The recoil on this gun with a full charge is impressive so the carriage itself needs to be robust. Drill and glue dowels across the grain on all load-bearing portions and use long lag bolts to secure the mounting straps over the trunnions. The mounting straps are built from light gauge steel stock beaten into the right shape with a ball peen hammer.

The finish is at the discretion of the builder. Deep walnut stain makes the carriage look classy and some decent spray paint designed for barbecue grills has kept the tube rust free for more than a decade and a half. Now that the carriage is complete and the priming system in place it is time to retire to the range.

Turning Black Powder into Air Pollution

The barrel manufacturer will provide recommended black powder loads. Never use modern nitrocellulose powders unless you crave a fast and gory death. Black powder is a fairly slow-burning propellant and modern gunpowder would result in unacceptable pressures that can rupture the barrel. Pack your powder charges in paper or foil and secure them with thread or tape in advance. Use a piece of wire to puncture the charge through the flash hole to provide an unimpeded path between the cap and the propellant. Track down or build a couple of simple wooden boxes with rope handles for your ammunition and firing supplies to complete the effect.

As regards projectiles let your imagination run wild. Molds for cannonball fishing sinkers are available online to produce cannonballs of any reasonable size. Your local tire place can either give you tire weights or sell them to you for practically nothing. A cheap hot plate and an old cooking pot will melt the lead. I typically use a propane torch to accelerate the process.

Be forewarned, lead is quite toxic and if you spill molten lead on your foot you will wish you hadn’t. Look around online to find the safest ways to manage your own lead casting and don’t handle the stuff without gloves. Interestingly, a four-ounce lead ball has a one-inch diameter but the sleeve in our cannon barrel had a tiny seam that originally prevented our using true one-inch balls. The most convenient projectiles come from steel bar stock cut into little cylinders with a cutoff wheel on a table saw. They are not particularly accurate but they do make a massive splash downrange. Cardboard tubing filled with concrete works great as well and can be made in volume for pennies.

Dixie cups filled with BBs, fishing sinkers, or musket balls properly loaded over wadding yield splendid service as grapeshot. Old batteries shoot just fine as well if your sense of ecological responsibility allows you to deposit them three feet deep into your backstop. For the most part anything you can stuff down the bore in reasonable quantities makes for effective ammunition. Load the gun with nothing more than newspaper and it still makes an awesome bang.

Theatrics

The practical effect of miniaturized cannon fire must be seen to be believed. Even this modest gun is amazingly powerful. Steel bar projectiles sink deep into tree trunks and the crack of firing is audible for miles. Fire the gun at dusk and the fireball is the size of a washing machine. Even in bright sunshine the massive cloud of white smoke and the inimitable smell of burned black powder strike a visceral cord.

As with all pursuits involving firearms, such things are terribly unforgiving of inattention or stupidity. A home built cannon can kill or maim you but so can your high-end black rifle. The same basic gun safety tenets that drive your forays to the range with more conventional iron hold you in good stead with miniaturized artillery. Don’t walk in front of the gun, be completely certain of your back stop, use eye and ear protection, swab the bore between shots with a little water, and check everything several times before firing. Just remember that this gun is incredibly powerful and shoots a really long ways.

Parting Shots

So, if your collection has expanded to the point that your last trip around the local gun show left you feeling unfulfilled you might want to consider a little DIY artillery. For a surprisingly small investment in materials the typical American gun guy with even a little mechanical aptitude can build up a Napoleon howitzer aesthetically pleasing enough to sit next to the coffee table in your living room. This same gun will launch a quarter pound lead ball through a tree trunk or spray the countryside with a charge of grapeshot. Should your aspirations take you in a different direction you could build a Coehorn mortar that will launch a soft drink can filled with sand into low earth orbit. I think that may be my next project. Stay tuned.