Optom mini shot

Building or modifying BB, Airsoft, and Pellet type of guns. Show off your custom designs, find tips and other discussion. Target practice only!
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shud_b_rite
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:34 am

This is my first cannon I have posted on this website, I thought that after asking so many questions on this website I should actually post something useful. So I present you with Optom mini shot (well hey ya gotta call it something)

This is incredibly simple, it is made using:
Shrader valve
Air compressor tire inflater with gauge
60 bar rated pressure hose
Air compressor male and female quick connect fittings.
2 hose clamps
The barrel is from a $11 weed sprayer (thanks to MrCrowley for the idea, works great)

Like I said it is incredibly simple. The blue hose acts as a small chamber which can be filled to 70psi with 5 pumps using a foot pump or simply connect it to an air compressor. I am pleased with the performance of the tire inflater, the gauge on it is very accurate, it is rated to 12bar and has reasonable air flow. I made a poor harder breach loader using a plastic straw I got from the weed sprayer to cover the hole.

I have been shooting plastic bb's at 70psi through several layers of cardboard up close (wear eye protection) as accuracy with plastic bb's isn't to great. I will get some ball bearings or steel pellets and try them out. I also hope to get a 220psi 12v compressor to take it to the next level because my crappy foot pump says it can pump to 125psi but I cant get any higher than 72.

But yea anyways, I reckon its not too bad for what its worth (about $20 and still have leftover parts). Once I figured out how I was gonna do it it took me about 10mins to put together.
Attachments
The gun
The gun
The stuff that makes it tick
The stuff that makes it tick
My poor harder breach loader
My poor harder breach loader
Last edited by shud_b_rite on Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Airbeds... so many different uses
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experament-u2
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:25 am

it looks awsome anychance of damage pics

i to have used the neck of a weed sprayer for a barrel
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shud_b_rite
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:35 am

Yea I'll do some 2moro and I'll see if i can get some steel pellets too.
Airbeds... so many different uses
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Mr.Russ
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:36 am

the trigger looks a bit weird...

but other then that good gun!
ever thought about mounting like a mini pump on the side of it?
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Hotwired
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:41 am

Definitely a new design :wink:

Why didn't you mount the barrel and hose the other way round? The trigger would then pull back instead of upwards.
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shud_b_rite
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:44 pm

If i did that then the gauge would be useless, it only measures pressure using the setup that I have. Anyway I have actually thought about buying a 300psi shock pump which should work very well because it is a very small chamber. But until now I will just keep the chamber in a coil
Airbeds... so many different uses
iknowmy3tables
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Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:03 pm

watch out for those cheapo 12v compersers that claim to have 220psi or so, I bought one for $9 and the thing breaks before it even reaches 60psi or so, but this was for a larger gun but it might work for this gun, since the chamber takes so short to fill,

if you get one you will have to wait like 10-15 friggin minutes between uses too let it cool its getto chinese engineered @$$, and you cant let run or remain conected for more than 2mins or somthing, a good one will probably cost you twice as much
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shud_b_rite
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Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:44 am

My crappy foot pump has just crapped out on me so those damage pics will have to wait a week or 2 until I get a new pump. Its not that much of a disappointment though, shooting through 2 layers of cardboard with plastic bb's isn't that great.
Airbeds... so many different uses
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subterranean
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Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:29 pm

i like the gun. i really want to make a breach loading system like yours for my next bbgun. what type of tube is the barrel and the sleeve and does this method work well?
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shud_b_rite
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:50 pm

The barrel is aluminum i think, about 6.5 mm from a weed sprayer. What you cant see in the photo is the blu-tak that is used to seal around the barrel and the tire inflater. The gun works reasonably well, would work even better with metal bb's.

And also the tire inflator I used is meant for 90psi but it is rated up to 100psi. So when I pump it up to 100psi it leaks down to 90psi which is kind of stink.

The breech loader is nothing special, just a hole covered by a plastic straw. I made it thinking that I could build some kind of magazine to hold the bb's and turn it into an automatic.

If your gonna build a gun like this I would use a slightly larger chamber (not longer, larger) , and instead of using a dust gun or tire inflater, buy one of those super powerful sand blasters to use as a trigger or a sprinkler valve. While making this gun I discovered that it is important to have a fast opening time because even a small amount of air will push a bb straight out of the barrel.
Airbeds... so many different uses
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subterranean
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:41 pm

Are you saying that the barrel is not threaded onto the tire inflator? is it just glued?
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zeigs spud
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:07 pm

no. the i is connected to a male thread and the male thread connects into the tire inflator from what i can see. i sugest a hopper next time u make one. it makes much more rapid fire and has a great spouting sound that all love to hear lol. :D
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subterranean
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:09 pm

does any one have any good methods of holding airsoft bbs in the barrel.
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zeigs spud
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:19 pm

heres an idea...i liek the second better


you have to click on it for the whole thing or it will be chicken scratch lol


Image
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shud_b_rite
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Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:44 pm

Zeigs spud is right. The chamber has a quick connect for an aircompressor that fits into the tire inflater. And the barrel fits firmly into the hole on the tire inflator and just has a bit of blu-tak to seal it.
Airbeds... so many different uses
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