Another "odd ball" from the workshop

[1066]

This project was an idea to introduce my grandsons into shooting in a fun safe way - youngest is eight.

So I made this little rifle from scratch just using cheap pine from B&Q and a bit of 3d printing. - It's adjustable for length and comb height.  Painted the wood over in Hammerite and sprayed the grip satin black. The "barrel" is made from thin wall 16mm steel tube (B&Q) then covered in heat shrink tube. Muzzle fitting  and action is machined from 25 mm Delrin, foresight and element is 3d printed.

The only parts not homemade are the butt pad and the rear sight, both of which I already had in the "spares" box.

The Rifle "shoots" a pulse of laser light. More tricky was making a target that would detect the laser pulse and react to a "hit". It actually works very well and the target will defect a hit from 30 yards away. You can make the game/training as hard as you like just by using a smaller hole for the laser to pass through.

The target contains a rechargeable battery with a microprocessor and a small servo to ring the bell.

Pleased with the results for a first try but as soon as I'd finished it I can see where I can improve it.

 

[mel b3]

ultra cool 

[wisdom]

You could really be on to something there.Great idea and build.

[Stephen-H]

If carlesburg did grandads ...

Brillant idea love it 👍

[Diver One]

Another 10/10 from me

[KronKron]

That's fantastic and it certainly beats the "tin can alley" that I had when I was a kid

[labstaff]

That is fantastic!

[Tedward]

That’s got to sell, surely !

[1066]

11 hours ago, Tedward said:

That’s got to sell, surely !

Thank you chaps.. I can't claim the basic idea is new or revolutionary. Way back in the 1980's I first saw a laser gun set-up. It was an Anschutz set-up at Bisley with targets at, I guess, 10 metres, it actually worked very well. I see Anschutz still make the laser shooter but the cheapest variant is around £600 - It appears it's quite commonly used to train school kids, especially in biathlon type shooting.

Being cheap, there's no way I was going to spend more than a few quid so just thought about what would be needed. - Along the way of developing this, I've found two things that I think are new and could be marketable.

I'm pleased with the little rifle, it weights around 4/5 lbs, the action cocks like a semi-auto rimfire and has a nice adjustable trigger. The electronics for the rifle are fairly basic and cheap and uses the laser module from a £3 laser pointer.

The target needs more work/development. It all works OK but the servo used to work the bell is very noisy and the bell really needs to be mounted outside the box. I could also add scoring rings etc. I think the next target I make will be more reactive, knock over pegs or something. 

My weakness is writing the code for the microprocessor - I can only just grasp the very basics.

Anschutz system here: £1,100

https://www.xskating.com/Anschuetz-Biathlon-Set-LaserPower-III-Profiset::639.html

Kids having fun shooting;