Building Your Own AirgunPreparation Cut your 1/2" copper pipe used for the barrel to your desired length. I have found that 16" to 32" is ideal for most applications. Remove all burr and sand the breech end of the barrel until it is bright and shiny. Brighten up all the fittings at this time as well with the sand paper. The Hard Part, Making the Action Thread the plug into a coupler and thread a pipe into the other end. This will be your air reservior assembly. The length and diameter of the pipe is important here. I have found that a 18" length of 3/4" pipe works really well. Since we will be filling with relatively low pressure (300 psi as opposed to 3000 psi), a large volume of air is necessary to get good velocity. Thread a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer fitting to the end of the pipe. Take a 2" length of 1/2" pipe nipple and thread it into the reducer fitting. Thread a 1/2" ball valve onto the other side of the pipe nipple. This will be your firing valve. We are almost done with the action of our homemade airgun. We now need a way to attach it to the barrel assembly. Set the action aside as we change gears a little. The Hard Part, Making the Barrel Assembly Putting it all together Testing Our Handiwork Discharge the airgun by pointing it in a safe direction and opening the ball valve. You should hear the air escape the barrel. It is surprisingly quiet. Go ahead and fill the gun to 125 psi, the max pressure of most air compressors. Check again for leaks. If there are no leaks, you can permanently seal the gun with epoxy or Quick Steel. That wasnt too bad, was it? You have just built your own airgun capable of producing muzzle energies in excess of 50 foot-pounds. Now it is time to load our gun up and take some practice shots. |
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