Colt's Newest Toy

G.willikers wrote:
Anyone want to tackle how to make a four gun, .22 Gatling style, with drum magazines?
Using 10-22s, no doubt.
Two barrels over two barrels, in a square configuration.
That would be the one.
Click to expand...

I can tell you exactly how to do that G.Willikers. Not that much different from what I've already built.

See my single 10/22 with the fake receiver in my earlier picture post above? The one that is convertible from air to water cooled in a matter of seconds? Okay....just double the size of the fake aluminum channel for both height and width. So that two 10/22's can be side by side and two over the top of the bottom two. For a total of four 10/22's as your spec's required.

The upper and lower left hand 10/22's must have a shell deflector that will deflect their shells downward out the bottom of the fake receiver while the right side top and bottom 10/22's will just eject their shells out the right side of the gun as normal. There will also have to be a hinged top cover for accessing the bolts and clearing jams on the upper and lower left side guns.

You will have four BMF crank fire trigger activators installed into each of the four 10/22 trigger guards. The bottom and upper 10/22's trigger activators will be connected to the other trigger activator next to it via a connecting rod. A sprocket will be attached to the right upper BMF activator and be connected via a chain to a sprocket on the right lower BMF activator. So that as you turn the crank handle, it turns the sprocket on the right lower BMF activator whose sprocket has a chain that goes to the sprocket to the upper right BMF activator.

So what is happening as your turn one crank handle, is that the two lower BMF trigger activators are connected across from each other via a connecting rod connecting the two BMF activators so that as one turns so does the other. Then the sprocket on the right hand lower BMF activator is connected by a chain to the right upper BMF trigger activator's sprocket on the upper right gun. And that upper right gun's BMF activator is also connected via a rod to the upper left gun's BMF activator.

You can adjust the cams of the BMF trigger activators to fire all four guns at once, or two guns at once, or fire all four guns sequentially.

Mount the fake receiver on a camera tripod like I did my single crank fire 10/22 and you are good to go.

That's how you do it.

I could go into leak proof sealing the water jacket for water cooling the four barrels too but that's a secret I'm keeping to myself for the time being.

Here's a link that shows the BMF crank trigger activator for sale at Cabelas....
http://www.cabelas.com/10-22-accessories-bmf-activator-1.shtml

The BMF crank trigger activator has a removable handle that can be removed and attached to the other side of the BMF activator for left hand use. So it's spindle is threaded and square shaped on both ends. Which makes it very easy to attach a rod connecting two BMF activators together in two guns side by side. Then just do the same thing with two more guns above the bottom two and connect via a chain the top and bottom sprockets you place on the top and bottom BMF activators' spindles. Then when you turn one crank handle, it will fire all four guns. You can adjust the cams of the BMF activators so that each gun fires separately, or two guns fire at the same time (top two together then bottom two together), or all four guns fire at the same time.

See this link for an ad where someone took two plastic MG42 stocks and put two Ruger 10/22's in them. Then they attached two BMF crank trigger activators into each trigger guard and connected them via a rod. They have it set up so that each gun fires separately but it could also be set up to fire both guns at the same time. Scroll down and look at picture number 3. See the rod that goes across from the two guns' trigger guards that connects the two BMF activators together by screwing into their threads on their spindles? By being connected like that, when one BMF activator turns, so does the other one. Firing both guns with one crank handle.

This link shows whole setup.
http://media.ak47.net/archive/topic.html?b=7&f=93&t=363456

And here's just that one pic that shows the two BMF trigger activators joined together so they both fire when the one crank handle is turned.
See the rod connecting the two BMF activator spindles together coming from both trigger guards?
IMAG0002.jpg


For a four gun setup, you just do the same thing but connect one top and one bottom BMF activator via a sprocket and chain so that one crank handle turns all four BMF trigger activators.
Then instead of having the four guns in separate stocks, instead you install all four Ruger receivers inside an aluminum channel fake receiver and use bushings to space the receivers above, and below from each other. Install a shell deflector on both left side guns so their empties deflect out a cutout in the middle bottom of the fake receiver and have a hinged top cover so you can access the left side top and bottom guns to cock the bolt and clear any jams. One thing to remember too, is that the top guns would have to be offset a bit from over the top of the bottom guns so the long hi cap mags would clear the bottom gun's receiver tops. Or....you could invert the top guns so their mags stuck upwards. That would actually be the best thing to do for stick mag clearance. Drum mags would require you to definitely invert the top guns and also to space/install all four guns wider apart in the one large fake receiver so that the drums would not contact each other. Not really a problem, just have to have a wider fake receiver.

Much cheaper than a manual Gatling gun and probably a higher cyclic rate of fire too since the BMF trigger activator has four cam lobes it will fire the gun four times per revolution. That means with four guns if you set the cams all the same, you would fire all four guns at the same time, which would be 16 shots per revolution of the crank handle. Two quick turns and you shot 32 rounds! You can turn that handle really fast. As fast as turning a crank pencil sharpener. That's a lot of firepower. And just wait until those GSG 110 rd drum mags come out around Christmas. I've been in touch with the importer and am going to get two of them as soon as they arrive. With four GSG 110 rd drum mags, that would be 440 rds of .22LR you could fire before reloading and 27.5 crank handle revolutions to crank out 440 rds before reloading was needed. That's some serious cyclic rate and firepower.

Your costs would be four Ruger 10/22's (under $200.00 or less each if you buy used), four BMF activators (about $22.00 each from Cabelas), a camera or transit tripod from a pawn shop (maybe $25.00 or cheaper?), Four GSG 110 rd Ruger 10/22 drum mags (will be around $100.00 each), and a wide and tall piece of aluminum channel (price? probably $5.00 or less from a scrap metal yard), a rod to connect two BMF activators together twice (price minimal), two sprockets and chain (price minimal) and your time and some tools for cutting out your aluminum channel and installing the four receivers in your one large aluminum fake receiver and mounting on your tripod. Compare those costs against the costs of a repro Gatling gun. Attractive huh? And you could really pretty it up too with brass work and all. Basically a four barrel version of what I've already built in a one barrel version.

Anyway, that's how you do it. How do you like it G.Willikers?



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I haven't used nor have any experience with those 50rd black dog drum mags G.Willikers. But they cost almost as much as the drum mags that are going to come into the country made by GSG that hold 110 rds. The largest capacity so far of any Ruger 10/22 magazine is 50rds. And the GSG drum mags will hold twice that plus ten. American Tactical Imports are the importers in the U.S. for GSG (German Sports Guns). They currently have those 110 rd drums available for the GSG 522 .22LR rifle. But they will also have them available for the Ruger 10/22 around Christmas according to the importer I spoke with at American Tactical Imports.

So if I were you, I'd wait and get a GSG Ruger 10/22 110 rd drum rather than pay almost the same price for a black dog 50 rd one. Pretty much a no brainer to pay about the same price and get double plus ten the capacity.
The GSG drum having 110 rds will be the ONLY Ruger 10/22 mag currently that exceeds 50 rds. I've personally seen my friends GSG 522 rifle's 110 rd drum mag, and it is a well made quality piece. It will be the exact same drum mag only with its top made to fit the Ruger 10/22. The GSG 10/22 110 rd drums are already out in Germany but just haven't gotten to the U.S. yet.

Check out this link for the GSG 110 rd drum for the GSG 522 rifle. It will be the same drum except its top will be made to fit the Ruger 10/22 and will hopefully be in the country around Christmas according to the importer.
http://www.americantactical.us/1585/detail.html


Sorry if my last post was confusing. I'll try to type it again so hopefully it's easier to understand.

You have four Ruger 10/22 rifle receivers and barrels. You mount those four 10/22 rifle receivers inside a large fake receiver that is made from a piece of aluminum channel. You position those 10/22 receivers inside the fake aluminum receiver so that your drum mags will not obstruct each other. In other words you space those 10/22 receivers so that when the drum mags are inserted in them, the drum mags do not hit against each other. But you turn your top two 10/22 receivers upside down so their drum mags project upward so there is no problem with those drums being obstructed by the receivers of your two lower 10/22's whose drum mags stick downward. The drum mags will look kind of like two Micky Mouse ears sticking upward side by side and another set of Micky Mouse ears sticking downward side by side.

Your bottom two 10/22 receivers are mounted side by side as are your top two 10/22 receivers. So that the triggers are directly across from each other so that you can connect the BMF trigger activators together using a rod so that when you turn the crank on one of the BMF activators, the rod going across to the other BMF activator will turn that one too.

So now you have your four 10/22's receivers mounted and spaced within your fake aluminum channel receiver, so that the bottom two drum mags and the top two drum mags do not hit against each other.

And the top two 10/22's have their triggers directly side by side and opposite of each other so you can connect their BMF trigger activators together via a rod. Same for the bottom two 10/22's. Each gun side by side to the other gun has their BMF trigger activators connected to each other via a rod.

Now you put a gear tooth sprocket on the bottom right 10/22's BMF trigger activator spindle and you do the same thing on the top right 10/22's BMF trigger activator spindle. Then you install a chain so that the bottom right 10/22's sprocket will cause the chain to turn the sprocket on the upper right 10/22's BMF trigger activator.

So what you have is the two top gun's BMF trigger activators that are side by side, are already connected via a rod to each other. Same for the two lower guns. So the top two guns trigger activators are connected to each other via a rod, and the bottom two guns are connected to each other via a rod.

But now you want to connect all four of them together. So you install a gear tooth sprocket on the bottom right gun's BMF activator spindle and also install a gear tooth sprocket on the upper right guns BMF activator spindle. The chain going upward from the bottom right gun to the upper right gun on those two geared sprockets will now cause all four BMF trigger activators to rotate their cams and fire all four triggers.

You can position the cams so either one gun only fires at a time, or two guns side by side fire at the same time, or all four guns fire at the same time. All depending on how you position the cams of the BMF activator when you install the connecting rod that connects two BMF activators to each other across two guns side by side.

Look at this picture carefully again. Do you see that silvery white skinny rod coming from the trigger guard area of each gun going across to the other gun's trigger guard? The rod you see that goes across the black mount on the tripod? See it?

Well, the spindle on the BMF trigger activator is threaded on both sides so you can put the crank handle on either side you want. The BMF trigger activator having its spindle threaded on both sides, allows one end of that skinny rod in the pic to be screwed into the left side of the right guns BMF activator's threaded spindle and the other end of the rod is screwed into the right side of the other BMF activator's threaded spindle on the gun on the left side. So that skinny rod bridges across and connects the two BMF activators side by side together. Do you see and understand that?

IMAG0002.jpg


So now you see how one crank handle can turn both of the BMF trigger activators on both guns. Because both side by side guns' BMF trigger activators are connected together by a rod. Understand?

Well, all you are doing is setting that system up twice using four guns (although the top two guns are inverted). And then you are connecting the two....two gun systems' BMF trigger activators together via a geared tooth sprocket and chain. In other words the geared tooth sprocket and chain just connects the already connected bottom two guns' BMF trigger activators to the already connected top two guns BMF trigger activators.

Did I type it so you could understand it better this time?


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Yup, you done a fine job explaining it all.
Now all that's required is the money and motivation.
It could easily turn into a fifteen hundred dollar project.
Right now it's just a pipe dream.
 
g.willikers wrote:
Yup, you done a fine job explaining it all.
Now all that's required is the money and motivation.
It could easily turn into a fifteen hundred dollar project.
Click to expand...

Possibly. But even if it did, compare that to the cost of a reproduction Gatling. But I don't think it would cost $1500.00
Your largest expense would be the four Ruger 10/22's and four GSG 110 rd drum mags.

New a Ruger 10/22 will go for around $250.00
You can pick them up used from $125.00 to $175.00

Let's say you bought four used 10/22's at $150.00 each. You don't care what they look like as long as they operate correctly. Because you aren't going to see the 10/22 receivers anyway because they will be mounted inside your aluminum fake receiver and you aren't going to use the wooden stocks and can sell those on Gunbroker or E bay to recoup a little of your expenses.

Okay, now you have $600.00 invested in the four 10/22's and $400.00 in the four GSG 110 rd mag drums. That's $1000.00 which is most of your expense.

A cheap camera or transit tripod from a pawn shop won't cost much. Maybe $25.00 or even less. The cost for the aluminum channel you are going to use for your central fake receiver will only be a couple of dollars. Even less for the two double end threaded rods to connect the BMF activators. The rest is only nuts and bolts and some bushings a couple of gear toothed sprockets and a chain. You can cut out your fake aluminum receiver using a hacksaw drill and files. A hand mill and metal cutting band saw would make the job go much faster if you have one or a friend of yours has one. My mill comes in real handy for projects like this. But you can do it without a mill, just takes more time. You will need a tap and die set for making threads on the rods and fake aluminum receiver.

That's pretty much it. I can help you with the understanding and what to do, but the motivation part is something I can't help ya with.


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Well, you do have my interest on the move.
Guess the place to start will be acquiring the rifles.
No problem there, as one can never have too many .22s.
Local shows and pawn shops to check out.
No hardship there.
If successful, then the assembly with stock mags to begin, just to see if it works, before getting expensive drums.
The measurements shouldn't be too hard to guesstimate, with the rifles mounted as described - two up and two down.
Now, where did that four pound sledge hammer go?
 
If successful, then the assembly with stock mags to begin, just to see if it works, before getting expensive drums.
The measurements shouldn't be too hard to guesstimate, with the rifles mounted as described - two up and two down.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't assemble everything using a guesstimate for the drums clearing between drums. You really need to have not only the 10/22's, but the drums as well before even starting working on the design and assembly. It would be unfortunate if you did it with guesstimating the distance for clearance needed on the drums and then realized by not actually having the drums to measure that you hadn't allowed for enough clearance and had to re-do all your previous work. Trust me on that one. On one of my earlier prototypes I didn't allow for proper clearance and had to trash a fake receiver I had spent a lot of time on and completely remake it with different clearances.

I've got an update on the GSG 10/22 110 rd drums. I spoke with the importer again yesterday at American Tactical Imports and he told me the 110 rd 10/22 drums may not be here by Christmas after all. He said the engineers at GSG were having a few problems with them and were making sure they had all the bugs worked out before exporting them to here. It's good that that GSG is doing due diligence to make sure they work correctly, but the importer said that means it might actually be winter of next year until they get here. That wasn't good news.


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