Owen Submachine Gun

[mikoyan99]

This is copied over from the WW2 airsoft forums; I wasn't going to post it here, but I thought people might find it interesting as an exercise in cheap building.

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I'm not playing very often these days, but I was hoping to spend part of the summer at least working on the Type 96. As the gearbox suffered heavily from corrosion, i'm selling that on; but the bloke who was supposed to be working on it compensated me with a minimi gearbox and hop/barrel, which I thought i'd put to good use. I went for the Owen again, as it's a "tube" gun, and one I quite like. The tubular nature means the receiver is very easy to build, and cheap.

The budget for this project is under £10.00. The magazine well and trunnion are scrap I had lying around, the aluminium pipe for the outer barrel was further compensation and the receiver itself was a £1.89 40mmpipe from Wilkinsons.

I've used plastic as a build material on the basis of cost, but also ease of construction. I don't really have the tools to work large steel or ally components well, so I thought i'd be better off with plastic. For all that, the gun is very solid - all of the plasticard is 2mm thick at least, and it's doubled or tripled in all load bearing places.

Only thinks i'm not happy with are the pistol grips and the hop up. The hop isn't working currently as it's upside down; the pistol grips are temporary. The battery is a mini type, and is housed in the after part of the upper receiver.

Still to do is the stock, the end cap, front sling swivel, various filling bits/sanding and painting. I'm undecided on stock type, but the paintwork will likely be the green/yellow camouflage scheme found on the original weapons.



I'm hoping i'll have it finished by the end of September so I can wear my strictly tropical weight Japanese kit airsofting!
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I've pretty much finished the externals (and hopefully the internals):






Missing is the front sling swivel, trigger guard and sights. I'll be adding these at a later date, hopefully along with some updated pistol grips. The current ones, for all of their faults, are quite useable so it's not a priority.

-Matt

 

[commander bond]

You could have this grip if you paid shipping. I made it for my paintball project. I used a hole saw, scroll saw, router, and a belt sander. It's an extra or first off.

 

I notice the main grip has a steep angle (for the gearbox I assume). You could build up the front lower with a partial grip

to disguise  the sharp angle.

 

 

 

 

[commander bond]

I did a virtual pistol grip upgrade - LOL

 

The grip is so narrow that it should be easy to build it to the right shape.

 

 

 

[Inkall]

That is amazing mikoyan. Plasticard really is wonderful stuff.

 

Gives me some hope that I might actually have my own WW2 project (a B?yskawica submachine gun) get past the drawing board, at least it wouldn't require dealing with an upside down hop unit and the like.

[mikoyan99]

You could have this grip if you paid shipping. I made it for my paintball project. I used a hole saw, scroll saw, router, and a belt sander. It's an extra or first off.

 

I notice the main grip has a steep angle (for the gearbox I assume). You could build up the front lower with a partial grip

to disguise  the sharp angle.

 

 

 

 

 

That'd be fantastic, but I have no disposable income currently - will sort it out come September if you still have it.

Cheers,

Matt

[sandstorm]

Had this been up earlier, I'd have been all for upvoting this in the Arnie's custom build contest, but I think the deadline for those has passed?

 

Anyway, this is something we need more of, exotic and nichey guns to satisfy the eccentrics among us.

[mikoyan99]

I don't think it is too late actually. I'll certainly consider entering.