We had a bunch of students at a prep / boarding school at a shoot this weekend, more than one of which stands a good chance of making Rifleman, if they can get some practice. That's a big if . . .
Finding time to fit in a trip to the range is tough, and firearms are not allowed on campus. So, my idea is to build a dummy rifle that can simulate dry-firing with a working rifle. Anyone have any ideas on this, chime right in and tell me how you think it should or can be done.
My idea is to imbed a pen that clicks in a cheap stock, the kind of a pen one can use to demonstrate trigger squeeze. Then I'd like to add a trigger on a pivot that would depress the pen. Seems like there might be a better way to do this, but it's not coming into my head.
Any ideas?
What about finding a way to mount a Ruger 10/22 trigger group in a Ruger stock, minus the receiver and barrel ? This would let you use a GI web sling.
Some sort of buffer system would have to be worked out to avoid damaging the hammer.
Improvise a barrel out of a dowel and mount your sights/scope on it.
With some measuring and adjustment, everything would be in the same place as a real 10/22. Replace the dowel w/ steel pipe and the weight would be about the same. Wheel weights could be embedded in the stock to give it the same center of gravity.
Stocks are readily available over on ar15.com, as well as trigger groups. I would guesstimate total cost would run under $100 .
I have, and use an old dummy 1903 Springfield that I bought at a gun show. Bolt works, cocks the trigger which also works. It even has a cheap version of the 1903 sights on it.
This is what they look like, but I sure didn't pay near this price for mine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-1943-US-Navy-Mark1-Parris-Dunn-Dummy-Training-Rifle-1903-Springfield-/140734605882 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-1943-US-Navy-Mark1-Parris-Dunn-Dummy-Training-Rifle-1903-Springfield-/140734605882)
http://user.pa.net/~the.macs/PDTR.html (http://user.pa.net/~the.macs/PDTR.html)
(http://user.pa.net/~the.macs/PDTR_files/PD20Navy20full.jpg)
Airsoft.
Those "kids" can get them for $20 each. Trigger's not exactly "match quality" but the fit and feel will be fine and they'll still be able to practice their position, sight alignment, etc. - and trigger squeeze.
Funny, I have been looking at doing a project like this too. I have a spare synthetic 10/22 trigger group, spare 10/22 barrel and stock so now I am looking at the prospect of trying to figure out how I can mount that trigger pack into something to allow paractice slinging up the gun, finding NPOA, and dry firing. As well, because the trigger pack is synthetic, I have also been looking at the trigger or possibly the hammer and adding electrical contacts for a laser sight so that when the trigger is pressed or the gun is dry fired that you can get feedback to confirm your shot placement as well as follow through.
Later, once I become an Orange Hat or better I can use the same setup in helping to train others as well.
The problem is the receiver itself, I have throught about tryng to make something out of wood but I have my doubts about my wood working skills to do that. I have also looked at the 80% 10/22 receivers out there but these largely have rails on the top of the receiver and my goal would be to build this with iron sights to mach my LTR. Finally, I have also considered the possibility of making a plastic dummy receiver but my plastics skills are really non-existant.
I am just starting to look at how this can be done and by the time I am done I might just finally wake up and just buy a used 10/22 and modified it so that it could not be loaded (JB Weld in the chamber of a shot out barrel would work) to make an absolutely safe trainer rifle. Then, the only thing that I would be messing with is the trigger pack and barrel so the rest of the gun would be fully functional if I were to swap these two parts back out.
Anyways, just some thoughts but I am looking at doing something like this too...
Anyways, when I found this here I figured I would share some of my toughts as this is a project I have been looking at doing too.
I just screed the trigger housing into the stock...
so a 10/22 stock, and 10/22 trigger unit. that is it. I will try to post pictures later.
Quote from: CaptMac on May 16, 2012, 11:52:09 AM
and firearms are not allowed on campus.
Since firearms are "not allowed on campus", beware any solution that looks too "real" regardless of the technical benefits, because the last thing we'd want is for the school to have a knee-jerk reaction and disallow trainers on campus! For this reason, I'd keep it simple: trigger group, stock and sling, minus the receiver and barrel. Two eye screws in the stock to simulate sights. Not even a wooden barrel, but perhaps a small weight set into the forestock.
Also, I'd warn the students that the trainer is not a toy, so don't "play" with it around campus or it might be taken away.
Plenty of time to get better trainers into the students' hands, with the school's blessing (and possibly funds), once several students have earned their Rifleman patches, the others are clamoring for theirs, and the students have petitioned to host a LibrarySeed on their campus!
Have you looked at nerf lately? Popular in my house for dry fire practice with feedback. ::)
LV
I don't know exactly how it is rigged up, but the instructors in VA use a 10/22 stock, with no barrel or receiver, and a laser pointer rigged where the bore would be. The trigger pull lights the laser pointer. The big advantage of this is that while there is no sear "break", the trigger squeeze will show up in movement of the laser dot on the target. There should be a way to simulate the actual break with a Ruger trigger group containing a very lightly springed hammer that actuates the laser's switch and can be re-cocked with the thumb. The full-strength hammer spring would be too heavy, causing an unnecessarily hard hammer strike that could damage the switch. With no receiver or barrel, it would be hard to mistake this training tool for an actual firearm.
A dollar store near me had nearly-full-size plastic toy AKs (the same one pictured as part of the set shown here: http://www.moretoyguns.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=4T&Product_Code=KA7744-1&Category_Code=toy123 (http://www.moretoyguns.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=4T&Product_Code=KA7744-1&Category_Code=toy123) ) for $9. With the "scope" removed from the receiver dovetail, you can get a sight picture with the "iron" sights, and a pull of the trigger plays a bad-movie-sound-effect rifle noise as the muzzle lights up. All it needs is a sling and a spacer to increase length-of-pull by about 4" and you're good to go.
I bought one just to hang on my office wall at a "no weapons" University in the hopes of baiting some hoplophobe into trying to make an issue of it, but the fishing is poor in Arizona - not a single nibble. >:D