PPSh-41: Drum Magazine

The actual 70-round drum magazine is metal with embossed rings for strength (think the sides of an oil drum). Since I don't have a vacuum-forming table, I have to do this the HARD way. I glued rings on the inside of both the top and bottom of the drum ends...



...then attached the piece to my hand drill. I then used a blade to LATHE the grooves into the laminated plastic.



The other side I cut INTO the surface to fake the appearance of an embossed ring.



The wall of the magazine was a bear to figure out but I had an old gift can the right diameter that I could heat form the plastic around!



It even had an embossed groove just like I needed!



Here is the assembled magazine as seen from the back. Note the piece that the magazine release catches and the lip of the lid. the opening is where the bullets will come out.



Same thing as viewed from the top.



And then opened.



I dummied up a bullet from another kit with the same caliber (7.62x25 in case you're interested)



...I just made it shorter from an AK 7.62x39. The bracket will mount over the opening and allow the bullets to feed into the gun.



This box contains the spring (it winds like a clock) that pushes the bullets out of the magazine. Lots more heat forming in the dimple of the cap and the walls of the case.



The center pin has a ratchet cap that holds the lid in place as well as allows the center spring to be wound. For this I super heated some plastic and stretched it over a marker that had the right diameter.



Here you can see the completed cap, assorted hardware and the center pin. This was drill-lathed out of laminated plastic. It would've been MUCH easier with a REAL lathe.  ¶ 1:49 AM 4 comments