PumPeDeh PPD-40

[gryphon]

OK, so here is the problem: I have a number of players who are new to WW2 airsoft and want to attend our upcoming skirmish as Red Army in Neillsville on April 12, but none of them have airsoft weapons even remotely resembling WW2 Soviet-issue small arms. Unless we either A) ban them from playing or B) let them run around with burlap-wrapped A-4s and G36s, we need a bunch of Soviet-style loaner weapons FAST. I already have 6 $20 Mosin-Nagant carbines underway, but they are all spoken for already. While the carbines look GREAT and shoot reasonably well for what they are, they take a while to make. Since I'm pressed for time, I needed to come up with a very quick and inexpensive conversion if I was to have any hope of meeting the deadline. The solution? An incredibly simple and surprisingly good-looking conversion I have nicknamed the "PumPeDeh."

I started with the fullstock version of the same pump shottie I use for the carbines, but this time was aiming for something that would look vaguely like the Soviet PPD-40 "PePeDeh" submachinegun (the PPSh-41's predecessor.) The PePeDeh had a tubular receiver/barrel shroud, and was a couple of inches shorter than the PPSh-41 - like so:


Here's where I started, and where I arrived:




for comparison, here's a PumPeDeh next to one of my high-end PPSh-41 AEGS (sorry for the blur:)


Now, guys, be gentle, it's just the spray-painted prototype. I know this one ain't gonna win any authenticity prizes, BUT I believe I'll be able to make 3 to 4 of them IN A DAY at a materials cost of less than $20 a pop; the mags fit perfectly into Soviet-issue Mosin-Nagant belt pouches; and with a little faux woodgrain and some silver sponging/drybrushing, one of these could be made to look MUCH less "plastic-y." I will fill in the checkering and round off the bottom of the grip with body putty on the rest of the run. The "receiver" is just a 20-inch-long piece of 1 1/4" Sched 40 PVC cut to snugly slip-fit over the barrel and upper receiver of the plastic pump shottie, with cutouts for the hop-up adjuster and the barrel vents, PVC "reinforcing rings" cut from a connector and glued in place, and sights made from scrap wood (or aluminum sheet or epoxy clay) glued and screwed in place.

Anyway, I think these will make OK starter guns for up-and-coming Red Army airsoft impressions. Because you can just hold the trigger back and spray BBs as fast as you can pump the action, they should actually make decent SMG substitutes for CQB fighting. Since the Soviets preferred to fight close anyway, the range disadvantage shouldn't be that big a deal if you have enough Frontoviki in your blizhnii boi - as Comrade Stalin said, "Quantity has a Quality of it's own."

If you want me to make you one, I'm asking $75 for a completed PumpPeDeh; or $35 for the slip-on PVC receiver/barrel shroud by itself, complete with vent cutouts and black "plastic paint" primer coat - shipping included in the continental USA.

[Cpl. Hicks]

Wow!
That is just awesome, kudo's for coming up with so much in these shotty's!

[TommyGunner]

gryphon you and I are oen in the same, make a cheap alternative to an expensive problem and make it as accurate as possible with the materials available.

This project is awsome and I love it, it looks.......well fun to shoot, I guess thats what I say about it lol.

TommyGunner

[YankeeDiv26]

Good idea! Not gonna win any beauty awards (never the intention of a russian weapon) but that is a great alternative weapon idea. Just needs less orange'y paint. Any ideas for a cheap drum mag? Probably something that you can just slip on/off over the shotty magazine.

[gryphon]

Yeah, that orangy-brown plastic primer color IS pretty horrible - I just picked up some dark brown plastic paint that should look much better. When time permits, I'll monkey with making drum mags that will fit these. Right now, I'm just trying to get enough made in between working on commissions....

[2nd Bat]

For a cheap springer the low end shottys actually shoot pretty darn good and in my opinion your quick throw together looks great. Very clever.

Craft shops often stock a spray on faux wood finish that while not uber detailed and exceptionally good, would work well for your purposes. Especially if you were to slop a quick thin coat of bondo resin paste across the stock portions first and did a light sanding job and then sprayed it on.

Kudos to your efforts and thanks for sharing. Incidently there are longer versions of the shotty magazine that are probably compatible with the base gun you're using and in addition to providing your gunners with additional capacity in my opinion would look better as well as being easier to adapt into a drum should you decide to do so.

[Schwerpunkt]

as i seem to recall, you can slam fire these things too making them more aptly sub-machine gun like. in that way you could get a pretty good rate of fire out of one of these things when needed. i like the idea. hell id feel pretty good about taking one into battle, especially if i were attached to a machine gun or vehicle crew or was a medic.

[ersatzjack2]

When does all this innovation end? You're a godsend to the Russian Airsoft Community. What next, a russian mg?

[Garrick Udet]

I'm just scared that he's going to show up with a Katyusha at one of our Ostfront events.

[Lev]

Nice work, Gryphon. It's certainly preferable to burlap-wrapped modern arms. Those just bug the crap out of me.

[Tobbe]

Those shotties are relly good guns! i have one thats customized to a trenchgun..Besides the "hold trigger and pump" feature you can semi-pump it and shoot 2-3 bullets at the time,the Fps drops but still pretty cool..Thats a really clever conversion!

[gryphon]

Here it is with a dummy drum mag and a woodgrain paintjob:

[indie]

that is amazing! i wish i had the know how to make inexpensive guns like that! i really think i should try my hand at something similar.

[TommyGunner]

How did you make that wood grain paint job!!, its phenominal!!!!

TommyGunner

[click]

I really like it! Keep the great ideas flowing!!!

Click

[Ersatzjack]

Really nice looking for the intended purpose. A comment that was made on another board and which I am now stealing (yuk-yuk) was that now you Russians have two guns that look the part and from a distance are indistinguishable. As Germans we will be intimidated just the same as if you are all packing the automatic PB spraying PPsh-41's (at least until we hear the fire). But for a loaner or start-up piece you have to be congratulated once again. As Franz would say, SWEET LOADOUT!! ;D

[gryphon]

The woodgrain is nothing but a layer of dark walnut gel stain brushed over the orange-brown paintjob and textured with a coarse-bristled brush (actually, a scraggly old china bristle brush that had been poorly cleaned last time and so had the bristles stuck together in clumps.)

Google "faux woodgrain" for various how-to sites. I tried using a rubber graining comb and roller set, but the pattern was too coarse for my tastes - it looked like pine or fir instead of hardwood.

[TommyGunner]

Im gonna try that on the Enfeild then. Now I just posted pics of my repainted BAR and I want to know what you think of the wood grain I did on it. I want to put a satin finish on it and give it a deep red wash before I consider it done but the grain and texture is what I am going for at this point.

TommyGunner

[gryphon]

This is the most detailed how-to site I've found - point to "Woodgrain" at the right top of the page, then click on "Jojoba Cherry", then click on each square in the step box in the lower lefthand side to see each page of directions:

www.fauxlikeapro.com/learn.asp

[panzerknacker43]

I work for the theatre department here on the set construction crew, and we do that woodgrain for quite a bit of stuff depending on the show. I am not really that good at it, but some people are really good, you would think it is real wood from a foot away.

Tom

[slick63]

That is awesome, I admire your ability to turn out these cheap conversions. I was losing my interest in airsoft but I now fancy building one of these just for the crack...superb bit of work

[glymov]

i dont understand a spring smg// But i have a PPD of plastic too)

[slick63]

Hmm, I`ve just noticed that Gunner airsoft are advertising a clone VZ61 complete with drum mag.
I did consider trying to knock up a PPD38 from one of these a while back but the TM version was just to expensive to experiment on.
I think the pistol grip holds the battery so it should be easy enough to knock that off, remove the top receiver and replace/ disguise it with a new top cover/barrel, mount it in a wood stock hollowed out to take a normal size battery?
The dimensions might be slightly off as the mag would be closer to the trigger but it could be a fairly easy conversion with a ready made drum mag

[Sgt_Tom]

I am guessing the one on top is a conversion and the bottom one is a Real steal one.

[slick63]

The two guns shown in the bottom pic, top is a ppd38, bottom is a ppd38/40.
Obvious difference is the mag mounting, both are real steel.
If I used the VZ61 I`d go for a ppd38 conversion.
Link to the $45 VZ61 on gunners site:
www.gunnerairsoft.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1008&osCsid=1ddd8de49f3ea089da36a72f70b7c05b

[vanhalen213tx]

Wow that is pretty awesome, might have to buy one of the wood-grain ones myself.

[grinch]

Hi Gryphon. Could you post a pic from the back of the stock that it shows the barrel from the back please?

[squirrelcat]

dude first the mosin now this... keep it up.

[joeska]

Thats very creative in my book i wonder if you could of stuck a aep in there instead.Just a thought. 4/5 from me man.

[hedgerowhunter]

Interesting idea. I would have never thought of using a sub machine gun for an airsoft shotgun