2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 14, 2011 12:03:47 GMT -5
The RPD was a Soviet weapon created in 1944 as a light machine gun. It probably never saw service in the war as it wasn't type classified until the 50s and later was built and in common use by the Chinese. It was present in the Korean War and very common in the Vietnam conflict. It is still frequently seen in Afghanistan and Iraq and in conflicts throughout the world. It is belt fed and also came with a large drum magazine. It is more popular than the RPK which more or less replaced it.
I just think it looks badass. I am using an AK gearbox on one and a SVD for the other. The construction is a mix of metal, wood and resin. They are shaping up nicely.
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Post by volkssturm on Dec 14, 2011 12:50:48 GMT -5
You are an amazing guy. looking forward to seeing the pics.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 14, 2011 13:58:03 GMT -5
I'm delighted to have the praise but the reality is I am not especially skilled or talented. I am really a garage hack who slops things together. (thats a fact) but I have fun and I take risks. My hope is to encourage others to experiment, learn from my mistakes (and their own) and do it yourself. It is the only way to own guns otherwise not produced affordably. The process is a lot of fun.
As I walk through hardware stores I am always thinking about items that are reminiscent of weapons parts that can be used. Incidently based on your signature line we have to be about the same age. That is to say "vintage"
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Post by Schmozilla on Dec 14, 2011 16:27:44 GMT -5
The soviets actually did field a few units with one, but you'd probably not be able to use it in a event they might think it's modern, I read that a few infantry units used it in late war
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Post by volkssturm on Dec 14, 2011 17:38:57 GMT -5
Yep, not so bold but pretty old. ;D
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 23, 2011 3:53:49 GMT -5
As promised here are a few pictures of the RPDs I built. This gives the relative size compared to a modern M60 Here are the two that I built. One has real wood furniture while the other has a resin stock. The feed tray cover is fiberglass resin while the receiver group sidewalls are metal. The bipods are modern US issue but I will replace them with actual parts when they come in. The RPD was a gas operated drum fed Machine gun designed by the Russians at the end of WW2. It didn't actually become a common fielded weapon in combat until the Vietnam war. It continues to have a significant presence on contemporary battlefields all over the world. Mechanically these are AK mech boxes with electric drum box mags that feed through a spring tube. It is a very portable light machine gun and these replicas compared to most crew served airsoft SAWs perform very much that way as well. A friend had the donor real RPD used to create the molded parts and he intends to market these after some finish and design work which I have been delighted to help him with. An earlier effort never came to full fruition as is often the case with these things but I am confident this time they will be viable and available in limited numbers. Pricing to be determined later.
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Post by kken on Dec 23, 2011 9:02:12 GMT -5
so sad you have this info here and not on the other site john.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 23, 2011 15:26:35 GMT -5
All in good time. Alex has several things to sort out and I suspect following the article with pictures of a couple of them (M60 vs RPD) posted, there will be questions. These had some serious challenges as you know but frankly they have great potential. Alex should do well with them and I'm glad to be able to help.
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Post by helterskelter68 on Dec 24, 2011 11:52:44 GMT -5
These are so good that i looked at the pictures last night then went to bed and dreamt about them. hahahah Great build 2nd Bat. Looking forward to more of your guns.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 24, 2011 17:45:35 GMT -5
The initial offerings were a great starting point and all the truly hard work (and expense) was done. They were originally all plastic and had numerous shortcomings both visually and from the perspective of fieldworthyness. I revised and reinforced the side plates (using metal plates) and re-did what was plastic in both real wood and veneers and this enhanced things considerably. I did up the box magazines so they are functional. I use a M14 high cap (which I still have hundreds of) and cut them down so only their guts are needed. They have a crank hole on the side as well as the spinner on the bottom like most high caps have. I attached a small electric motor to the side crank on the high cap and wired it into the battery I use in the gun ( (The battery mounts in the butt stock) I then divided the round box mag into essentially an internal pie shape with the top third of the pie able to hold BBs and the floor angled such that they flow into the cut down high cap. The feed outlet at the top of the magazine routes into a properly sized spring that serves as the feed tube and it routes up into the gun (along with the wiring) You have to dry fire the gun initially to plumb the BBs up the tube but once done it fires great. The box mag holds roughly 1800 BBs. It can be quickly reloaded by sliding open a hole in the bag of the mag and pour in additional BBs without taking the magazine off. The Machine gun belt leading from the box hides the plumbing nicely.
Moving forward I am going to paint the inside of the magazine white and add a couple small LED lights. This will somewhat reduce the number of rounds that can be carried but will allow me to have a built in tracer unit when glow BBs are used. I did that with an RPD drum magazine that I had and it worked quite well.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 17, 2012 3:21:05 GMT -5
I discovered through field testing that the drum magazine needed further reinforcement as the existing plastic connection isn't sturdy enough so I am redoing them with steel reinforcement in the plastic. We'll see how that works. These are awesome guns. Alex is moving ahead with the project and should have some for sale pretty soon. I think the initial plan is to do up 4 or five to sell and like me he is keeping a couple for himself.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Feb 25, 2012 18:36:32 GMT -5
I finished them both and am delighted with the way they feel and shoot. Very solid and awesome balance and silky smooth action. The drum magazines hold roughly 2500 rounds. I padded the inside of the drums so the Bbs would rattle so much. I hope to add a tracer element at the hop up so they will be double cool on night ops. I might cut one barrel down into a Vietnam style SOG variant. Although I am reluctnat to do so as they frankly are more versatile and unlike most squad auto weapons aren't terribly awkward or long anyway. This is a very manueverable gun and I can see why they have remianed in service for so long with so many armies.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Apr 1, 2013 15:20:35 GMT -5
I sold one as a fellow who saw them at a nam event made me an offer i couldn't refuse. I am replacing it with a build using the final parts i had and i am doing this one as a shortened US SOG variant. I wish i had a reasonable source for the soviet ammo belt links as that would be a nice visual enhncement. Each weapon only needs enough for about six or seven shells.
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shiftysgarand
Corporal
BangbangbangbangbangbangbangbangPING
Posts: 1,165
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Post by shiftysgarand on Apr 1, 2013 17:10:12 GMT -5
As promised here are a few pictures of the RPDs I built. This gives the relative size compared to a modern M60 Here are the two that I built. One has real wood furniture while the other has a resin stock. The feed tray cover is fiberglass resin while the receiver group sidewalls are metal. The bipods are modern US issue but I will replace them with actual parts when they come in. The RPD was a gas operated drum fed Machine gun designed by the Russians at the end of WW2. It didn't actually become a common fielded weapon in combat until the Vietnam war. It continues to have a significant presence on contemporary battlefields all over the world. Mechanically these are AK mech boxes with electric drum box mags that feed through a spring tube. It is a very portable light machine gun and these replicas compared to most crew served airsoft SAWs perform very much that way as well. A friend had the donor real RPD used to create the molded parts and he intends to market these after some finish and design work which I have been delighted to help him with. An earlier effort never came to full fruition as is often the case with these things but I am confident this time they will be viable and available in limited numbers. Pricing to be determined later. Hail. airsoft god!
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Post by aj czarkowski on Apr 6, 2013 18:57:45 GMT -5
Do the AK magazines still fit in them after the conversion? I can't tell whether the drum magazines are permanently attached or if the magazine well is different. Both are very impressive, the predecessors of the RPK's
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Apr 7, 2013 0:15:18 GMT -5
The drum magazine is heldin place with a bracket that blocks the normal magwell but this bracket uncrews
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