Milestag sniper rifle

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Finally got around to trying out my Milestag sniper rifle at Steve's (Operation Lasertag) site in Wakefield. Fantastic day out with son Joshua as usual. Rifle performed well in situations where enemy was attacking from a distance. Useless close up though! All 3D printed as usual.

Safety Last

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My Milestag sniper rifle is coming along nicely. It has to be ready for the 22nd September when my son plans to use it at his lasertag party. The plan is to have two teams of 8 against a lone sniper.

I've added a couple of features to the rifle:

I've added a Barrett style muzzle brake:

And a mount for the RJ9 connector for the head sensors:

I've plumbed in the LS2020 laser module and this is working. This is going to be used at a commercial lasertag site, which uses Adventure Sports equipment. I have created a special version of my open source UMT code to be compatible with the AS protocol.

I've decided to play it safe with the LS2020 laser. Even though it is a class 1 device, I have modified the software to enable the PIC watchdog timer. The worst case Milestag packet length is around 27ms (all 1s). My software kicks the watchdog only in the 'turn the laser off' code which is called continuously unless a Milestag packet is being transmitted. The watchdog timeout is set to around 30ms and so if anything goes wrong and the laser is left on, the watchdog will reset the PIC and turn it off. So the laser will only ever be on for a maximum of 30ms.

The final step is to align the laser with the telescopic sight. To achieve this I've printed an adapter to allow me to attach a bullet camera to the telescopic sight:

And I've created a special version of the software that sends a Milestag packet every 500ms so I do not have to stand there pressing the trigger and reload buttons as I line up the sights.

Milestag sniper rifle wiring

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Now I am satisfied with with the LS2020 adjuster I've turned my attention to to the wiring. Using the worlds longest 10mm drill bit:

I drilled a hole along the axis of the stock:

Using some 3mm ABS filament as a pull through, I installed cables for the trigger, muzzle flash and IR laser:

Using picatinny rail mounts modified with holes in the appropriate places:

Finally I fitted the box to contain the electronics. This is mounted with a 3D printed rail mount:

Just need to add the electronics hardware.....

Laser diode adjuster: Third time lucky

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After 3D printing my Mk2 LS2020 laser diode adjuster I decided that it could be improved. I managed to reduce the height by about 20mm and improve rigidity. Here is the new design:

Here it is fitted to the sniper rifle body, note that the wooden stock is now stained:

From the top it is noticeably slimmer than the previous version:

Trigger Happy

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My Milestag sniper rifle needs a trigger, so I CADed one up today. It uses a small, sealed microswitch from Farnell.

I'm very limited by the amount of height and width I have available in the wooden stock. This switch enabled me to create a switch module only 20mm high and 15mm wide:

Here are the internals after printing, you can see the cam operation on the leaf microswitch:

And with the top section in place, note the countersunk self tap screws to keep the with to 15mm:

After marking the dimensions on the underside of the stock, I routed and chiselled a recess for the trigger unit to fit in. Here it is in close up:

And complete with fitted front barrel clamps:

Milestag sniper rifle: Continued

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This weekend I used a round routing bit and my routing table to make a semicircular groove in the stock of the gun. The barrel will fit into this:

I need a clamp to hold the 20mm barrel in place. I CADed a clamp with an integrated picatinny sight rail:

This will clamp over the top of the barrel, and will be held in place with screws into the wooden stock. Due to 3D print size restrictions, I've had to split this into 4 sections.

After printing the rear section:

This has an enclosed end section to hide the end of the 20mm barrel:

Here it is with the rear pieces fitted:

It was looking so good I couldn't resist fitting the 'scope I got for it:

Milestag sniper: Stock complete

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My neighbour brought the formed stock today and what a fantastic job he has made of it. It has been transformed from this:

To this:

Here it is alongside the original:

I'm awaiting a few parts to arrive from ebay, then I can start fitting.