Homemade Shielded Weapon System

From AR15.com user ObsoleteMan:

It started with some inspiration from the video game “Army Of Two”.
The main characters use weapons equipped with shields.
I thought these gun-shields were an innovative, if not entirely practical, idea.

The functional components: A railed AR, Havoc 37mm Flare Launcher, Beta C-Mag

Extra components: Molded plastic grip with horizontal & vertical gripping points.


 

After having completed the above, I thought adding a stowable bipod would be a nice feature.
Before long, that idea changed to giving it vehicle-mounted capability.
Mounting via the rear hitch receiver, it has a vertically adjustable pedestal.
I went the quick route, not fabricating a true pintle/cradle or T&E.
The inner pedestal tube allows 360 degrees of horizontal traverse.
Elevation is from horizontal to vertical, but with no adjustable/locking elevating arc bracket.

Who likes picking up brass?
I added a 50cal ammo can/cradle to catch ejected shells and a 3” ABS plastic chute to direct them from the weapon into the ammo can.
Wearing a respirator, I heat-formed the ABS to better interface with the ejection port and clear the C-mag.

Painted and vehicle mounted:

 

 

 

EPIC!

The fact it is made out of mild steel means that it wont effectively stop very many calibers.  The design could easily be transferred to a harder steel though.

Source AR15.com post – HERE


Comments

36 responses to “Homemade Shielded Weapon System”

  1. There is no kind of steel you can use with that thing that wont get you killed.

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      Yea I agree, the shield itself is way too small and wouldn’t provide enough coverages. If it was made way larger though, and out of harder steel I could see it being more effective.

      1. This is the size for a typical gun-shield as used by soldiers today actually. The bigger the better however, lol.

      2. Blake Avatar

        I am wondering if their is any way you could make a tutorial or something along those lines and take a close up picture of the mount?

    2. Not true. Hardened steel is the choice for most Level III plates today. They stop ALL small calibers.

      1. Not a 22-250 inside 100 yards

  2. Oh, this is the same game where the two fighters cover behind a car door. Then pull said door off hinges and walk TOWARDS their 15-20 opfor, all while being protected by the car door from RIFLE fire. (from the TV commercial)

    Yup, that’s good inspiration for a fighting system.

    Dude – its fiction.

    Question – what do you do when you are engaging someone with armor like this?

    Answer – shoot him somewhere else.

    Systems like this are good at one thing – guaranteeing your death. Good luck with that.

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      He obviously did it as a hobby project. Not to sell to the military.

    2. While the car door part is BS, this setup, mount and the idea for a shield is excellent. You move place to place with it you know, lol.

  3. This doesn’t scream hillbilly whack-job gun-nut at all (eyes rolling).

    I think you’re doing a disservice to responsible gun owners and the struggle to maintain second amendment rights when you advertise ridiculous and immature ideas and behavior such as this.

    I mean really, what level of maturity possesses someone to say, “I saw this in a video game, I think I’ll try it for real.”? I certainly wouldn’t want people who are on the fence about gun ownership to see things like this and think that this is a representation of the mentality of all gun owners or gun rights activists. I’ll bet 14 year-old X-Box heroes are impressed with it though.

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      oh god… why don’t I just shut this whole blog down. That way anyone that searched for anything on “evil” guns would at least have one less site to get information from.

      I am doing a disservice to responsible gun owners because I posted about some guy that had some spare time and basically made a prop up for his gun? :lol:

      1. I agree with mike. You are just as bad as the anti gun people.

    2. Dude, Josh – they sell things quite similar to this for mounting rifles and MG’s to a truck bed. It is naturally a good overall concept. Just because some morons don’t like guns or ideas on how to modify guns or even “play” with ideas of how to do such, doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t like it. In fact most people do.

  4. Um….wouldn’t it just be a better idea to shoot from behind cover instead of lugging around 10lbs of extra steel?

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      Definitely. He did it for fun though, so I doubt too much thought went into it past just wanting to get the project done.

    2. Uhm, Will, seriously. What do you think that 10 extra pounds of steel would be? That IS cover, lol. Only hardened steel or similar can block most rifle bullets anyway. Few choices for “cover” will do such. Do I really need to add a “duh” here, or are you going to read and research next time before shooting down someone else’s superior idea? lol

  5. Amazing how some of the most uptight people are gun owners,and the worst are those on the intertoobs.

    Obviously, for anybody with more than two brain cells working and the ability to apply logic, can see it was meant to see if one can bring fantasy into reality. Which by the way, good job kid.

  6. It looks cool, the truck mount is really awesome. And as most of us (gun people) truely know deep down inside, that we buy, shoot, mod, and spend silly amounts of money on guns because we think its cool and it makes are gun look cool.
    So lets not take this too seriously. I’m just mad I cant make one myself!

    1. I meant “OUR gun look cool”

    2. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      Same! A cutting torch / welder definitely is on my list of things to buy and learn how to use.

      1. Use a battery welder Mike, even a homemade type. It will work better than a traditional welder. Plasma torch is best cutter but horribly expensive. A good metal cutting bandsaw or even better a jigsaw with thick metal cutting blades is even better.

  7. Perhaps my comment seemed like a bit of an overreaction: let me explain.

    When I saw this I had to just shake my head because I imagine there are quite a number of people out there who would associate this kind of ridiculousness with everyone who supports gun rights. It’s just like the earlier posts regarding the Trijicon controversy. So many pro-gun people proclaiming their support for Trijicon and their disregard for the beliefs of anyone but themselves that it just portrays gun-rights proponents as a bunch of bible-thumping right-wing nuts.

    I had a similar reaction some time ago when there was a post in support of a man who wore his AK “pistol” out in public. Clearly for no reason other than to try to push the boundaries of what he was allowed legally to do by drawing attention to himself and causing alarm among those who saw him walking around dressed in camouflage clothing, looking every bit the part of the extremist nut-job that people sometimes associate with strong gun support. I didn’t think it was a good idea to promote behavior like that.

    I like this site for the most part; it has some greatly interesting posts and humorous content as well. It just makes me shudder when I see something like this, or the support for bible references on military gear because you believe in the bible so screw those who don’t, despite the fact that there are rules, laws, and other regulations that prohibit such references on military gear.

    With gun regulations tightening every day, it seems like the agenda should be to promote responsible ownership and use, and some of these posts seems counterproductive to that goal. You’ll have to forgive me for my rant if it’s that offensive to you and your readers. I just wanted to express my support for the right of citizens to keep and bear arms responsibly, but also express that not all gun owners condone some of the actions or statements of other gun owners when those actions or statements promote stereotypes unfavorable to the goals of gun owners.

    1. I understand what you’re saying there, but this seems like a bit of creativity to me. I see no harm in him creating a shield for his gun, and it doesn’t seem irresponsible to me. The best ideas can come from the craziest sources, that may not apply to this, but he tested the idea. And I can promise you anyone who truly is supporting the bible, won’t be doing it to screw anyone over. (Sadly, that doesn’t apply to everyone, but you seem to be stereotyping groups of people yourself.)

    2. One must not make or more like ruin their decisions in life based on the reactions of morons. If we did that, we could never do anything ever again.

  8. Bryan Spiegel Avatar
    Bryan Spiegel

    There are no “boundaries” of legality in regards to an AK pistol. Its either legal to carry a pistol in your state, or not 9depending on permits and such). Just like there are no boundaries people who are anti-gun have.

    Heck, would it be so wrong to go out an buy basically what this guy made? 3 months ago you could buy a semi-auto belt-fed Russian surplus rifle with an armor shield, as it came from the factory. If that was the inspiration, would it be so wrong then?

    1. In this particular instance, it is very safe to say that this object is definitely life imitating art imitating life:

      http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg03-e.htm

      http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/3475.html

      http://www.scalewerke.com/images/schatton/panzerschreck.jpg

      http://toychestandcollectables.com/shop/media/250gunsheild.jpg

      http://www.uscg.mil/history/weboralhistory/SandyMittenMG1.jpg

      http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/kk_DS39c.jpg

      … And my personal favorite: http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/GreatBritain/GB-Armored-PoweredQuadracycle-June1899.jpg

      Getting all up-in-arms over someone making a positively innocuous, completely useless, and historically precedented, addition to his or her firearms is just plain silly… might as well start bitching about shopping-cart-style spoilers on cars perpetuating the “street racing” scene.

      Personally, the rational engineer in me cannot at all see the point, but is thoroughly impressed by the fit, finish, and polish of the completed product. The irrational engineer in me wonders if it would be more effective made out of ballistic polymers (kevlar or the like) or simply out of a clear plastic to keep non-firearm projectiles at bay. The gunny in me wants one. And the patriot in me is thankful that we live in a country where such things are not only possible, but they are permitted, and, dare I say, encouraged.

      1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
        Admin (Mike)

        Awesome collection of links Linoge. Thank’s for taking the time!

        I see you and I share the same opinion on the build in topic.

  9. How come when everyone’s bitching and moaning about how unreal the mod/hack is that I’ve yet to see someone think about a rifleman in prone position, or perhaps a sniper on a roof who has his entire body covered by the ledge but not his head? This is pretty much a portable version of a hole in the wall when you’re prone.

    I mean, I am no real life military man, but I would imagine the solution to discovering a prone sniper is to shoot at him, literally head-on if he’s directly facing you (which he would be no matter where you stand, if he’s sufficiently far away from you) and you won’t be able to shoot him from the side. Having an actual shield, provided it’s thick enough or is made of strong enough steel (if it exists) that covers you head (and if you think “well, helmet”, then you’re an idiot and need to know the actual use of a helmet in the military) AND face would provide good protection. Enemy sniper might still be able to shoot you in the eye through that hole your gun inevitably need to poke through (provided he’s an excellent sniper and does not miss), or just very good rifleman (with an actual rifle, not a pistol), but not everyone’s going to be able to take you out.

    It would be impractical to carry a firearm with that mounted on it all the time (hard time holding the gun straight), and it’s practicality might be limited to certain situations, but that’s not to say it can be of no use at all. A lot of tech we use are only useful in very specific situations.

    Granted, a country hick wouldn’t need that kind of “accessory”, but it COULD be of use in a proper situation.

    Why the fuck are the know-it-all and holier-than-thou people so quickly to dismiss something? (well, might be because they are those)

    1. Admin (Mike) Avatar
      Admin (Mike)

      Very good points Rein

  10. I think the idea of this system is to provide a little more cover to someone who is say crouching behind some form of existing cover like a concrete barrier where the sheild would add some more protection. As well there is a form of ballistic sheild that is meant for you to mount a rifle on and use it while being covered by the sheild and this system would work for that too. And as for the sheild I think is would be made out of something like ballistic plate simaler to the stuff that is used for armor by the millitary today that would make it able to protect against most caliberes of weapons. So the idea is a good one it just needs to be used in another way.

  11. […] not holding my breath for a Shielded Weapon System, but it would be […]

  12. DeskJockey Avatar
    DeskJockey

    I like how the muzzle flash isn’t coming from the muzzle in the first pic from the game.

  13. Blake Avatar

    I am wondering if their is any way you could make a tutorial or something along those lines and take a close up picture of the mount?

  14. […] actually posted a Homemade Shielded Weapons System a while back which someone made for fun.  I didn’t think a company would actually start […]

  15. Small, low profile shield is a whole lot better than nothing at all, as long as it’s made out of AR500 steel, anything else is not good for your long term life span…

  16. First post says no kind of steel would protect the shooter from rifle fire.. putting aside that it fiction the statement isnt true. AR400 and AR500 are used for targets everyday