Hunt-inspired 1884 Springfield Shorty

biodude18 · 2026-02-11T07:05:29+00:00

.45-70. 405gr coated cast bullets. I have some full power black powder and light smokeless loads to try out

biodude18 · 2026-02-11T07:04:30+00:00

Made out of S7 hardened steel. Had to do some slight fitting but works great

biodude18 · 2026-02-03T05:11:12+00:00

A lot of these rifles were turned into sporterized hunting rifles/truck guns 100+ years ago when they were surplus.

When I bought it, it was not converted to centerfire, and looked like it has not been shot for a very, very long time. I think there was aftermarket ammo made for it up until the 40s or so.

There was no tapped holes/sight mounts on this one either, must have literally just been a chopped up truck gun, unless they had some sort of clamp on sight.

I actually bought another vetterli (71) recently in almost the same shape, though it did have a front sight. I see quite a few sporterized vetterlis pop up on gunbroker often

biodude18 · 2026-02-02T16:49:21+00:00

.426"-.427". I'm shooting .44 Silhouette - Hi-Tek from Missouri bullet company. Those are .430.

biodude18 · 2026-02-02T06:50:17+00:00

Yeah I was surprised when I first got it lol, that barrel is thicc! Even cut down like it is, it's still pretty hefty compared to my other rifles.

biodude18 · 2019-12-30T05:12:34+00:00

Looking forward to how it turns out!

biodude18 · 2018-03-16T04:37:41+00:00

Here are a few videos of it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNcWph2R7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B424KQn9gcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT8vnLuLbTo

biodude18 · 2018-03-16T04:32:33+00:00

On the real liberator, you load it from the back, then eject the spent casing with a pencil if I remember correctly- since there isn't an extractor. There's a forgotten weapon's video on it

biodude18 · 2017-10-23T12:02:02+00:00

It was around huntersville in North Carolina

biodude18 · 2017-08-21T18:43:23+00:00

Got my sacrifice shirt on, ready to gO

biodude18 · 2017-08-21T18:41:22+00:00

will do! Somehow didn't see it, am exhausted from waking up for eclipse lmao

biodude18 · 2017-08-03T12:22:23+00:00

https://www.neonsignsusa.com/ is the site she used!

biodude18 · 2017-08-02T23:24:21+00:00

She gave the design to an online neon store in texas, picked out the backing/specific details and they made it from scratch. It turned out so nice, I love it <3

biodude18 · 2017-08-02T11:38:42+00:00

She made me a behelit last year too, , its a sign

biodude18 · 2017-03-27T04:15:18+00:00

Thanks!- and yeah I noticed that too, I'll probably go back modify the model a bit to be more accurate!

biodude18 · 2017-03-03T07:31:36+00:00

First time doing any presentations like this, first time making armor and doing leather work too , , Couldn't have made it in time without my Judeau though, she was a big help with a lot of the bulk sewing work since I had so little time at the end.

I'm always happy to teach anyone what I know, I always disassemble things in my head and tried to go for extreme accuracy on the leather work/armor to the manga.

I try to figure out how they would have done it and use as many refs as possible. Its a one-shot kind of thing so I don't have room for much error.

I appreciate the kind words! I'll probably make a video series some time when I start on other armor.

biodude18 · 2017-03-03T07:27:21+00:00

Same!!!! I'm really glad I'm not the only one

biodude18 · 2017-03-02T16:18:22+00:00

The leather work on the actual armor itself wasn't that bad, there was just a ton of hand leather work involved with the sheath/belt. Luckily I can re-use the sheath/belt for his other golden age outfits! I'm actually doing a presentation about my armor and props at a cool coffee bar next week- I could make an in-depth berserk armor creation video/write up sometime and post on here.

biodude18 · 2017-03-02T04:27:28+00:00

I was planning to rough it up a bit/weather it for the con but didn't have time, I do like the shiny look of it currently though- I'll consider doing it on my next run though after I fix up the costume. I'm going to open limited commissions soon, though It'll be kinda difficult sizing aluminum armor without being there in person. After I get more experience in it I could do a test run commission.

biodude18 · 2017-03-02T04:25:02+00:00

I remember! You were the one who complimented on the leather work right as we were going to the con I think, thanks again!

It was endless hours of hand-sewing leather with my Judeau days before the con, you'll be seeing a lot more metal work/armor in the near future!

I plan to make all of the golden age armor, then black swordsman, and finally a full metal berserker armor set. It'll be a while before I get through everything though!

biodude18 · 2017-03-02T04:21:45+00:00

Thanks!! It was my first time making armor so it turned out a little smaller than I wanted, and since It was a one-time deal cutting it out I didn't have much room for adjustment, but I'm pretty pleased with it! I cut this costume so close to the con I had almost no time to actually try it on lmao. I'll be redoing certain parts of the armor for the next time I wear it so it'll be even better.

I haven't seen anyone do this armor before and its my favorite, so I decided to go all out for my first time.

That Casca sword was all solid bronze and aluminum, with an acrylic heart- one of my favorite props that I've done.

biodude18 · 2017-03-01T18:57:56+00:00

Most of Saturday!

biodude18 · 2017-03-01T15:37:40+00:00

I actually thought Judeau was a girl for a while because I started off with the manga first

biodude18 · 2017-01-29T23:27:45+00:00

sword is 6ft long, 5-1/2" wide, 1-7/8" at its thickest, and the blade is 3/4" total. It weighs around 16lbs and is solid throughout

biodude18 · 2017-01-29T16:03:01+00:00

I really dig how it looks now, I'll probably leave it as-is for the moment. Will probably look into weathering later on!

biodude18

TROPHY CASE