1/6/2024 0 Comments Blaster rifle storm trooperEven then, because the MG 34’s barrel could be changed out more easily inside of a vehicle than the MG 42, it remained the primary armored vehicle defensive weapon throughout the entirety of the war. It was the mainstay of German support weapons until it was replaced by the MG 42 in 1942. The MG 34 was designed under the new concept of a universal machine gun and is generally considered to be the world’s first general-purpose machine gun. Introduced in 1934, the German machine gun could be belt-fed or utilize a drum magazine neither of which were used on the DLT-19. Very little was changed on the MG 34 to make it into the DLT-19. It featured a scope with greater magnification than the D variant and released all of its power in one shot, making it an extremely accurate and deadly long-range precision weapon. The DLT-19x targeting blaster was another variant. The DLT-19D variant, which featured a scope and an under barrel glow rod (flashlight), was used by the elite Imperial death troopers. Although it was not a crew-served weapon, its high rate of fire meant that it could be used to suppress and cut down enemies at long range. The DLT-19 was used heavily by Imperial forces as well as bounty hunters and even some Rebel heavy troopers. The assault rifle and sniper rifle conversions feature the addition of the StG 44 front end.ĭeath troopers used vocal scramblers that could only be understood by other death troopers (Lucasfilm Ltd.) The A280-CFE is more akin to the base A280, featuring an AR-15 as its core heavy pistol. The A280C is based largely on the StG 44 the only notable changes being the alteration of the stock, removal of the magazine, and the addition of a scope and handguard. Original StG 44s are extremely rare and expensive, so the ones cut apart to make the A280 were rubber props previously used by Bapty Co. The standard A280 is an amalgamation of an AR-15 receiver with a cut-down magazine and the front of a German StG 44, again with a cut-down magazine. The A280-CFE (Covert Field Edition) was a modular weapon system that could be converted from its core heavy pistol to an assault rifle or sniper rifle. The A280C was the preferred weapon of Rebel commandos. The favored small arm of the Rebel Alliance, the BlasTech A280 was highly effective at piercing armor and provided more power than other standard infantry blasters at long range. The Star Wars conversions used a cut-down version of the Sterling’s stick magazine as their power cell. Firing the 9x19mm Parabellum round, the Sterling was a favorite of special forces units for its excellent reliability and good accuracy. The Sterling L2A3 submachine gun is a British firearm designed at the end of WWII to replace the famed Sten submachine gun. As a result, modifications were light and we can easily recognize the base weapons today.īritish soldiers of 2 PARA armed with Sterlings (Ministry of Defence) However, because of the aforementioned budget, many of the props could only be rented for the film. Weaponry and prop supplier Bapty & Co was contracted to provide Star Wars with modified surplus firearms to serve as space-age blasters. With a very tight budget of $11 million, or just under $50 million today adjusted for inflation, George Lucas and his film crew elected to modify real-life surplus weapons rather than create futuristic weapons from scratch. A far cry from jacketed lead ammunition propelled by gunpowder, or slugthrowers as they’re known in Star Wars, many of the blasters used in a galaxy far, far away are actually built from real-life firearms that are more familiar to us. In the Star Wars universe, ranged weapons are primarily powered by an energy-rich gas that is converted to a glowing particle beam. Despite the creation of the United States Space Force, we’re still a long way off from building blasters like ones in the Star Wars universe and defeating our enemies with intense bolts of plasma energy.
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