More Umarex Octane Elite Mods

[HollowPoint]

One of our Umarex Octane shooters group members came up with an idea for a simple common sense mod for the Umarex Octane Elite break barrel air rifle. It was one of those simple ideas that make one wonder why we didn't come up with it.

The guys' name is Chris Petrov from down in New Zealand. He uses his Octane Elite to cull the rabbit herds in his part of the world. I think that it's just simple enough and common sense enough to be of help to any other Octane Elite critter hunter if they are needing a picatinny short rail to attach a light or a laser or even a sling of some type.

For those more inventive Octane Elite shooters they can even be used as anchor points for a set of specialty bipods with independent legs that could be attached on either side of the fore stock via the short picatinny rails.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I thought I'd try making up a set of these picatinny sections for my 1st-Generation Umarex Octane as well. They won't fit quite as aesthetically pleasing as these Octane Elite replacement screw covers but they'll serve the same purpose.

I shipped off the first set to our friend in New Zealand this morning. With any luck they'll work out just as he imagined they would and he'll be able to give those New Zealand rabbits a dose of lead poisoning; one pellet at a time. This same guy mentioned to me in our email correspondence that the local municipalities had taken to using certain types of poison to try to stop them from reproducing. I guess they have rabbit problems like Texas has hog problems.

I'll post some pics of the computer renderings of the new design for the original model Umarex Octane once I can get those pics edited for the internet. If the file size of any of my pics are too large I have a very hard time uploading them onto the various internet pages where I post my ideas and inventions.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

Here are the computer renderings of the newly designed Picatinny/Weaver rail segments made to fit the 1st-Generation Umarex Octane air rifle. I'll be using mine to mount a set of cheap bipod legs but they can also be used to mount laser lights, flash lights or side mounted rifle slings.

These aftermarket addons will be offered only as 3D printable STL files. I'm not really sure how I'd go about machining these out of aluminum. The last set I came up with I'm pretty sure I can do it but this set has some geometry that's a little more complex along one of the edges.

HollowPoint

[clodhopper]

I could make them out of aluminum, but would need .igs or .iges file.

[HollowPoint]

I could make them out of aluminum, but would need .igs or .iges file.

I'm pretty sure I could too if given enough trial and error time, but what might give me fits would be the downward angle between the tang that juts out on the left side just underneath the angle below the upper picatinny section. It's not really to visible in either of these images. but I put that angle there to give a little more clearance for attaching whatever device one intends to attach to these little dohickies.

Without that lower angle it would be a simple matter of running a dove-tail-mill horizontally across each side but that lower downward slopping angle would cause me to reach deep into my bag of foul language in order to figure out how to cut those angles. Much easier to 3D print them. The ABS plastic filament is more than strong enough for this application. Aluminum copies would cost a good portion of the price of the budget air rifle they are meant to fit.

HollowPoint

[clodhopper]

Okay, never handled an octane I will defer to your expertise.

[HollowPoint]

Okay, never handled an octane I will defer to your expertise.

I'm no expert by any means. I just know that I can print one of up a whole lot faster than I can machine one.

HollowPoint

[clodhopper]

If I can machine one, I can machine 100 on my CNC mill.

[HollowPoint]

You're a lucky man clodhopper. It takes me a while to figure things out.

HollowPoint

[clodhopper]

I'm not fast, but am at a point in the learning curve, where a challenge can be good.

Unfourtunatly, I crashed the machine last night. New challenge!? Good thing I have lots of time.

Should be up and running again soon, hopefully about 65 dollars in parts.

Would still like to look at your rail file if you can save it in .igs format

[HollowPoint]

Here are a few pics of my two very dusty air rifles wearing the 3D printed Picatinny/Weaver rail sections I recently printed out. Everything fit exactly as I'd hoped they would. The bipod legs themselves are woefully lacking in tight tolerances but for the purpose of showing how they are intended to work I'm pretty sure these quickly taken photos will bear that out.

I'm going to have to take these inexpensive bipod legs apart to see what I can do to tighten them up a bit. As they are, they are a little to rickety for my liking. The 3D printed rail parts on the other hand are very secure with virtually now slop or movement whatsoever. I was afraid that with the torque that might be applied to them when the bipod legs were folded in or out, it might eventually cause the little securing screws that hold these rails in place to loosen over time.

Because of the way these inexpensive bipod legs are folded one way or the other, they offer no torque against the 3D printed components so it turns out I was worried about nothing.

HollowPoint