Mares Bazooka usage

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A comparison with the Titan nose cone which is shared with the Sten. Ignore the Cyrano parts, the Titan muzzle is in the removing tool.

 

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The selector gate in the “Titan” guns is the reverse of a “Sten”. The “Sten” has a control rod that pushes forwards into the gun which internal air pressure is trying to blow out of the gun rearwards. In the “Titan” the control rods run rearwards from the mid-handle, one controls the sear lever while the other operates a plug that seals the partitioning bulkhead in the rear end of the gun. This partitioning bulkhead is actually a large brass cup and to open this cup up to the main tank that plug has to be pulled forwards from a transfer port n the bulkhead when you operate the control knob or cursor. Air pressure in the gun wants to blow these two rods forwards out of the mid-handle, but to oppose that there are long coil springs installed on the rods pushing against the air pressure. To have a full power shot the plug has to be pulled well clear of the partitioning bulkhead’s transfer port, so that is position 3 in the gate. Position 2 in the gate still has the plug pulled, but it has a rearwards pointed nose that still sits in the transfer port, so it is a throttled gas flow position. Position 1 in the rear of the gate is the load and low power; position. Thus it is like a Sten in reverse, but has an extra in-between power setting position. Both positions 3 and 2 use all the compressed air for the shot. If this has a familiar ring to it this is because the Mirage has a similar system in its 3 gate positions, but they are reversed, while the bulkhead plug moves through slightly stepped diameter bores in the transfer port to gain that intermediate throttling effect. Unfortunately the Mirage airflow is so strangled in the rear handle’s narrow airflow passages you don’t notice much difference between the full airflow shots. A new bulkhead in the later Mirage makes a minor improvement, but not by a lot.

Compare the above with the Mirage selector gate below.

 

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This photo was taken many years ago when I first overhauled the Minititan. That Silky Oak stump has been gone for decades and the new looking back fence has been replaced again some years ago. Finding this photo was like looking for a needle in the haystack, but sometimes you get lucky and I found it pretty quickly. You can see the brass cup prechamber/bulkhead that the hook type sear lever pivots inside and it also has the transfer port and non-return valve.

And my sketch of the components.