Reddit is one of my favorite places to find weird stuff like this. Reddit user walt_wilhelm recently posted his very own functional version of the iconic M41A Pulse Rifle from the 1986 movie Aliens. What’s cool about this is that the rifle fires live 2mm, and 6mm projectiles! Although the iconic firearm is from the “future”, in reality, the movie prop was made out of a dressed-up and heavily modified M1A1 Thompson submachine gun and fitted with an underslung and cut-down Remington 870 pump-action shotgun with a modified SPAS12 shotgun shroud used to conceal it.

More Movie Guns @ TFB:

• The Guns of The Tomorrow War
• Movie Guns: The Lever Action Rifle From The Midnight Sky
• James Bond/Sean Connery Screen-Used Walther to be Auctioned
• Halloween Movies for Shooters: Gun Choice in Horror Films.

Functioning Quarter Scale M41A Pulse Rifle Replica from Aliens

This isn’t walt_wilhelm’s first venture into miniature functioning replica firearms either. Some of his earlier projects include a scaled-down H&K USP Compact, a half-scale Intertec Tec-9, and even a functioning Colt M4 with an underslung M203 Launcher (also functioning). All of his ammunition is homemade and uses centerfire primers which I find to be very impressive. From what I can tell, they seem to be made on a lathe and hand-loaded using common household tools.

The M41A Pulse Rifle replica features both barrels that the movie version did and even a tiny ammunition counter that doesn’t count down but constantly displays “44.” The upper rifle barrel of the mini M41A fires tiny 2mm centerfire projectiles and feeds from a removable magazine. The lower barrel features a side-loading and side-ejecting 6mm centerfire projectile launcher and the “grenades” actually deliver a significant amount of power for such a tiny little round (reference the video below). In fact, the 6mm grenades are like miniature rockets that were specially made by walt_wilhelm and can even explode after impact.

Miniature functioning replicas like this are always fascinating to me and represent a lot of time, effort, and passion put into something that amounts to a novelty but at least with the live-firing ones it’s a fun novelty. You should definitely check out walt_whilhelm’s YouTube channel where he goes by the username Comrade Mauser. He’s got tons of good content all featuring his projects and goes into a lot of detail about how they were made and how they function.