As a recap; this is a replica prop from at least related Republic serials. The first was "King of the Rocket Men":
Jeff King (played by Tristram Coffin) was the first Rocket Man and wearer of the basic set of helmet, rocket pack, and ray gun. Various parts of the concept and ensemble were recycled into the later "Radar Men from the Moon," "Zombies of the Stratosphere," and "Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe."
The original prop appears to be a war surplus Luger pistol with what is most likely a lathed aluminium piece slid over the barrel. To make sure the piece I was creating was in scale and was cut and drilled in such a way to fit existing replica Lugers, I had to model the latter in CAD as well -- using as reference a borrowed 1917 P.08:
A very complicated shape, but fortunately I only needed the front end!
Unfortunately, there are differences between the various incarnations of this weapon. The popular all-metal Denix replicas, for instance, apparently have too-long barrels (not to be confused with the legitimately long-barreled "Navy" and "Artillery" versions of the gun).
Also, it appears the prop-builders knocked the sight blade completely out in order to stick their fitting over the barrel. Which may or may not work with various third-party replicas, and isn't something I'd want to do with an original issue worth-thousands-of-dollars weapon.
In any case, the model is free from additional charges to print from my Shapeways store. I am going to wait to see how it fits before I start planning how to cut into the chunk of aluminium I bought for the project!
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