Peek-A-Boom
COVER FEATURE FOR HOME DEFENDER MAGAZINE
You’re sound asleep when suddenly you hear noises coming from your living room. As you gather your senses, instinctively, you reach for your firearm and head down the hallway. As the sounds get louder, you approach the blind corner to your living room, and that’s when anxiety strikes, and you’re faced with a decision.
Do you peak around the corner and risk exposing yourself? Or do you wait for them to leave or hit the corner so you can engage?
This is a situation many of us have played out in our heads, and regardless of how well prepared you are to circumvent the problem, it’s still a loaded question and one that could be addressed by this slick concept and prop – which unfortunately will not be available to the public.
THE SOLUTION:
Known and respected in the Hollywood special effects arena, the maker of this whimsical creation received an interesting phone call and, along with it, a request that a custom weapon be made for a movie set. It turns out the producer wanted a gun that could shoot around a corner, but he also made it very clear that he was well aware of the Israeli-made Cornershot. He said, “I’m well aware of the Cornershot, but I need something shorter, something with more pizzazz, something awe-inspiring and something that will turn heads, function on set and look as if it were the brainchild of an inventive machinist.”
With that in mind, this inventor and fabricator (his name withheld upon his request) went to work and created a Cornershot inspired gun. After sketching out a few ideas, he went to work, and the end result was this beautiful beast. “The producer wanted something that looked like it was machined in a garage by a madman, and it had to be a functional unit.” says the maker. “He didn’t want it refined, and that’s why I left it raw with machine marks and some minor surface imperfections. I think it came out pretty good” says its maker.
CONSTRUCTION & SPECS:
With a total length of 24-inches fully extended, it makes this unit shorter than the Cornershot by 8-inches. When collapsed, the same unit then measures in at just 20 ¾ inches, and it utilizes a .40 caliber Glock 23, which is cradled to the secondary handgun pivot. The primary grip is responsible for holding the trigger assembly and the internal pivot lock assembly, Contour camera, cellphone mount, and collapsible rear stock.
Constructed using a combination of 6061 and 7075 aluminum, the unit’s overall weight is 7.4 pounds fully loaded. The Contour bullet cam transmits a feed via Bluetooth to an iPhone, and articulation of the weapon (from left to right) is achieved by pushing a switch found on the left side of the cradle.
TEST ASSESSMENT:
The creator says the gun was tested at lengths of 20 feet with accuracy but did mention it takes a bit of time to get acclimated to viewing the target on a screen. Since the view found on the iPhone does not have crosshairs or guides, target acquisition is manageable – and becomes an acquired skill that was limited to 9-inch groupings at best. Not perfect, but definitely manageable and still deadly if aiming for body shots.
As for recoil, the developer said that firing straight was manageable and smooth compared to a stand-alone Glock 23, but when articulated to either right or left positions, it offers much more rise, which has to be compensated for. He also mentions its rise and horizontal rolls make it more challenging to stay on target, but it’s easily balanced with much practice.
Unfortunately, we weren’t available to test the unit during the time allotted to us, and it has since been shipped off to the producer. And while we do have another opportunity to take the weapon out for testing at a future date, we’ll wait patiently and do a follow-up review on its performance values.
With no intentions of producing it for sale, it’s definitely sad news, but we’re happy to have been able to spend a day photographing it. This design exercise also shows the strength of our imaginations and further reinforces the fact that inspiration is all around us. And while the dreamy weapon was a short-lived reality for both creator and our staff, it’s definitely a weapon system to admire – and one that you’ll see making its debut on the silver screen sometime soon.