With the last Pulse Rifle on the bench for paint, thought it’d be a good opportunity to post a bit of info about the teardown of these complex little beasties.
Time consuming and a little tricky but definitely achievable for anyone who can hold a screwdriver. The trick is to be methodical, organised and don’t rush.
Be warned, it’s a long post.
Step 1
Take out the Torx screws on the front clamp left and right side and remove the clamp halves.
Step2
Take out the Torx screws and the underside slotted screw on the rear clamp and remove the clamp yoke.
Step 3
Take out the 8 Torx screws securing the two splice plates at the front and rear of the magwell.
Step 4
Remove the four large Phillips screws on the left and right side of the shroud.
Step 5
With all the shroud fasteners and plates off, the shroud halves are now only held together by a series of friction pins into the plastic. Applying gentle pressure, pry the two shroud halves apart. You may need to use a flat screwdriver or other pry bar for this, being careful not to damage the plastic shell.
Take care not to lose the stock detent spring when seperating the stock halves.
The two threaded posts that secure the two side Phillips screws are not retained either, so take care not to lose them.
Step 6
Remove the front and rear Phillips head screws that secure the left side of the Spaz cage handguard, pull the spring loaded battery cover forward and remove the cage.
Now at this point if you’re only wanting to remove the Thompson receiver, you can. However, SW decided to make that difficult by running wiring hot glued in situ through the upper of the shroud and also through the slots of the sliding stock, making it impossible to remove the stock from the receiver or the receiver from the right side shroud.
I found the easist solution was to cut the wires a fair few centimetres from where they exit the receiver to be reconnected later either by solid solder and heatshrink or bullet connectors for futureproofing. I opt for the former method.
Step 7
Remove the spring loaded stock detent assembly, take out the four Phillips screws securing the two guide blocks and remove the blocks.
Step 8
Cut the receiver wires and remove the sliding stock.
At this point, remove the fake shell loading port cover as well.
Step 9
Carefully flip the blaster and remove the Phillips screw at the front of the right side Spaz cage. Flip the blaster back onto it’s right side again and pulling the battery cover forward against the spring, remove the alloy block from the right shroud.
Step 10
Remove the countersunk caphead from the shot counter that secures it to the alloy assembly. You will need a 90° Philips head driver for this, or a short Phillips bit with a small ratchet driver.
Step 11
Pull the shot counter assembly from the Spaz cage and remove the plastic shot counter from the alloy holder, taking care not to damage the wires.
Step 12
Loosen the front grub screw on the top of the large alloy coupling block and slide the outer barrel forward to remove. The heatshield will now also lift out of the Spaz cage easily.
Step1 13
Carefully loosen the hot glued wires in the Spaz cage and pull the shot counter wiring clear of the work area.
Step 14
Remove the three Phillips screws securing the Spaz cage to the right side shroud and remove the cage.
Step 15
To remove the Thompson receiver at this point, loosen the rear grubscrew on the alloy coupling block and with the rear wires cut, the receiver can be easily lifted from the shroud.
That’s it. All parts requiring paint removed.
Clearly if you’re wanting to service the receiver and not dismantle to this extent, all of the forward wiring can be left intact however the rear wires will still need to be cut and the alloy coupling grub screw loosened for receiver removal.
As this is being painted, teardown was quite extensive. This one, however isn’t getting the shrouds painted. That would require freeing all the wiring in the right hand shroud and removal of the digital display.
Assembly will require re hot glueing of the shot counter wires into the cage and fitment in the reverse order of the above.
