To whom it may concern:
The M134 Vulcan Airsoft (Minigun) is a result of combined efforts from Piper Precision Products and The Q Project.
My first impression of Airsoft guns and their performance a few years back was not impressive at all. These guns, in my opinion, were not accurate, lacked power, and had limited battery run time.
A few years later I was able to get a firsthand experience shooting a few models at the 2000 Airgun Expo. I did notice that the most recent releases had improved in accuracy and the power, but the most considerable difference was their overall appearance. I'll tell you I have handled and shot several full auto machine guns at the Knob Creek, and comparatively, these Airsoft guns were starting to resemble the real ones.
Due to the fact that I currently manufacture full-auto bb-guns I get a lot of inquiries about building custom Airsoft guns, but I was not interested because I wanted a gun that could shatter bottles and shred tin cans at a high rate of fire. I have been approached several times about converting my miniguns into Airsoft versions and had considered the minigun because no matter what type of ammo it fires, it is a fun gun.
Airsoft Zone's moderator asked if it would be alright to put a feeler out to test the waters and see if it would be worth my while to build a few of the miniguns if the demand existed, and to no surprise it was!
I soon started a bit of the R&D process on the minigun. It was moving along until other things preoccupied my time including my current gun orders which were keeping me too busy to progress further, so the project was shelved.
Later on I was contacted by a representative of The Q Project who was researching by request of the company's CEO to find some new innovative products to bring to market. Here is where I came into the picture.
Q's CEO and I spoke several times on the phone and corresponded with numerous emails. I expressed to Q that I was not that impressed with the airsoft guns for the reasons I shared above. But he assured me that his company was able to take these marginal working guns and make good performers out of them. I was still skeptical, "I mean how much could you do improve the ballistics of a plastic bb?"
Well, we finally meet. Q flew me to California, where we first talked about the minigun, its unique looks, and firepower, and how nice it would be to produce one here in the US. Upon arrival at Qs headquarters Q handed me several different models of airsoft guns. Man was I impressed! These guns looked and felt real, and some even had true to the original machinegun markings & logos.
We stepped out to the gun range and commenced firing. Now folks let me tell you these guns were a night-and-day difference from what I had shot before. These things not only fired well, but I could actually hit my intended targets with them. I did not know until later what had been done to improve the basic Airsoft gun to get them to perform like this. Q took me through their process of upgrading gearboxes step by step. Let me tell you I was most impressed with there upgrades. I, like Q, stress quality and they have a no holds barred when it comes to top notch upgrades. The work that they do is marvelous.
So with the PPP patented minigun design and The Q Project's technical experience in the Airsoft market, we began to plot and scheme on how to develop this Airsoft minigun. Now, I am proud to announce, we are only days away from completion of the first Beta version of the M134 Vulcan Minigun. The actual public release date may be obtained directly from The Q Project ( www.theqproject.com ) in the month of May.
Thanks for your interest!
PPP/Q
Pipers Precision Products
The Q Project