Blade Runner

Harrison Ford plays Blade Runner Rick Deckard. Blade Runners are special division police officers who hunt down and kill android replicants.

The original design for the intended Rick Deckard blaster was done by production artists Syd Mead. It was a "black hole gun" and was to fire a black beam.

This was ultimately rejected for unknown reasons, and then a modified COP was to be used until the director saw an exposed Steyr SL 223 action. The prop master then fit the bolt action rifle parts over, and under a charter arms bulldog revolver.

LAPD 2019 blaster

Deckard is armed with an undesignated, unnamed blaster throughout the film. The prop was constructed from parts of a Steyr-Mannlicher Model SL rifle and a Charter Arms Bulldog revolver. Sidecovers were added to cover the bulldog's cylinder, and different bolt heads and screw heads were used to offer an illusion of nobs and controls. The gun was also equiped with atleast 6 LED lights, though not all of them worked throughout the production.

Note the white electrical cord running from the "sight" which houses two green LED's.

An odd looking weapon, and a prop with a mysterious origin It is said that Deckard was originally intended to have a small COP derringer based customized blaster, but when Ridley saw the Stery SL chamber on the prop masters workbench, he insisted it be used as his heroes main sidearm.

Note, the front Steyr magazine is fitted crooked. This may have been from on set abuse, as later pictures of the gun do not reflect this crooked nature.

The firing "hero" was, for years, thought lost, or put in mothballs on the studio lot somewhere. Stunt castings of the weapon made the rounds, and some of them hang on the walls of Planet Hollywood and reside among cherished private collections.

Information: http://props.steinschneider.com/blade_runner/bldrunbl.htm

The hero prop surfaced a few years ago, and was profusely photographed by Karl Tate.

http://karltate.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/props-of-blade-runner/

TWO TRIGGERS

The double trigger nature of the weapon has fooled some into believing the gun had two barrels. In the Marvel comics adaptation of the film, we can even see some of the artists drawing the handgun with side by side barrels.

In reality it was a featured carried over from the steyr design siomply because Director Ridley Scott liked the look.

The charter arms revolver trigger guard once removed left a forward pinhole in the frame, and a trigger was retrofitted into place.

STUNT CASTINGS:

The stunt castings vary from the hero gun in many ways. They were cast before the LED's were placed into the magazine, and before the "notch" was cut into the hero grip, which was done at Ford's request as the grip was just too small for his hand. Also, some castings have "hero grips" meaning they have orange amber grips, and some have black grips, which were used by the street cops, and background players in the police station scene.

Stunt castings, and resin castings of the stunt guns have made the rounds through the hands of fans and private collectors over the years.

FAN MADE BLASTERS

An incredible fan made version of the Syd Mead design:

THE PKD

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Plager Katsumate Series-D blaster replica

The above is a fan made blaster sculpted by Rick Ross. Rick has has also created many variations on the the blasters theme, including snubby blasters, a magnum blaster, and an assassin model with optics and a supressor.

The gun in the film did not have any official name or designation, though fans of the film who seek to own a reproduction of this prop tend to call it a "PKD" coined by mister Ross in honor of Philip K. Dick.

COP 357 Derringer

In the opening scene, Leon is armed with a COP .357 four-barrel derringer. The prop gun was modified to fire two barrels at a time to provide a more dramatic muzzle flash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COP_357_Derringer