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A hero M41A Pulse Rifle from James Cameron's Aliens with a shroud from David Fincher's Alien³. One of the most famous weapons in sci-fi history, the M41A Pulse Rifle was featured heavily in James Cameron's 1986 action sequel Aliens and appeared in the hands of the Weyland-Yutani commandos in the final sequence of Alien³. Designed by Cameron himself and constructed under the supervision of renowned armorer Simon Atherton at BAPTY Armory, the Pulse Rifle is viewed by many as the pinnacle of sci-fi prop weaponry.
This original prop Pulse Rifle was first constructed for and used in Aliens, and later re-built and re-used in Alien³ The prop is built around a World War II era M1A1 Thompson submachine gun, which was originally modified to fire blanks for the production and has since been fully decommissioned. The Thompson is fitted with a custom-made pistol grip, and a custom-made extended barrel. A SPAS-12 shotgun cage mounts below the Thompson barrel via a custom-stamped barrel shroud, simulating the grenade launcher. The grenade launcher features the original SPAS-12 pump handle that was cut down for a different look in the film. It slides freely back and forth, allowing the pump-action loading of the launcher to be simulated.
As only one version of the Pulse Rifle had a practical grenade launcher (actually a Remington 870 shotgun) fitted, this piece has a dummy grenade launcher filling the SPAS cage. The ends of the piece are capped with a custom-made steel shoulder stock, and a custom-made aluminum barrel cap at the front of the grenade launcher.
The entire assembly is housed in a vacuum-formed ABS outer casing, which completes the unique profile of the prop. While all other components on the piece were used in Aliens, the plastic casing was installed specifically for the production of Alien³. After Aliens, all of the Pulse Rifle props were struck back to their original firearm components, and most of the original Aliens casings used were discarded as they were no longer deemed necessary. When the decision was made for Weyland scientists to carry Pulse Rifles during the climax of Alien³, Bapty had to re-assemble the Pulse Rifles and manufactured new casings by vacuum-forming over one of the original casings from Aliens. The outer casing was originally painted black for use in Alien³ it shows evidence of later being painted green after Alien³, and was then re-painted to the current black color. All of this work occurred while the piece was still at BAPTY. During the re-assembly for Alien³, the SPAS-12 cage was welded to the barrel shroud as opposed to the bolted configuration seen in Aliens.
This Pulse Rifle is complete, other than the magazine base that is missing, and in good film-used and weathered condition showing wear from use and age, including a bent vertical plate on the shoulder stock. All of the moveable components - the shoulder stock, grenade launcher pump handle, and original Thompson selector switches and trigger - can be moved and positioned. The Thompson bolt can also be pulled back, though it is fully deactivated; the receiver was torch-cut and cosmetically reassembled (underneath the plastic shroud) so it is no longer a firearm. BAPTY retained only seven hero Pulse Rifles after filming Alien³, making this an exceedingly rare piece. Dimensions: 28" x 10.5" x 3" (71.25 cm x 26.75 cm x 7.75 cm)
Firearm deactivated; see firearm deactivation notice in the Buyer's Guide.
Estimate: $60,000 - 120,000
View all lots from ALIENS (1986);ALIEN 3 (1992)
View all lots from ALIEN - ALL ITEMS