#217 Favourite Brick Friday: 15391 Stud Shooter

This favourite brick of the week may surprise you; it's the infamous stud shooter, or at least its infamous to us AFOLs who don't use it as a play feature.

Since stud shooters were introduced in 2014, they have appeared in many sets, either as minifigures weapons or as weapons for vehicles. They offer the fun play feature for kids of being able to fire studs, but this is not all they can be used for.

Now I know what you are thinking - stud shooters can never be useful in MOCs. They are just a children's play feature, right?

I would agree with you, but as always I like to find unique uses for pieces that you might not have thought of, so here's how to use them.

I like to use them in turrets or weaponry, but not in the way you might think. Instead of attaching studs, attaching technic pins can give a better and more realistic look (I have replaced all the studs shooters with this in my sets). This can even been reinforced with rods to make a very strong turret compared to some fragile ones made from other parts.

Another positive of the studs shooters are that they are angled naturally so look much better than other parts you might use for turrets, such as the hose and megaphone.

Here is the piece on Bricklink: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=15391&name=Minifig,%20Weapon%20Gun,%20Mini%20Blaster%20/%20Shooter&category=%5BMinifig,%20Weapon%5D#T=S&O={"iconly":0}