The weapon looks the way it looks because the prop-makers wanted to have a weapon that had a futuristic look and at the same time a retro-look and that also could shoot blanks. That is the reason it had some steyr parts and some .44 revolver parts and some extra things on top of that that just look cool.
Thank you for the succinct summary of my earlier posts!
However...
They didn't try to hide anything. If they really wanted to hide it, they would have used a pistol and not a revolver and then put some extra things on it to make it look futuristic.
...doesn't really add up.
Look at the pics of the replica I posted in the OP. Or the film you yourself posted to, if you prefer. Do you actually see any recognisable revolver parts anywhere? A cylinder? A hammer?
Anything?
No?
Wouldn't one
actually have to say that — for "not trying" to — they did, in fact, succeed in hiding it away quite thoroughly?
In fact, you see
less — as in,
a hell of a lot less — of the Bulldog in the Blaster than you can see, e.g., of the M1A1 in the Pulse Rifle, the MG42 in the Smartgun, or the L2A3 in the Stormtrooper blaster, which is about 95% bare. The only
uncovered Bulldog parts are (a) one trigger [essential for operating the prop], (b) the cylinder release [also essential for prop operation], and (c) the few square cm of barrel not covered by Steyr parts.
In fact, it's the exact opposite: choosing a revolver
instead of a pistol is itself
a vital part of being able to hide the pyrotechnical mechanism! With a pistol, you'd need to contend with the grip magazine, the movement of the slide, and not to mention: ejecting shell casings — a dead giveaway to mark it as a contemporary weapon (unless you can obscure them in murky lighting, as they do in ALIENS).
With a revolver, you can integrate it deep into the prop, put greeblies over all the identifiable parts (as they did), even completely re-shape the grips (as they also did), and
still have it able to fire the blanks — now looking a proper, futuristic weapon of some properly arcane futuristic functionality.
The thing is: the "some extra things on top just to look cool" stuff are all just greeblies on the prop, sure — but they're
real parts of the in-world weapon!
They, and their functionality on the "real" weapon, would need to be rationalised. For the weapon in the game, they aren't just "extra things on top" — they have a real functionality. Of some kind.
So yeah, kudos for Ligan's research for finding out that the gun is "really" a revolver. Well done; good job. Applause. Much rejoicing. All that.
But just because they found out that the
prop is built that way — why does that necessitate that's what the
in-world weapon should be, too?