Which way can I make this the best?

[Aniketos]

I'm currently modeling the WW2 Trench Shotgun. I'm about 90% done only thing I need to model is the top cover with all those holes inside. It's basicly a half cylinder with atleast 30-40 holes. How can I make it symetical and at the same time half cylindrical? Can anyone give me some tips.

This is what I want to make:

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2848/m1897pxf4.th.jpg (http://img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image=m1897pxf4.jpg)

[Stereo]

like this maybe?
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=16gbh9w&s=4

my skills are limited so theres probably many better ways though :)

edit: the holes arent very round and a bit to big but can be fixed by tweaking some points or more deform -> smooth
or start with more polygons to make it smoother

edit 2: this way was better:
1. create a "barrel" cylinder (the one with the holes in it) and a cylinder of the size of the holes
2. select the "barrel" cylinder and poly. mesh -> boolean -> difference and click the hole cylinder
3. delete the surrounding polys and tweak it so it looks smooth and bevel the edges around the hole
4. duplicate multiple (ctrl shift D) and set the rotation so it fits, merge them together
5. duplicate as many as needed and merge them

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3869/36012633uf5.th.jpg (http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3869/36012633uf5.jpg)


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9779/31hk1.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9779/31hk1.jpg)
(http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9779/31hk1.jpg)

[Aniketos]

Thanks a lot it worked :)

Here is the result (it still needs some more detail here and there + texturing):

http://community.softimage.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=572&stc=1&d=1218710400

[Aniketos]

Thank you very usefull.

[AceMastermind]

I'm re-posting this because my other post got wiped, I found this image on a site about a year ago(I don't remember where), it shows a step by step for creating this same type of geometry, maybe it'll be of some help to someone: