18 February 2013

Tuber Shooter

It was one of those "Hey, watch this!" moments.
He shoved a potato(e?) into the end of the barrel and rammed it home with a stick.
He then unscrewed a cap beneath the barrel, sprayed a three-second spritz of hair spray into that compartment, then replaced the cap.
He shouldered the contraption, pulled the trigger, and sent the spud hurtling more than a football field's distance.
I was stunned.
I couldn't help myself... uncontrolled laughing followed.
We then proceeded to use up a $2 can of hairspray and send a $5 bag of potato(e?)s downrange in less than 10 minutes, giggling all the while.


Not really a toy, the potato slug leaves the barrel at a rate that would probably kill a nearby person struck in the chest by the projectile.
Ever fire one? It's a hoot. I recommend it.
I bet it puts a smile on your face.

But as with most anything that fires a projectile, be careful!
Detailed construction plans for one type here.

7 comments:

The Old Man said...

Don't need a CCW permit but reloading takes a while. Wait until Bloomberg finds out these "assault potato cannons" exist. You'll have to get a permit for french fries in NYC to go with the one for salt.
That reminds me, has anyone told him about the "Bug-A-Salt" gun?

Greybeard said...

Just (I'm agog!) received this via email:

"I guess you thought long and hard before giving this spud gun info to the kids of today?
I am not sure it was your wisest move.
We live near a public housing compound where juveniles are always in trouble.
I would hate for any of them to get this info.
If one of those kids shot me or mine with one of those things I would return fire with my 38.

I am sure this spud gun is public knowledge but some things the public should not have knowledge of
for the good of the public at large.
Remember when some chemist thought LSD was good for the public?
It was not."

I guess I have to worry about an explosion of spud guns now!

Greybeard said...

My email commenter just suggested that by not taking his concerns seriously, I was denigrating his "Nam" service.

I feel like I'm in a "Twilight Zone" episode.

Sigh.

Old NFO said...

LOL, we used to do those growing up... We fixed one up with Butane lighter fluid once, THAT got us the longest shots we'd ever seen!!!

The Old Man said...

It's always the intent of the user...

Greybeard said...

Agreed, Old Man.
But my "shake your head in amazement" moment was when I thought about slingshots, or a good right arm with a hefty rock.

If my commenter wants to control "juveniles" in his neighborhood, he'll have innumerable things to worry about, won't he?!!

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

I had a potato gun. Much, MUCH smaller.

But it was still a TON of fun!

BZ