Potato guns

Ghog

Addictive Personality
How many of us have potato guns? I was 39 before I actually saw one, and really got hooked. A friend from church had one at his house, and the room to shoot it. I did a little research and worked out a really nice one based on a design I saw on the web. It's really been a lot of fun, and for a while several of us (church buddies) were kinda' competing. Everybody has quit shooting, and I just can't figure out why. It's just TOO MUCH FUN!!! Anybody else enjoy spud guns like I do?
 
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Potato gun? Care to enlighten the uninformed? Like me?

The only guns I have ever fired used live ammo.
 
Propane powered, cram a potato down the barrel and provide a spark (BBQ grill lighter). BOOOOOM. Potato goes a long way. Usually made of PRESSURE RATED PVC pipe. Thats it in a nutshell. Lots of fun, and from my understanding pretty safe as long as you follow a few simple guidlines. The only accidents I've ever heard of were caused by improper procedures or assembly. From what I understand the pressure never really gets over around 40 or 50 psi inside, and the pipe is rated for 200 psi or so. Google spud gun and you'll get more info than you can read in a week.
 
Play along, 'toze. Ghog is so excited. Besides, sometimes I am overcome with intellectual curiosity.
 
Thanks.

Propane-powered? Is alcohol involved? It just seems like a good fit.

I think I'll stick to Remington.
 
luvvinvinyl said:
Play along, 'toze. Ghog is so excited. Besides, sometimes I am overcome with intellectual curiosity.

In that case, I will exit this thread, wishing you an informative, engaging, and stimulating discourse.
 
tentoze said:
Are you sure you want to know? My kidz got a kick out of them when they were about 10.

Tentoze, I'm still a kid at 43. Can't help it. Still fascinated by airplanes and trains and bulldozers and such. And, yes, potato guns. But in my defense, kids have more fun. By the way, I wouldn't give mine to a 10 year old. It's pretty powerful, and would certainly be deadly used improperly. I shoot empty caulk tubes with 1/2 pound of concrete in them. Lots of recoil, makes it more fun!
 
tentoze said:
In that case, I will exit this thread, wishing you an informative, engaging, and stimulating discourse.
OK, who are you, and what did you do with tentoze?
 
Ghog said:
Tentoze, I'm still a kid at 43. Can't help it. Still fascinated by airplanes and trains and bulldozers and such. And, yes, potato guns. But in my defense, kids have more fun. By the way, I wouldn't give mine to a 10 year old. It's pretty powerful, and would certainly be deadly used improperly. I shoot empty caulk tubes with 1/2 pound of concrete in them. Lots of recoil, makes it more fun!

If you are married, I trust your wife has ensured that your life insurance is paid up?
 
luvvinvinyl said:
Thanks.

Propane-powered? Is alcohol involved? It just seems like a good fit.

I think I'll stick to Remington.

No alcohol. Too dangerous. I, too, shoot a Remington, but with Remington you must have a backstop. None is needed for a spud gun. Max range is maybe 400 yds. My personal best (measured w/ tape) was 358.
 
Ghog said:
Tentoze, I'm still a kid at 43. Can't help it. Still fascinated by airplanes and trains and bulldozers and such. And, yes, potato guns. But in my defense, kids have more fun. By the way, I wouldn't give mine to a 10 year old. It's pretty powerful, and would certainly be deadly used improperly. I shoot empty caulk tubes with 1/2 pound of concrete in them. Lots of recoil, makes it more fun!

Congratulations, Ghog. This is one of very few times in my history on AK that I am without words. At least none that would be appropriate.
 
Propellants can be compressed air, hairspray (leaves a sticky residue), or right guard. Hair spray and Right Guard require an igniter. Some of these guns can propel a variety of objects: tubers, golf balls, marbles, etc.

Doc
 
We used to have a couple that we brought out for family reunions and gatherings, we had a farm and a huge garden, hence many disposable potatoes. They would regularly launch them 300-400 feet, we used to set a couple rubbermaid cans out in a field and see how close we could come to them.

Fuel them with pretty much any aerosol, but hair spray gums up the threads, and the igniter sometimes, and WD-40 works very well, but if you use too much, it will get oily, obviously. Keep some paper towels handy. Wear safety glasses, just in case, a shard of Sch. 80 PVC pipe in the eye would definitely ruin your day. We never had a problem whatsoever, and they make a very satisfying "pooomp" when fired. We used the rotary lighters, like for gas lanterns, they were problematic, but a grill lighter, piezo style, would probably be more reliable. Cheap, loud, entertaining. What else do you need? Crexrun

We did shoot some raquetballs out of one, their inherent round-ness makes them fly a very long ways, but not very cost efficient, and it's no fun having to walk and get them. A golf ball launcher was suggested, but "shot down" for the sake of not wanting any children walking around with golf ball shaped holes in their craniums. I suppose you could launch nearly anything out of them, providing you had a large enough chamber and barrel. Come to think of it, there are a couple cats that my parents have out at the farm that wouldn't be missed. Has there ever been a cat in orbit? :D Crexrun

PS I dont' believe I'd be party to launching concrete filled caulk tubes, either. That seems like an awful lot of backpressure in the chamber.

Here's a question, how did you progress to concrete filled tubes, anyway? Did you read that in "How to kill yourself with JUST a potato gun!" :) Crexrun
 
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Outlawed in this state and I don't disagree with the law. A number of kids have been hurt with them.

Not a play toy for kids. I've seen one send a tater out of sight straight up, when they first came out a few years ago.

Hope you keep that thing under lock and key!
 
Crexrun, I worked my way up to 1/2 pound using a sheet metal shield large enough and thick enough to provide full protection in case of chamber failure. I have shot a lot of them and have had no problems. Using a 2 inch barrel, you don't need a lot of pressure to exert tremendous force on the projectile. And with the slow rate of burn for propane, chamber pressure will not get all that high. Faster burning fuels like ether or acetylene, while more powerful, are a lot more dangerous. If you wanna' really see one go, build a pneumatic gun, not a combustion. 75 or 80 pounds of pressure will do incredible things if you have enough volume and a long enough barrel. I think that's the whole idea behind pumkin chunkin'. Andyman, I'd love to hear more about your experience with pumkins!
 
we've got bored at the farm and done a pneumatic one, went straight through the side of this old rusted out beatle someone trashed there, it was pretty sweet.
 
I think you boys will soon be ready for the Next level...Haven't fooled w/it for awhile, but back about 20 yrs ago, this outfit Dixie Gun Works sold replica cannon that would shoot a Vienna Sausage can filled w/plaster of Paris about 1600 yds, w/a pretty good charge of Black Powder...I've shot a little bit of everything out of a black powder rifle-including a cheap plastic bead necklace we found at the Dump we were shooting at. Found a Tick crawling on me-and HE got "the Treatment", too ! -Sandy G.
 
SandyG, you sound like my kind of redneck! I've done my share of shooting at the dump. Growing up in rural Ark, we would make a trip to the county dump, which was nothing more than an abandoned gravel pit, and then go to another part of the quarry and pull out the rifles. There was always a ready supply of targets, and all the backstop you needed. Sometimes we carried a shotgun and a box of clay targets that we threw with a hand thrower. good memories....
 
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