Backyard Ballistics
Welcome to the Backyard Ballistics Home Page!
I thought it would be fun to have a Web site that was dedicated to the development of home-brew devices for propelling weird objects through the air. I hope to expand this page in the future. If you are involved in the development of something along these lines, make sure you drop me a message at bsimon@qualmach.com
Of course, stuff like this won't be found on the Web without the standard disclaimers. Naturally, this page reflects my own opinions and ideas, and not those of my employer. You can build and use the devices described on this page and it's links, but you'll have to do so at the risk of possibly being injured if something were to go wrong. Consider the information found here to be highly experimental in nature. If you do get hurt, tough $#i+! Don't go whining to a lawyer because of your own lack of personal responsibility and common sense. If it weren't for whiners, we'd all still be able to enjoy driving our Corvairs to the park for a nice game of lawn darts. I'll get off my soapbox now and let you continue to surf through to the important stuff.
(Note: If you feel the same way as I do about lawyers, you might enjoy reading a few of Randy's Favorite Lawyer Jokes.)
Spud Guns!
A few years ago I read somewhere about idividuals shooting potatoes out of pieces of pipe using various aerosol products as a propellant.. They referred to their creations as Spud Guns.
The spud gun is a modern adaptation of the infamous tennis ball gun many of us used in our sometimes spectacularly stupid youth. Unlike the tennis ball gun, the spud gun uses modern materials and construction techniques to produce a safer, more accurate, weapon system. PVC or ABS pipe, properly glued, provides a superior development kernel to work with compared to the soda can/duct tape structures of years ago.
I found some spare PVC pipe and fittings laying around my garage, so I set forth to construct a reliable spud gun of my own design. I used hair spray as the propellent. Of course the first time I shot this device, my neighbors thought I was nuts and promptly called the police. The two officers that responded were laughing their asses off by the time they left. They did give me a stern warning however, "If you don't show us how to build one of these things, we'll make your life a living hell!" Since I didn't relish the idea of dealing with these two bozos again, I humbly complied. I thought to myself, since I had to share this privileged information with the authorities, why can't I share it with the rest of the world? And what better way, than through the resources of the World Wide Web.
Actually, the design presented in the next link was developed by a friend that had similar ambitions. His design is so good, I had to place it here for all to see. It's very reliable, and simple to construct. Feel free to alter the basic concept. Who knows, maybe you can improve on it. The Hair spray Powered Spud Gun is guaranteed fun, and can shoot spuds nearly 200 yards using cheap hair spray.
There are people out there that have taken the hair spray powered spud gun to extremes. I guess One spud at a time wasn't enough for Gary Davis, inventor of the Gattling spud gun. Check out the JPEG image of this beast.
If potato guns interest you, but you don't feel like building one yourself, you can order a and have it delivered to your doorstep. Unfortunately because of limited server resources, you'll have to snail mail your order. This gives the details.
I did some research and discovered that propellant based spud guns were not reaching the full potential of the materials they were constructed from. I scratched my head a bit and came up with a totally new concept. The Pneumatic Spud Gun is a state of the art potato delivery system. Using environmentally friendly compressed air, this weapon can wreak havoc on enemy positions within a 600 yard radius. I'm still working on the infared laser guidance system.
Ever seen a potato launched with liquid nitrogen? Get a load of Matt Reilly's Web Page.
Spud guns as a religion? The Spud Gun Worship Page explains it all. (Or maybe not.)
I've been getting a great many requests to include a spud gun propellant section here. If you have an unusual propellant or "reloading" data you would like to share, send me an E-mail me with "Propellant" as the subject. Include anything you would like to share with your fellow spudsketeers.
Remember! This is not a poll, but a quest for new and different information regarding spud gun propellants. So keep it interesting!
(Despite what people think, I do have a day job. It may be a while before I can get around to putting this stuff together.)
Now, back to your regularly scheduled nonsense...
What The US Government Says About all This
Interestingly enough, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms doesn't consider spud guns a threat to the sanctity of human life, or the American way. Read all about it in this letter from the ATF.
Other Cannons and Such
A visitor suggested this site for what could very well be the last word in amateur ballistic devices. Capacitor Discharge Experiments makes potato guns look like childs play
An E-mail contact from the land down under rendered this contraption. The Aussie Mortar could be a great way to get rid of those empty Foster's cans stacked up on your coffee table.
The paintball crowd is in the business of shooting things about too. Here's a novel air powered paintball cannon I found while surfing around. The How Not To Build an Air Cannon page, really caught my eye. Looks as though I'm faced with another trip to the hardware store and more in depth experimentation on pneumatic cannons.
Other Interesting Links
Yes there are others out there on the web with way too much extra time on their hands. I found this neat stuff at Silicon Graphics. A few employees have set up the AGD Antics and Mayhem Page.
Home shop experimentors just HAVE GOT to visit this site! The Weird Science Page is loaded with information about neat stuff like Van de Graaff generators, Tesla coils, etc.
A fun page isn't a page without a link to the Useless WWW Pages.
One of my pet peeves is hardware or software that just plain doesn't live up to expectations. If you've ever encountered incompatibilities or outright failures from new or updated computer products, you'll appreciate this page. The The Moan and Groan List is a place to vent your anger, as well as benefiting from other people's rotten experiences.
<SOAP BOX attitude=on>
Is Plagiarism the Future of The Web?
Never thought I'd see it, but people are actually plagiarizing complete documents from web sites to put on their own home page. Why would somebody want to waste their own server resources with documents that can be linked to directly? Beats the hell out of me, but check out this page and take special note of the URLs of the two documents; BATF.TXT and PGG1.JPG. Both were lifted from my site. Of course none of this material is copyrighted, but come on guys, the Web is a community thing. Respect and cooperation amongst the members of the community are what makes the Web such a great place to exchange ideas. Be original, and provide your own stuff. Link to others stuff if you want, but don't out and out copy it without at least asking permission!
</SOAP BOX>
Thanks For Visiting!
As other sites dealing with similar amateur ballistics are discovered, this page will be updated. You can help. If you see any other sites that should have links here, please E-mail the URLs to me and I'll be glad to add them to this page.
Send your suggestions or comments to: bsimon@qualmach.com