spudgun range, are we falling short?

[LeMaudit]

I don't trust my handsaw skills to cut down the length of PVC like that. I've tried before and once you've made one cut (essentially cutting it in 'half'), trying to make the 'quarter cut' is very difficult since the PVC flexes too much. Guess I could use aluminium if I could find some.

I've cut a whole range of materials with my cheap Sears band saw, from plastic to soft metal. The trick is to use a variable speed one. At the lowest speed, I go through a 1 inch aluminum rod like butter. But VERY slowly I cut brass too, and acrylic. Never tried PVC but with a slow speed I'm confident it would be no problem at all.

[ilovefire]

ilovefire, looking forward to your results

Just a thought on fins, how about making them from paper and impregnating them with epoxy...

for testing i was just thinking of shooting a palm from maybe 20m and see if it hits the right way round, as for fins i dont know if its very easy to see in the pic but iv already got one, but might use that for something else if i can think of anther design

[inonickname]

Why go to the effort of making fins when you can buy ready made, durable, reusable fins which are designed for aerodynamics and stability readily and cheaply?

http://hoddywell.com.au/ARROWCOMPONENTS-VANES.html

Or why not go the full nine yards and look at flight arrows- they're short (about 14"), and taper from the largest in the middle to smaller at each end.

The furthest distance shot with any bow is 2,047 yards (1,871.84m) . This was shot by the late Harry Drake in 1988 using a crossbow. The furthest with a hand-held - and pulled - bow is 1,336 yds 1' 3" (1,222.01m) , shot by Don Brown with an unlimited conventional Flight bow in 1987. My 40kg Compound World Record of 1,162 yards was made shooting a 30 kg bow -- I can't pull 40 kg!

1222.01m with a man cocked (in one stroke no less) and portable, probably about 30" powerstroke weapon.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

1222.01m with a man cocked (in one stroke no less) and portable, probably about 30" powerstroke weapon.

Obvious innuendo aside, any idea how fast that was travelling?

The thing with arrows is that sabots can get a bit complex, and really you should be firing it out a 1" or so bore at least.

I've cut a whole range of materials with my cheap Sears band saw, from plastic to soft metal. The trick is to use a variable speed one. At the lowest speed, I go through a 1 inch aluminum rod like butter. But VERY slowly

"Like butter" means quickly and easily - unless you meant "like I was cutting it with a sharpened stick of butter"

[LeMaudit]

"Like butter" means quickly and easily - unless you meant "like I was cutting it with a sharpened stick of butter"

English is such a complex language!

I rephrase: Slowly, but surely

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Your English is better than many native speakers, don't worry

Slowly, but surely

à la française

[MrCrowley]

@inonickname,

Not sure if your post was also directed at me but I assume all of those fins are too small for my use. Seems like some people are discussing firing projectiles much smaller than what i'm planning. Shooting from a 45mm bore and looking for a projectile weight of around 100g should give you an idea of what I'm going for.

[LeMaudit]

MrCrowley,

as it's almost certain that a contest could happen *way* before I build a gun for myself (so may ideas, so little time), please consider me to join force in winning this contest and crumbling all the competition
I'll make you an ammo to whatever design. A short project that I think I can manage on my lathe and mill. And you'll shoot it

Interested?

[irisher]

I just found some old steel rod and I think I will try to make a dart round tomorrow. I plan on welding 12 guage steel on as fins. does anyone have any info on 3 vs 4 fins for dart rounds?

[MrCrowley]

MrCrowley,

as it's almost certain that a contest could happen *way* before I build a gun for myself (so may ideas, so little time), please consider me to join force in winning this contest and crumbling all the competition
I'll make you an ammo to whatever design. A short project that I think I can manage on my lathe and mill. And you'll shoot it

Interested?

Yeah, I'm interested

Not sure if a 'proper' contest will actually come about though. I think we learnt some lessons from the 'BestShot' contest. We didn't receive as many entries as we thought we would and there was an issue with the prizes from one member.

I'd be all for a 'bragging rights' contest where there aren't any prizes but I don't think enough people will enter to make it worth while. Though it would be a fair contest since, with the right projectile, even small pneumatics can be competitive.

[LeMaudit]

Let's do it then... if it's not a contest, it will be a challenge to pis... hem... fire farther than the previous one

BTW, about the retrieval issue (that was the goal from the original post right? ) I was thinking one of those little personal alarm embedded in the shell... so it could be retrieved by sound 8)

It would fit your ammo size (but not mine )

[Technician1002]

I'm going to need access to a larger field. Full pressure golf ball shots are already a 100% do not find item.

[LeMaudit]

Damn... already patented!
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5112055.html

[MrCrowley]

Let's do it then... if it's not a contest, it will be a challenge to pis... hem... fire farther than the previous one

BTW, about the retrieval issue (that was the goal from the original post right? ) I was thinking one of those little personal alarm embedded in the shell... so it could be retrieved by sound 8)

It would fit your ammo size (but not mine )

Yup that's one option. I think me and Ragnarok discussed several ideas, an alarm being one of them. Another idea I believe was smoke. An alarm would probably be easier and more effective assuming it can withstand everything.


edit: If you search "Mangawhai, New Zealand" in Google Earth, you'll see a long straight beach on the East coast. That would probably be my shooting range. Best place to shoot I can think of and it's only about 75min from Auckland (where I live).

[LeMaudit]

I'm guessing here that a typical personal alarm may have battery issues, they are designed to sound loud but for a short period of time. I'm not sure it would be easy to find one that emit a loud beep at regular interval. Hey! JSR may already have a link prepared!

Maybe a simple wrist watch from the dollar store could do. And the ammo could be the ultimate spudder table clock between firing

But smoke is interesting. There's some stuff that do smoke for the people in the railroad hobby... to simulate engine smoke. I don't know much about it but I could check, there's a hobby store in town.

[Edit] Beautiful place! hem... better design a shell that float!

[edit2] Wow... "smoke bomb" in Google sure gives a lot of food for thoughts