Homemade blowgun

[rebel]

I once made a blow gun from a tv antenna. The darts were finish nails with tape wrapped around to form a cone. The thing had alot of force and was accurate. Has anyone else done this? It could be an expedient tool for small game.

[crashdive123]

I once made a blow gun from a tv antenna. The darts were finish nails with tape wrapped around to form a cone. The thing had alot of force and was accurate. Has anyone else done this? It could be an expedient tool for small game.

What? You go trekking and camping where there's alot of abandoned cars?

[Alpine_Sapper]

I once made a blow gun from a tv antenna. The darts were finish nails with tape wrapped around to form a cone. The thing had alot of force and was accurate. Has anyone else done this? It could be an expedient tool for small game.

I have a .40 blowgun with a nice selection of different types of projectiles that was a gift. I carry it sometimes just to entertain myself if I'm bored. It's not much for small game since it's so light. There used to be a guy on the internet named "Blowgun Joe" that showed how to make homemade .62 caliber blowguns and darts from scalpels. Much better imho for hunting. I think his site is down, but there's someone on youtube that is showing basically the same method.

[rebel]

Hollow car antenna?

Tubing. Could come from perhaps a hollow pack frame. Abandoned house tv antenna. water pipe. copper pipe. ???

[Rick]

Rebel - Believe this or not, back in the day car antennas were hollow.

[rebel]

Your right. Still would be too small.

[Alpine_Sapper]

Here's a link to the site I referenced:

http://12.152.111.66/info/blowgunjoe/page002.html

Also, check out the rat hunting page:

http://12.152.111.66/info/blowgunjoe/page004.html

[crashdive123]

Oops. Misread that and was thinking car antenna. But yeah, they were hollow.

[canid]

i have used nails with a cone as well, though i used a wedge of 4 mil visqueen, because i always have a ton of it on hand and i play around with stuff when i'm bored. you can certainly nail a squirrel to a tree with one at a decent range.

i use larger than finishing nails.

[rebel]

Here's a link to the site I referenced:

http://12.152.111.66/info/blowgunjoe/page002.html

Also, check out the rat hunting page:

http://12.152.111.66/info/blowgunjoe/page004.html

I wonder what the neighbors thought when they would find darts in their yard and embedded in their things?

[crashdive123]

<Rebel's neighbors>

-Honey, Rebel's got a new blow gun
-How do you know dear?
-Bird house is covered in darts and the cat won't come down from the tree.

[rebel]

Yea. Maybe the site is down because he is too. Rat conspiracy.

[Aurelius95]

There was another thread about a guy who used pvc pipe and made his broadheads with small exacto blades (cut in the shape of a triangle). Cool film of him nailing a squirrel in his yard.

[Ole WV Coot]

Car antenna? Seems small. When I was a juvenile offender a car antenna was the barrel for a "zip" gun. I was given a store bought one but never got good with it. Seemed I always inhaled before I blew out the dart. They would be fun to play with if they had a one way valve built in.

[bulrush]

Plastic cones should be easy to make. Take any plastic bottle, heat with a candle or blow torch so plastic is soft. Gently push in pencil to make a cone. When plastic cools, cut to correct shape.

[Chicago Dan]

Good idea. Reasonable method but I just couldn’t pull it off.

I tried using pvc tubing many years ago but gave up the project for the following reasons(think what you will, they may not apply to you):

1. Blow gun worked but accuracy was a major issue over 15ft. and I didn’t think this was sufficient.
2. Tubing was unwieldy to carry around.
3. Peoples who use these today supplement the dart with poisons that I really did not want any part of.
4. I was more accurate and had greater distance by just throwing dart(I was a semi-pro darter, think cork board, back in the day).

So Today,
I do have a modified 24g. dart set in my car but some of the issues are still not to my satisfaction. I have used barbs, hooks, trailing line etc. to try and solve some of them but as a whole it would be a method of last resort for me. If anyone has any ideas regarding I would love to hear em.

[Blood Groove]

I kind of had the same problem. I used a small pvc pipe, and what I used for darts were broken pieces of cloths hangers that were sharpened on one part (using a grinder) and the other part was wrapper with duck tape until it fit snugly into the pipe. Since I live in a completely wooden house, I only use it indoors. But I have a feeling that with the heavy darts it wouldn't go very far outside. It's fun to shoot indoors though.

[flandersander]

Back but been gone for a while. Good to see some new faces around here. I had a thread on this a while back "blowgun fishing" Check this out. http://www.instructables.com/id/the-BEST-blowgun/

http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/fish-pix.html


http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/broadhead.html

[bulrush]

If you are having accuracy issues, then the dart may not be well-balanced. For example, the cone (or whatever else seals the dart to the blowgun) may be off center. I think the best idea when making darts is for the head (front) to be a little heavier than the back. That way you don't get the back trying to tumble forward.

[Blood Groove]

Yeah that makes sence. It's the same principle with a spear, you want the front heavier than the back so it doesn't flip over. I don't really shoot it for accuracy, just for fun.