[inkhead]

Anyone here use a blowgun and care to comment on it? I've been thinking learning/playing with one might be fun.

[Spiggy]

I got a cheap one at the gun show and ordered darts online... at my freinds house we saw a rat so he grabbed the blowgun and went to work.

I can assure you that propper ammo is really effective against small vermin:what:. took 3 darts, first one went into it's leg and pinned it to the floor, second through it's chest and stuck it there, third one through the head. :barf:

I threw the blowgun away next morning :scrutiny:

Careful, they're dangerous

[hankpac]

When I lived on Elliot Key in Florida, the Island was overrun with Racoons. The county wanted us to eradicate them, so we would shoot each night at the dump, taking out 25-50 each night.
The Scouts were trapping them in the campground, and taking them to the mainland for release, also (this is about 35 years ago), but the State said, forget that, and stopped it. They instructed the County to eradicate them on the Island. .
During this delightful period, one of the other guys came to work with a 4 foot copper tube, 1/2 dia. One look and we all thought the same thing: Blow gun.
For darts we took pieces of coat hangar wire, and cut them about 4 " long. I sharpened them on a grinder, very long taper, fully half the length of the piece. Very sharp. Jmmy, the other guy, hit on just the method to make a means of blocking the propeling breath, and stabilizing the dart: he peeled the cover of a match book (a playing card wold work as well, maybe better) in half. Next he made a tight cone, with a little skirt at the forward end, that tightly grasped the shaft of the dart. First we taped the dart fletching in place, but that was too heavy. Next we twisted it tightly, and glued it with Elmers. Jimmy tightened a piece of wire on the skirt, around the shaft, and removed it when the glue was dry.
Next, he put some pencil lead around the end of the tube, and made a mark on the cone. Taking small scissors, he trimmed the cardboard until it would just fit the tube.
After we made about 50 of these, refining the procedure, and getting about 20 really good ones, we started to try a few of the not so good ones on a piece of plank. Even the worst of them sank a good inch in the pine.
That night we took them out into the trees that stood over the picnick area.
the trees where thick with racoons, about 15 of them. They scattered into the trees when we walked over there, having been raiding the trash cans.
Even though we stood right under them, and were able to put the tip of the copper tube within a foot of them, they didn't bolt. They were pretty bold, and pretty innured to our presence.
Jimmy took the first shot. Taking a deep breath, he huffed a shot into the animal's chest. It sank to the cone. The animal chitttered, jumped, and dropped right onto Jimie's face, he started screaming, the racoon was spitting and scratching.
Jimmy grabbed the animal by a leg, and threw it down on the ground. It stopped moving almost right away. Clean throught the heart.
I took the next shot, a little further back, but still with the tip about 2 feet from the animal. I aimed for the head, and sank the dart through the head, from under the chin,and out of the back of the head. The racoon fell to the ground, twitching, but harmless. Jimmy was still dabbing at cuts, and mumbling curses under his breath.
We went at it all night, killing about 25. Most weighed about 10 lbs or so, some were bigger, some smaller. Pretty tedious, but it did work.
Take a deep breath, and huff it all out at once. Work on targeting.

[Plink]

If you get the longer tube models, they're actually pretty effective on small game. Those 18 inch or whatever models that you see everywhere are just short range target toys, but get a 6 footer and you have some pretty good potential.

When I was a kid, I used to take a lot of small critters and birds with them. Rabbits, squirrels, pigeons and the various birds that made their living pecking the fruit in our trees. I had a .40 6 foot model. I think .40 was all that was available back then, but I've seen .50 and larger now.

You can get surprisingly accurate with them out to 20-25 yards or so. I had the most luck with the cheap ball end darts, but the cone end darts worked ok too. The broadheads didn't fly well so I didn't use them much.

Learning to shoot one is pretty easy. Just like firearms, it's all about consistency. If you try to push the air out with your lungs, you get a long, low pressure "whooooo" type of air pulse. But if you hold the blowgun mouthpiece tight against your lips, and hold your mouth tightly closed, you can build up a lot of pressure in your cheeks and upper lungs. Letting it out with a short, intense "PFT" gives best velocity and consistency. Aiming is pretty simple too. The gun is dead center between your eyes, so you get 2 images of the tube. You can center the target in the middle, or adjust your eye focus to bring the tubes together. I got where I could stick the darts in a broomstick on the other side of the yard consistently, or hit a sparrow or mouse 15-20 yards away.

It led me to buy one of those "Mega Dart" pistols. Those things got amazing velocity (700 fps if I remember right!) and would shoot a dart through 1/2 inch plywood with such gusto that the ball popping off the end of the wire was hazardous. Unfortunately, the pistol was so inaccurate as to be totally useless. I tinkered a few times using compressed air. I've always wanted to try setting up a dart barrel on a paintball gun type setup.

[Baba Louie]

The animal chitttered, jumped, and dropped right onto Jimie's face, he started screaming, the racoon was spitting and scratching.I laughed out loud at your friends dilemna when I read the above... even tho' I'm sure it's not funny to the one it happens to... :D

[hso]

The animal chitttered, jumped, and dropped right onto Jimie's face, he started screaming, the racoon was spitting and scratching.

First good laugh of the day! Thanks!!

[Avenger29]

I know, that's hilarious...

[BigG]

First good laugh of the day! Thanks!!
__________________

Ditto!

[dubious]

Ah! So glad you guys were talking about this... it reminded me of a really great website. The Blowgun hunter! http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/

This guy has a homemade blowgun with a camera mounted on it. Check out this great video of a squirrel kill and the other videos too: http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/video_index.html


He basically says his $10 easy to make DIY homemade blowguns are more effective for hunting than any other manufactured blowguns. He also hunts fish with a blowgun, and shoots a dart 75 yards! Maybe I'll make one of these when I have some time.

[Sharpdogs]

I have used them quite a bit, mostly just target practice. I have shot and used the .40 cal, .50 cal and .62 cal (largest one, made by Cold Steel). You can become extremely accurate with a little practice. As for hunting small game, rabbits, squirrels, etc. you should be fine with .62 cal. I would not use the smaller calibers on anything but foam targets.

[MarshallDodge]

My son has the Cold Steel .62 blowgun. I have shot it at cardboard, phone books, etc. and it's seems like it would do some major damage on small game out to about 15 feet

[for_hire]

A buddy of mine from college had one and we killed alot of stuff in the drom like light switch covers and alot of sheetrock...I was not with him but he did kill a squirrel with it..Loads of fun until we had to repatch the walls...

[Oldnamvet]

What kind of velocity can be obtained from a blowgun? Has anyone ever chronographed their "loads"? It might be interesting to combine a blowgun with a spud gun. Wonder if it could be called a firearm?

[Ghengis Kahn]

i used to have a cheap-ass one. It said 350+ FPS was obtainable. I think 15 feet is a low estimate, using the spikes or spear darts and a long tube (and big lungs) you can, with practice, hit a squirrel at 25 feet probably.

[Scotticus]

I have had a different experience. I think they are poor killers--at least on pigeons. I had a commercial 5' blowgun as a kid. It had stiff wire darts and plastic beads. High accuracy out to about 25 ' and GREAT penetrator, but not very lethal ( just think about it--the bullet kills by shock and tissue destruction and the arrow kills by hemorrhage, but the dart has NEITHER). I shot a pigeon with FIVE darts and the thing was still walking around (it couldn't fly and didn't look like it felt too well, but far from dead)--I had to run up to it and step on it's head. 1 in the gut, 1 in the back, 1 in the breast, 1 in the side, and one directly through the head (it looked like a miniature version of those fake "arrows-through-the-head" gags) with a couple of inches sticking out the far side. Maybe birds have different vitals or nervous systems making them much less likely to die from a puncture. I don't doubt that a dart would eventually be fatal and I am certainly not doubting any of the accounts of kills on this thread, but from my limited experience, a simple dart is a poor and inhumane killer.

[usmccpl]

After much practice I found that starlings inside a run down house could be done easy enough. Mice were tricky but could be done if you know what you are doing.

[MudPuppy]

the dart has NEITHER

Yeah, but a long thin dart stuck into your heart, even really slowly, couldn't be a good thing.

Not much experience with them, growing up a friend had one...but I had a pellet gun.

[PH/CIB]

I have a couple of Cold Steel Blowguns, my Nephews love to shoot them. Now where can I find some poison frogs?

[JShirley]

Dart construction and targeting are important.

hankpac, my grandfather used cone paper cups for that skirt. He would cut the tip off the cup, and then make a vertical slit near the tip. All you had to do then, was screw a screw through the tip! Worked great.

I've seen my brother make various types, from matchstick, needle and cotton ball contruction to bead and wire.

Like anything else, be sure you've had some practice before you try to kill anything with this!

[craftsman]

Glad to see so much interest in blowguns! Before you go make your own, check out the commercial ones in .40, .50, and .625 cal., and the various darts available. Match your cal. to the game you hunt, and you'll be hitting them at 30+ yards easily. The commercial tailcones for the .625 are relatively FLAT, so penetration at long distances is limited.

Practice at a target before you shoot (see the American Sport Blowgun Association website) - 1. So you don't waste darts, 2. So you have a clean kill first shot

The ASBA is a national affiliate of the International Fukiyado Association. We're trying to get the sport of competition blowgun target shooting sanctioned as an Olympic event - but they need members. Start a target shooting club in your area. Affiliate it with the ASBA or wherever you're from.
There's national organizations starting up all over the world!

There's an international competition scheduled for June 9th at Bear Swamp Archery Complex in Upper Mt. Bethel, PA - Wayne Wilson (Nam era Marine Vet) set the current 10-meter World record score (198 out of a possible 210 points) there in 2005. Go to the website for BlowgunsNW, follow the link to the Message Board to see posts from blowgunners around the world about new dart designs, hunting, blowgun fishing, competitions, etc.

Blowguns are banned in California, Massachusetts, Canada, the UK, Austraila, Washington DC, and Haverstraw, NY. Check your local laws before getting one.

May your darts always fly true!

[1911 guy]

I had the opportunity to travel to Togo, West Africa with a friend who lives there permenantly. The locals still use them on occassion due to erratic supply flights bringing ammo for the firearms. They use a relatively light dart made of some sort of nettle or thorn, about 4-6 inches long with a stiff grass bound around the end for stability and air seal in the tube. The tubes are pretty long, most were around five feet with an I.D. of around two inches. They killed pretty big stuff (considering the weapon) by use of a plant poison on the darts. I could only get about 25 or 30 feet and milk-crate accuracy with one, even the youngsters were getting 25 yards and grapefruit sized accuracy with them. The adults were pretty impressive, whacking rabbit sized stuff out past 30 yards. As an anthropological sidenote, it was interesting to see completely civilized people, jeans, T-shirts and tennis shoes, using blowguns and other "stone age" tech completely interchangeable with modern convenience. Internet and drums, so to speak.

[BBQJOE]

I used to have one myself. Pretty powerful and accurate.

Once, I plugged an air compressor into it and gave it a blast at about 90 psi.
Couldn't even see it come out.
Buried the whole dart in a wall. The plastic end broke free and slide down the shaft.

[80proof]

I have a store bought blowgun, not very effective on small game (sqirrels) but very interested in building my own "large bore varmint slayer". Any help would be appreciated.

[Boom-stick]

I've got "breath of death" by Michael Janich and it's a good read for those interested in Blowguns with a good section about "explosive powered syringe darts":evil:

Unfortunatley blowguns are now illegal in the UK, as they fall into the same legal area as stunguns, tasers and CS/pepper sprays all of which carry a 5 year prison sentence:eek: :o :banghead: :cuss:





Which is a shame because I'm a pretty good shot with mine;)

[JShirley]

80proof, welcome to THR. Follow the link in post #9.

John

[80proof]

Thanks for the input! We made a similar blowgun as what was on that link, with suprising results! I'll have to post some hunting pics later.

[psegnatelli]

Plink a 20ga shotgun wad with a bamboo or similar skewer through the middle will work quite well out of a paintball gun.


I have a 1/2inch aka 50cal 6footer, from Blowguns NW, I;ve taken quite a few critters with it. They work, just gotta practice

[SaMx]

on an airgun forum someone took one of those .40 cal blowguns and used it as a barrel for an airgun. Same idea as the paintball gun.