[cpileri]

I am really intrigued by this thread:
http://rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=243307#post243307

Basically, its discussing converting a rifle to fire arrows. The company mentioned in the thread wants 350 bucks and UP for their product. I am more interested in seeing if it can be done a bit (OK, a boatload) cheaper!

Anyone with any thoughts or experiences?
C-

[Joe Demko]

Wouldn't a crossbow achieve much the same end w/ a good deal less fuss? 50fps better than a compound bow isn't exactly warp drive. If you want to mess with something like this, why not seek out one of the harpoon guns Navy Arms sells? They use a .38 special blank to launch a bigass harpoon. You could go whaling or something.

[Jaywalker]

Come on... Clearly, when faced with more than one vampire, a crossbow just won't do. I'm thinking wooden bullets in a revolver would be nice, though.

Jaywalker

[cpileri]

The point is to do it yourself for those of us with tinkering hands, attention defecit disorder, obsessive-compulsive traits, and a knack for solving problems that don't exist...

in short: just because we can.

Or at least, to see IF we can.

Besides, a crossbow is still a few hundred bucks- just like that Air Rimfire rifle conversion.

Now, what junk do I have around here to tinker with...

C-

[Joe Demko]

That being the case, poachers in these parts have used .410 shotguns to launch arrows of the appropriate diameter for years. A simple matter to remove the shot load from a shell. No muss no fuss. A single barrel .410 purchased used would cost you very little and allow you to experiment to heart's content.

[zahc]

I'm thinking fletching wouldn't hold up very well, but my bet's on feathers, good ole feathers.

[El Tejon]

The Chinese have been doing this for thousands of years.

Nothing new under the sun.:)

[son of a gun]

WHAT KIND OF APPLICATIONS ARE THERE FOR FOR THAT SET UP ?

[El Tejon]

son, breaking up calvary formations.

[zahc]

FISHING!:D

[4v50 Gary]

You can do it with the Farco Airshotgun. I have. :D

[Keith]

Have you priced a pre-ban high capaciaty arrow mag lately?

Keith

[diyj98]

It's easy to do with a shotgun. Just take a normal shotshell and cut the end out to drain all the shot. Once you've loaded your shotless round. Slide an arrow down the barrel. The fletching gives you a good fit with a 12 gauge. With smaller gauges you may have to trim the fletching down. With your arrow seated against the wad, you can now fire the arrow. We've shot them through old car doors this way.

(Golgo, I didn't see your post about the .410's until after I had posted)

[Keith]

It was common in the old days for ramrods to get fired in the heat of battle.

Keith

[BigG]

Some of the early gonnes, called bombards, mebbe, fired large arrowes.

[sch40]

Have you priced a pre-ban high capaciaty arrow mag lately?
Kieth

ROFL!

[Sunray]

Fletching is feathers. Vanes are plastic but still called fletching. The whole idea is a waste of time and money.

[Art Eatman]

:D Aw, c'mon, Sunray. That attitude, we're gonna change your name to Wetblanket or Darkcloud. :D

"Waste of time and money" sounds like a wifely view of a lot of guys' pet passions, hobbies and pastimes.

:D, Art

[JWH 223]

I didn't read the linked thred, but.......

I played around with arrows from a gun about 10 years ago. I uses a junky AR15 barrel and cut it down to about 5" (I cross drilled and put a permanent pin partway thru the very end of the chamber where the bullet of the cartridge would sit.....this way only .223 lanks could chamber. I figured that would make my very short barrel legal, since you couldn't actually fire a round thru it) Anyway. I added a tube the same O.D. as the I.D. of an aluminum arrow. Cut the nock end of of an alum. arrow, slid the arrow over the tube and fired it with a blank. The first time I shot it, it blew the insert and tip right out of the arrow and the arrow stayed on the tube. A little JB Weld latter and that thing shot with such velocity that it was just crazy. I never tried playing with heavier tips, but that may of stabilized it and it may have been a little mor accurate.

[cpileri]

Now yer talkin'.

Where to get me a used singe shot 410???

I have an old 20ga. Will that work? Big arrows!

Any pressure problems firing a 300+ (approx 3/4 oz and up) arrow with a 410 shot shell designed for 1/2 oz shot?
Or is the gas seal so loose that no real pressure builds up?
C-

[Keith]

http://www.antipersonnel.net/sdllc/001.html

Here's a company that makes 12 gauge anti-personnel "arrows".

Keith

[cpileri]

jwh223,
do you happen to remember the ID of that tube? or what type of tube you used? (grey pvc, aluminum rod stock, bathroom pipe brass, etc)

or...

you still go that barrel floating around?
C-

[JWH 223]

It was actually a piece of steal brake line. I even used the brass threaded piece that comes with it. I forget what size it was, but I think a 2117 or so size aluminum arrow fit right on it. I do still have the barrel, I even made a plactic tube to fit over the whole thing so you could hold onto it like a forearm. The only problem is that it is about 120 miles away at my folk's house. I still have some stuf stored there...even know I haven't lived there for 15 years...that's pathetic, isn't it.

It was very cool, even started making my own arrow because I could make 3 out of one shaft. I eas cutting them around 10" long. It was fun, I just kinda lost interest in it......sort like my shotgun primer powered blowgun...that bastard was deadly.

[gun-fucious]

in the words of Yacko Warner

http://www.swivelmachine.com/images/sa.jpg

Hello Nurse!

http://www.swivelmachine.com/html/stealth.htm

[Rottweiler]

Back in my militart days I "experimented" with something similar to this while bored one day on manuvers.


M16 with blank firing device removed

load blank round

drop section of GI cleaning rod down muzzle

aim at MRE sitting against tree 20 or so yards way

squeeze trigger

results :

MRE nailed to tree with cleaning rod ...cool hey Ya'll watch this:D
most of squad losing their cleaning rods while on manuvers:confused:

[Futo Inu]

With .410+, I see how the fletching stays on the arrow, but not how a gas seal can be formed.

With .22 or .25, I see how a gas seal can be formed, but not how fletching can be on arrow.


:confused: :confused: :confused:

[cpileri]

Leave the shot cup and wad in place, and it should make a gas seal while shoving the arrow out the muzzle.
still seems like it would wreak havoc with any fletching.

With th small calibers, the hollow arrow shaft slides OVER the barrel, so the fletching is undisturbed.

I'm liking this shotgun/arrow idea more and more.

Maybe a collar or 2 along the shaft of the arrow to keep it striaght in the bore?
C-

[Jim K]

I am not sure of the definition of "arrow" but the Army played with both rifle (7.62 NATO and 5.56) cartridges and shotgun shells loaded with fletchettes. One report described the shotgun load as "devastating". I am inclined to think the writer had not seen the 105 mm beehive round, which was all that and then some.

Jim

[bdhawk]

the special effects folks use some kind of arrow shooting rifle in the movies. this is when they need an arrow to fly very accurately, and hit a target in just the right place. it is used mostly for when people are in close proxminity, for safety.

[Dave Markowitz]

It was common in the old days for ramrods to get fired in the heat of battle.

I watched a guy do this once by accident. He was practicing rapid fire with his rifle musket and forgot to withdraw the rammer before he fired. Ever see a 34" piece of steel rod going end over end 50 yards downrange? :eek:

[Black Snowman]

I remember seeing a pneumatic arrow launcher at the gunshows a while back (read, years). Could be dialed up to 350 fps IIRC and ran off of the same CO2 cansiters that paintball guns use. Now that they have the nitrogen systems common I bet a lot more velocity than that could be had.

[RevNate]

A few years ago I saw an air-powered arrow gun in a catalog like Brigade Quartermaster (don't recall if that was it- but one of those military surplus type things). It was odd looking- a backpack with a gun and hoses- looked like an overgrown bug sprayer, but it claimed to launch arrows at over 400fps. That's pretty good speed.
Not exactly what you were talking about, but maybe the idea will give some tinkerer an alternative to blowing his head off.

[gun-fucious]

The barrel used in these AIRROW rifles consists of two barrels: an outer barrel (shroud) with an outside diameter of .920” and a second floating inner barrel. The inner barrel fits inside the hollow shaft of the 2512 arrow. The fletching must roll over to fit inside the outer barrel (shroud) and the shooter is advised to use a rotating clock-wise motion as he first fits the arrow to the inner barrel and then pushes it down inside the outer barrel (shroud).

http://www.swivelmachine.com/html/rimfire.htm

[stevelyn]

Arrows can be fired from a gun with the fletching intact. Take a 410ga. shotshell, cut off the crimped end. Dump out the shot leaving the wad column in place. Take the arrow and fold the fletching over in one direction and inert the arrow into the shell. Load the shell and arrow into a single shot break open shotgun and close (snake charmers work like a charm). If you are going to shoot a broadhead, screw the broadhead onto the shaft and commence firing.
While on a field exercise in the military, myself and some squad members discovered it was possible and quite entertaining to shoot cleaning rod sections out of our M-16s using blanks to launch them. :D

And remember..................DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.:evil:

[Futo Inu]

Black Snowman,

that is a very interesting idea - to make a "crossbow gun", using a hefty PCP cannister (pre-charged pneumatic), such as the one on the RWS model 707 that lauches 50 grain 9mm pellets at 1000 fps. Wowsa - I want one baaad! More power than the best crossbows, more accuracy, and no drawing of the bow required - much more rapid fire. Plus, hunting with it would not be banned by the hunting regs during archery season, because it cannot be a "crossbow" without a "bow", now can it?

stevelyn, thanks for the more detailed info on how to do that. :)

[JWH 223]

Cpileri,

I now have the AR-Arrow gun parts in hand. I have the barrel, a homemade freefloat aluminum handguard, at least a dozen arrows ready to go, inserts, veins and some .223 blanks.

I was thinking about playing with it again, but if you'd be interested in buying it, e-mail me at jwhoard@houstonengineeringinc.com

Not trying to turn this into a "for sale" forum....sorry.

[Gewehr98]

There's a silver maple on a certain farm in Wisconsin with an aluminum arrow that still protrudes from both sides of the trunk, about chest-high. I saw it last winter, 25+ years later. Dad still hasn't said a word to me about it. Pretty sure I threw away the .410 modified "blanks", and I never did find the wads. Just couldn't get the damned arrow out of the tree when I was 13. I'd probably have a tougher time now, maybe drive it through or just hacksaw off both ends flush. I'll tell you one thing, I never knew an arrow could whip and flex so much and still hit nose-first with that much energy! ;)

[Okiecruffler]

I recieved an enfield converted to 2inch .410 just a few weeks ago that I haven't been able to decide what to do with. And there's an archery shop just down the road...hum. Just wait for my next thread "Funny thing happened on the way to the Hospital."