Anybody else have a Spud Gun?

Status
Not open for further replies.
DeepSouth

DeepSouth

Random Guy
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
4,840
Location
Heart of Dixie (Ala)
My dad made me one when I was a kid, I had tons of fun with it. So I was sitting around doing nothing a few days ago and figured I'd make one for my kids. I had forgot how much fun these things can be, even when 1/2 grown. It is just amazing what you can do with a few pieces of PVC, a gas grill igniter, a little hair spray and a a potato. The one I made seems to be inferior to the one my dad made, mine will only shoot a potato a little over 100 yards while my old one would go much further. I want to shoot one through a chrono to see just how fast this thing can shoot a tater.


Anyway, who else out there has one?

Here's mine.......I mean my kids.:scrutiny:

IMG_0797.gif



EDIT:
Before you go and build one you might want to check legality. There not legal everywhere.





.
 
Last edited:
I don't have one but my son [who's 42] brought one over to show me a few years ago. We had a ball and It is amazing how far they will shoot a potato. I can see where they could be a bit dangerous if the plastic pipe gave way.:eek:
 
I have one, loads of fun. We have noticed that almost no common household items fit down the barrel without work. Almost like they design everything specifically not to fit PVC pipe. I think it's a conspiracy with the anti spud groups.
As a safety measure I build up a 1/2" thick layer of nylon reinforced strapping tape around the combustion chamber, just in case. There is a guy online that sells rifled PVC barrels. I feed mine with propane.. Much cleaner burning than hair spray, power is more repeatable, and it doesn't gum up the combustion chamber.
 
I can see where they could be a bit dangerous if the plastic pipe gave way.
Click to expand...

I have seen a couple get "overloaded" and the ones I've seen didn't blow up like you would think they would , they just blow the cap off the back. But yes, if one were to blow up it would be really bad. I do know one guy that claimed to have one blow up when he used acetylene as a propellant. :what:
 
Overloaded- It can happen. I had one as a teenager. We would power it with hairspray mostly. But soon enough my Dad and Brother-in-law started strapping it into the fork of an apple tree, (which was also the source for the ammo), and loading it with acetylene from the torch kit. They would hit the ignitor button with about a 12' stick. It worked for a while, but you know, more must be better right? Sure enough, they overloaded it and blew the entire back end out. Gave us all a good scare! That was the end of my potato gun, or apple gun as the case was. Fun times, fun times.
 
Last edited:
My friend and I built a 6 foot patato gun. Then we made a smaller version that shoots 50 caliber marbles!! It will break a bottle at 30 yards!!

I made a "bull" barrel for it



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
When you said "spud gun", I thought you meant these things. I remember these from the late 50's-early 60's. Jam 'em in a 'tater and it shoots a plug, or "bullet", of potato flesh. Great fun when the little plugs all over the house start to rot and stink, moms love it. I think you can still buy 'em on the internet somewhere.

spud_gun_retro.jpg

spud-gun.jpg
 
I have one of these, I think it would be perfect to build a spud gun inside it.
BAZOOKA-SH-D.jpg
 
i no longer have one since "the incident"

it was a 5 foot six inch diameter combustion chamber with a 10 foot 2 inch barrel 500k stun gun powered three sets of points in the barrel. when i switched up to mapp gas it went boom. was considering a lil metered o2 as the next step glad i did not get there. guy on the west coast has chronoed taters at over 300 mph. i blew mine up trying to launch a full tube of caulk using a tater sabot. apples and taters would go outa sight i wanna build one for golf balls using schedule 80 pvc
 
You are going to give a potato gun to your kids?

Be aware, fun as these are, they are not really kids toys.

If there is one report, you can bet there are a lot more that you never heard of.


Terminal Ballistics as Viewed in a Morgue

I did have a guy hit in the chest by a 'tater fired out of a potato gun, though. Seems he and his buddies were having an alcohol-fueled softball game when one of the guys produced a potato gun and bet the batter he couldn't hit a 'tater fired from it. Believe me, if you've ever seen how fast a spud comes out of one of these things you wouldn't have taken that bet! Anyway, batter up! Our batter was ready to do his best imitation of Babe Ruth, but, unfortunately the pitcher's aim was a bit inside and hit our batter squarely in the chest with one of Idaho's finest. It broke about half the ribs on the left side and severed a few major blood vessels around the heart. Needless to say, he didn't get the walk to first.
Click to expand...

http://www.gunthorp.com/Terminal Ballistics as viewed in a morgue.htm
 
some guys had video posted of shooting frozen waterfilled softdrink bottles at sheets of plywood very impressive
 
cassandrasdaddy said:
i no longer have one since "the incident"

it was a 5 foot six inch diameter combustion chamber with a 10 foot 2 inch barrel 500k stun gun powered three sets of points in the barrel. when i switched up to mapp gas it went boom. was considering a lil metered o2 as the next step glad i did not get there. guy on the west coast has chronoed taters at over 300 mph. i blew mine up trying to launch a full tube of caulk using a tater sabot. apples and taters would go outa sight i wanna build one for golf balls using schedule 80 pvc
Click to expand...
That's my problem, too; I can't help myself from trying to get just a little bit more out of it.

When I was a kid I got one of those toy muskets from Disneyland. Even at 10 I knew how a muzzel loader worked and I realized the breech set-up was just like the real thing. I emptied the powder from a few black cats down the tube, stuck on a Greenie Stick-em cap and shot the head from a tin solder right through the door of a car across the street.

I always wished I had a kid like me; I'd have been so proud! As it was, I was in deep you-know-what.
 
I have always been against Spud guns since a family friends kid took one out to play with. It ended up exploding and tossing scrapnel into his stomach. Didnt make it in the end, so ill stay away from them in the long run.
 
yes i built mine to run off compressed air more repeatable and safer. its a 5' x 8" 1/4" steel pipe welded on both ends 2" ball valve feeding either a 2" or 3" barrel. it will fire anything you can load that will fit down the tube. my record is over 300 yards with a baseball. be careful with pvc there is a pressure and non pressure type and one will shatter under pressure.
 
My brothers and i have had a lot of fun with potato cannons when we all lived at home. We had a six foot, grill ignited cannon with the trusty hair spray. Could easily send a spud across the one hundred and fifty yard pond behind our house.

We have also made air cannons for paintball. Simple designs mostly with an air reservoir, sprinkler valve, and the barrel. We could shoot neff balls out of it.

One time we went for the golf ball and it left the barrel with such a back spin it was still arcing up past the pond, no clue where it ended up.

The best one we designed was a six barrel quick loading 'gatling' gun air cannon for paintball. Breach loaded, each shell held 35 paintballs, the two horizontal barrels could be fired simultaneously while the others were hand loaded. The design used bike handle bars and when you pull the brakes the barrels sealed on to the hose housing connected to an air tank. All of this was placed in a 360 degree rotating turret atop a modified mail jeep.

I'll try and find photos. This was for 24 hour scenario games in ocala, fl. My dad taught me how to weld on that project.
 
I'll have to dig mine out of the garage. i have not messed with it in years. when we were younger and playing with spud guns we loaded up one and shot my buddies semi-truck trailer. It left one heck of a dent from i would guess 40-50 yards. My boys are getting old enough that we may have to play again.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top