Best improvised projectile weapon for survival?

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elmerfudd

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Having watched a few episodes of Survivorman, where Les Stroud makes some crude and ineffective primitive hunting weapon, it's got me thinking that there has to be something better out there that could be quickly assembled and reasonably effective for hunting wild game. Maybe even something that wasn't traditional. And just for clarity, this has nothing to do with SHTF or TEOTWAWKI. I'm envisioning a lost or stranded in the wilderness type survival situation.

I'm thinking that boleadoras would probably be the best candidate. They can be assembled using rocks and bootlaces. They're great for entangling things and since they cast a fairly wide net they are suitable for someone who doesn't have a great deal of experience. You only have to hit close enough for bolas to work. The main downside that I see is that they are just about useless in brushy areas. You can't swing them and they'll get tangled up on the first branch they hit.

Slings are simple, tiny, easy to assemble and hit fairly hard. Unfortunately they also require years of practice to develop enough skill to use them effectively as a hunting weapon and like the bolas you can't use them in brushy areas.

Bows would seem to be an obvious choice, but in my experience, making an effective bow and effective arrows out of green wood would be very difficult and time consuming.

Now if you happened to have some surgical tubing, you could easily build a very effective slingshot and shoot either rocks or arrows. With the tubing, this would be the no brainer first choice. Without it, I don't see a slingshot being very effective.

Shotguns or blowguns would be effective if you happened to have some tubing and in the case of the shotgun, some improvised propellent. You might also blow yourself up though trying to fire shot out of a tent pole.

Throwing sticks are simple and available just about anywhere, but I think I'd rather have the bolas.

In any event, it seems obvious to me that there have to be much more effective improvised weapons than the stuff I see on that show and I've been turning this thought over in my head for the past few days. I sometimes wonder when I'm watching it if he's actually hiding his kills so as not to advertise breaking hunting and trapping regulations.
 
Bows would seem to be an obvious choice, but in my experience, making an effective bow and effective arrows out of green wood would be very difficult and time consuming.
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Yep. An effective bow is incredibly difficult to make. Pretty much any bow a skilled layman could make would need to be used the same way some Native American tribes hunt. You sneak up to within 5 feet of the animal, then shoot at point blank. It's the only way to get the arrow deep enough, and in the right spot. And that kind of stealth takes a lifetime to develop. So you either spend your entire life learning how to make bows and arrows, or learning how to sneak up on game.

Bolas vs. a throwing stick, I think it comes down to how big an animal you're hunting. Small game, use a throwing stick to knock it out or kill it outright. Large game, use bolas to entangle the legs, then deliver a killing blow with a spear. In theory, anyway. You have to be within primitive bow range to use any kind of thrown weapon.

I believe it would probably be a better idea to learn how to set simple, effective snares and other traps. Traps tend to be overlooked a lot, since in normal, non-survival circumstances, they're illegal without a trapping/furtaking license. Just some loops of wire positioned along a pole or tree branch are a great way to catch squirrels.

Should probably mostly concentrate on animals that are small enough to be eaten in a single sitting, two at most. Much easier to prepare, and you don't end up with a surplus that needs to be disposed of pretty quickly.

Actually, your very best bet in a survival situation would be to get over any aversions you have to eating bugs and larvae and worms. Eugh. Disgusting, but you can find edible bugs almost anywhere, much more easily than regular food type animals. And they're actually really healthy for you.
 
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Yep, bugs, slugs and edible plants would certainly be eaten in that kind of situation, but having some way of killing squirrels, chipmunks, small birds and other small game would be invaluable in that situation. I'd be thinking something for use at 10 yards or less.

As far as a slingshot being a good weapon, yes, it would be ideal if you had material to make good power bands with, but how many of us are packing that stuff around? Bungee cords perhaps? Lots of backpacks have bungee material on them nowadays.
 
If one is traipsing about the wilderness, it's generally a good idea to keep at least a few essential items about one's person. I'd say some type of elastic material with a pre-installed leather pouch shouldn't take up all that much room in one's minimal survival kit. Realistically, the slingshot is one's best bet here for an improvised weapon.

One of the custom knifemakers, I forget who, makes a "survival staff" that can be used as a blowgun among its many other features. A hollow tent pole could be pressed into service the same way. The staff has the advantage of having several pre-fab darts stored away in it. A think-ahead kind of fellow might tuck away a few in a tent pole, where they won't be in the way unless they are needed. One might also fabricate darts on-site from natural materials, but among the aboriginal peoples who use(d) them such blowdarts are made much more effective by the use of poisons. IAC, blowguns are surprisingly easy to shoot well. Just remember to blow, not suck.

Traps, snares, and crawlies remain the easiest way to obtain food without burning more calories than the food contains.
 
Bungee cords perhaps? Lots of backpacks have bungee material on them nowadays.
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I tried bungee cords for a slingshot once, in my youth. Didn't work at all. I think if you shot a bungee cord slingshot at the ground, the rock would fall from gravity faster than the bungee bungees.
 
Most any projectile weapon you make in a survival situation won't be up to the task of hunting. Even if its small game. Your best bet is learn how to improvise traps and snares. You'll waste a lot less energy setting a snare than you would running around with a slingshot made out of rubberbands. Just my .02
 
+1 for traps. I know it's not what you want to hear, but for food gathering, traps and snares can be super super simple and easy to set up, and you won't waste much precious energy to get your food that way.

The content of your first post mostly talks about using the weapon to gather food in a survival scenario; however, the title of your thread doesn't specifically mention food gathering. It's conceivable that you could need an improvised weapon to defend yourself from predators. That's not something you could do with traps, unfortunately... unless you set traps up all around yourself and then never moved. :)

If I had to improvise a weapon in the wilderness, I'd be trying to make a spear. I'm not talking about a javelin or a throwing spear. I'm talking about a good, long, sturdy spear for thrusting. This would be my choice for several reasons.

1. A heavy thrusting spear can be used as a thrusting weapon and as a striking weapon like a staff.

2. In ancient battles, the heavy thrusting spear was the primary weapon used by most successful infantry forces. We like to imagine Greek, Roman, and Persian forces using swords, but the spear ruled the battlefield because it offered a powerful thrust at long range.

3. This point should have been number one. A heavy thrusting spear is easy to make using materials that are readily available in the wilderness. A well made thrusting spear can last for a very long time with periodic sharpening, and if you happen to lose or break it, you can quickly replace it.

4. A light throwing spear takes a long time to master, and you can't get good velocity out of it without making a spear thrower (atlatl), which is time consuming to craft and difficult to master.

5. A light throwing spear that will fly true takes time to make, and that's a lot of work to waste on a projectile that will easily get lost or broken when you throw it.
 
Survival encompasses a lot of things that will be defined by a variety of factors.

Subject of this thread is: "improvised projectile".

I grew up with mentors , some quite interesting, and they shared and passed forward.
They had Lessons.

Software not hardware was the lesson back in day as well. So I have been 'dumped' on some property with just a simple pocket knife for a knife. Just a small one 3" or less. Think Case Peanut, as that is one knife I really did carry and use , as did mentors.

Now they had shared about snares, and the like.
They also shared how to find a limb with a fork. Use that penknife to get that fork fashion it out.

They said to survive. Adapt Improvise Overcome .

Progress does not always work for folks needing to survive.

Tires had inner tubes back then, and the best rubber was the Red inner tube,
Red inner tube rubber was the rubber we used for home made sling shots.

Black Rubber works too, just the red rubber was better, and it not used anymore.
Think out of the box. What uses a inner tube today?

Move to modern times for a second:
You forgot to run to Wal-Mart, Academy, Gander...and get that package with rubber, and pouch , the replacement kit for a modern store bought slingshot as a backup to the store bought slingshot you packed..

Now back to what I really did as a kid, and as I kept getting bigger.

I am dumped, told to survive, and do what needs doing, and remember my lessons thus far.
Mentors kept tabs, they made sure I was safe, still I had to do this.

Anything goes, this is survival. I had a small knife, a few matches, string, box of raisins...not a whole lot.
Ah...there is a shed, barn, whatever, there is a red inner tube on the wall. Or I can take the inner tube out of a spare tire in there...find some string, some leather, or canvas scrap.

If a old car is around, even just a rusting part of one, yank wires to make snares,

I steal a hub cap off a Willis Jeep, Ford Truck...hubcaps are great!

There is a pond.
I have scavenged stuff I need, and know how to use. I have snares out, making a sling shot, and a fire going, I started using a lens from a pair of glasses found in a car/barn. To save my matches.

Wire will work for fishing line, a safety pin can be fashioned into a hook, and bait is just under a rock.

Then again, birds will use a fishing line, especially discarded fishing line left on the ground because someone messed up using a level wind (bait cast ) reel and got a "birds nest".
Birds, and squirrels will use a fishing line "birds nest" to make nests.

I might shoot down a nest, get a bird in doing so if lucky. Maybe it is better I climb up...

You get a critter in a snare, it might be best to use a sling shot to kill while snared, instead of taking a chance and losing it getting it out of a snare.

Case Peanut, will take care of inner tubes, sling shot forks, snares, cleaning fish and small game...
The eggs stolen from a hen house are really good with that bird/panfish/ whatever, and Willis Jeep hub caps make great cooking pot/pans.
They gather water too...

Mentors said to not get caught in travel. So shoot rocks over that way while hiding to distract, as I move another way for distance...

I did these things.
How raised -what you do.

Software, not hardware

Think out of the box

Improvise Adapt Overcome


Tidbit.
Penrose drains, and surgical tubing work for sling shots as well.

I used to work in the Main OR and one graveyard shift, it was quiet, for a change.
I shared with some scrub techs and others how to make sling shots with stuff in the Main OR, and in the OR Supply room.

Then I shared how to use these.

WE really had had gangbanger get into this sterile area looking for someone to finish off. WE had taken prudent steps with stuff to assist us.

These folks saw how a sling shot could be another tool in the tool box
 
One to consider is a Vietnamese crossbow. Once you've seen one made they are amazingly simple to make with just a knife and string and a source of wood. Suitable for small game and the arrows/bolts are quite small and light. Not a thing of beauty but easy to aim and effective. I've whittled one in about 20 minutes and used parts of parachute cord for the bowstring and separated internal strands to wrap the fletch in place. And the arrows are a 2 vane fletch so you can use almost anything you can put in a slot-playing cards, cardboard, aluminum can sides, etc. The trigger is just one piece of wood. If you are sitting around some night around the campfire it can be a handy little project.
 
Big +1 on the crossbow. I read someplace that one of the hill tribes could go into the jungle with a knife and come out in 2 hours with a crossbow and a bamboo quiver of bolts for it.

Be very neat to have that skill!
 
What to tuck away....

I agree with SniperStraz. Most folks have some difficulty acquiring large or small game with firearms, let alone bolos or spears. Snares, deadfalls, and traps may have a higher potential for productivity, but remain iffy at best. Snakes, lizards, frogs may be easier to come by and are a step up from bugs, at least for me.

I have taken small game with a slingshot (damn, Steve, you remember red inner tubes??). It ain't easy, but would be my first choice given the OP setup.

What follows is not a direct answer to the original post. I have difficulty imagining a situation where what I tucked away in my bag would not include my .22 S&W kit gun and a box of solid points. One might be a commercial airliner going down, in which case I might not even have access to a knife. If I survived the crash.

In any other situation, I would be in possession of at least one firearm along with standard "survival" gear.

Also recall the theory of conservation of energy. Will you expend more calories building a deadfall than you get from the skinny squirrel that blunders into it? If someone knows your general location and expected return time, and search/rescue is probable, you may be ahead to focus on shelter, fire, and a way to signal (whistle, mirror, smoke, etc.) rather than chasing Bambi through the woods with a fire hardened stick.

Even a skinny guy like me can go several days without food. Water is a more pressing issue. Likely you will die of thirst before you starve to death, expecially in a desert environment.

Remember, Surviorman is a freakin' TV show. Be prepared. Think ahead. Carry stuff you need.
 
A rock will kill/stun a grouse...throw several and you've got an improvised shot gun.
Hand thrown is pretty simple but a sling is not hard to make for more power.
 
yeah, when I was younger I made a staff sling out of a beech branch, some string, and part of an old pillowcase. I could toss a fist sized rock pretty far. Mine was tuned to throw at around 45 degrees, but I bet if you played with the length of the sling ropes you could get it to throw pretty straight. I can understand why they were used even until the start of the gunpowder age, they seem like a pretty effective weapon.


I'd like to learn how to use a sling, www.slinging.org has a lot of cool info. If you look in the forums, there's directions for making a woven paracord sling. lots of people carry paracord in their survival kits, so that's something to think about.
 
I threw a rock at a squirrel once...I wasn't trying to kill it, just get it out of camp. But, I hit it dead on...and he woulda' been good eatin'....if I had a taste for squirrel. :uhoh:
 
The throwing stick, will fetch more game than rocks, spears, etc.


A good hardwood stick 18 - 24" long 2 - 2 1/2" in diameter and thrown sidearm. Is plenty easy to master but will require good stalking technique.

The stick thrown that way covers a lot more area than a rock or spear can and gives the survivalist a little more edge on hitting your intended target.

The bushmen of the African plains or the Australian aborigines perfected this hunting implement many centuries ago.
 
So far, I've got two ideas that I'm tinkering with. Slings are plenty powerful, but they're quite lacking in accuracy. I played around quite a bit with them when I was a kid, but I never got much better than being able to hit a bucket at about 7 yards with more than the occasional miss. I thought my form might just have been rotten and I read up about different techniques over at slinging.org, but the accuracy threads on their forums convinced me that my results were pretty much the norm.

The staff sling can be easily constructed and multiplies the already substantial power of the sling, so I think that it really has potential. I've got two ideas in mind. The first is a staff sling with a large pouch throwing ten or more stones at one time. Hopefully the shotgun effect would make up for poor accuracy. The second is to combine the staff sling and bolos. I don't see any reason why one or more sets of bolos couldn't be thrown with a staff and probably thrown harder than by hand. The net effect of bolos would also serve to make up for poor accuracy.

I'll see what I can do this coming Sunday and I'll give throwing sticks a try as well.


And I realize that traps and food gathering are generally more productive than hunting, but hunting has it's place as well and I've got this gut feeling that an effective improvised survival weapon should be possible.
 
Elmer,
I was thinking the same thing with the staff sling and multiple rocks...should work pretty good!
I like the staff as a spear handle, walking stick and tent pole too....looking forward to your report.
 
Every medical kit that I get has at least one length of latex strap that is used for tourniquets, finding veins for injections, and other medical purposes. They also make excellent slingshots.

Montagnard crossbows are excellent little game-getters. Frogs, fish, turtles, snakes, lizards, and certain kinds of birds are good targets for the little crossbow. It will keep you fed.

So will a good throwing stick, if you are in bird-flocking terrain. The problem is, the stuff that attracts birds to land on the ground is usually more nutritious than the birds are.

Hunting larger animals is usually a bad idea if you are alone. You will use up more of your reserves in the hunt, butchering and moving the game is hard, failure is likely, and the smell of the meat attracts opportunistic predators.

If you are alone, stick with the small stuff. It will keep you alive.
 
Throwing stick. Available everywhere, anyone can throw a stick. Easily replaceable. Where I live, even in urban areas, there is a plethora of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, ground squirrels, hares, cats, dogs, etc. available to hunt & eat. In pure wilderness, you will have fewer opportunities, so better make your throw count.

Everything else requires some sort of tool or experience to make & use. In a survival situation, you don't have the time or excess calories to burn to learn "on the job".
 
Atlatl.

atlatl.gif


Flings rocks/spears. Rocks are easy to find. Reloaders will have a blast experimenting with all shapes and types of rocks, and reap the benefits of ultra-cheap shooting.


Or, for closer range stuff, and materials permitting, you've got the trusty blowgun. You might have trouble finding poisons to take bigger game if there was nothing potent enough in your area.
 
I was thinking the same thing with the staff sling and multiple rocks...should work pretty good!
I like the staff as a spear handle, walking stick and tent pole too....looking forward to your report.
Click to expand...

Now I've got an idea for a "survival staff." A hollow aluminum pole, male threaded on one end, and a knife blade that can be threaded on for a spear. Keep a bunch of blowgun darts that match the inside diameter in there. And the non-threaded end could have epoxy globbed around the outside and formed into a staff sling, the pouch and string for which could also be stored inside the pole.

Schedule 40 1/2" nominal pipe is 0.622" internal diameter, plus or minus a bunch. Hand pick a piece, and you should be able to find one that will fit Cold Steel .625" darts. That stuff should weigh around 4.7 ounces per foot, unless my math skills are going. Not a whole lot more than a hardwood staff.

Could also fit some basic fishing tackle and perhaps a small net inside there. Plus lifeboat matches, one of those magnesium stick things, etc. You could fit a lot of stuff in a 5/8" x several foot long space.

Hardly improvised, but it'd be a good walking stick. More than enough heft to bust heads if necessary, too.
 
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