Blowgun Target Shooting is catching on

[craftsman]

The sport of competition blowgun target shooting in its present format started about a decade ago, in Japan. The Cherokee have had a blowgun shooting competition as part of their annual gathering each Summer in Tahledequah, OK for decades. A group of shooters in St. Etiennes, France (near Loire), trace their competition history back almost a centruy.

There are regularly scheduled competitions popping up everywhere. Lawton, OK and Southwestern Ohio are some of the most active local clubs.

The International Fukiyado Association (based in Japan) is the affiliating organization. In the USA, the National Sport Blowgun Association (NSBA) has organized the country's local clubs by state, and region for national competitions.

In Olfen, Germany on May 6th, there will be a National competition. On July 8 & 9, in Ploemeur, France, they are having their first National competition. On Sat. June 24, the NSBA is hosting their 3rd International competition - where World Record holders will be participating.

For more information about the history of blowguns, the sport, vendor where you can buy a blowgun (a starter 4 ft. long .40 cal. barrel and target darts sells for as little as $ 9.50 + S&H), and more - visit the website of the NSBA:
http://www.enter.net/~craftsman/nsba/nsba.htm

 

[JShirley]

Thanks for the info and link. Blowguns are fun and cheap to get into.

My grandfather used to win bets with them on construction sites. He would use a length of conduit, triangular paper cup tips, and screws. Worked great for planting into plywood at surprising distances. Older brother made them out of all kinds of things, starting with matchsticks, sewing needles, and cotton balls, and moving into more standard beads and drawn wire.

John

 

[HighVelocity]

Blow darts are fun and have many household uses.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6816080958753001860&q=blow+darts&pl=true

 

[mhoneth]

Free illustrated instructions

Check out http://celticboar.com/howto/warrior/ to download free illustrated instructions for a blowgun. They also have instructions for a wicked crossbow, atlatl and air cannon.

 

[gremlin_bros]

http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/
try this site for hunting grade blowguns and how to build them i have made theses as well as add improvments that make them even better but this will get you started quite well

 

[Boom-stick]

I have a 'huntin' blow pipe and it's great fun, can even use it indoors after the wife has gone to sleep with out fear of waking her

 

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Anyone got any good "recipies" for fukiya darts? Also, has anyone found a way to induce some spin, without rifling the pipe? I've tried glueing spiraled string onto the cone, but it just caused drag and fell off after use. At the moment I tend to use:

Magazine-cover paper for the cones;

Selotape to hold it together and around the base of the cone to stop the rim disintegrating;

Sharpened, short nails rather than panel-pins, for the more substantial "head" on them;

Finally, a spot of modelling-glue inside, on the head of the nail.

I've tried all sorts of variations including fins, tails, 6-inch nails, powder from a "fire-cracker" o I was young), spiralling tape... But plain old paper and nails seems to work the best for me. Whether I made them uniformly with a shaper (just make one cone, sans nail and form the others around that -- no need for anything fancy or turned on a lathe) or each one unique, I still get about the same accuracy...

Dammit, now I'm going to have to brew up another batch, as carefully as possible, just to see if that still holds true! Haven't picked up the old blowpipe in about 18 months... I thought that I'd kicked the habit...

 

[JShirley]

Grandpa Cressy's method for darts was pretty simple. He'd take cone-shaped paper cups, and cut the tips off. Then, he'd make a vertical slit on one side, then screw the screw into the tip of the cone. Worked great.

I'm not certain there's much advantage to spinng a blowgun dart. I have used a rifled tube, in the past (but only with bead style darts).

J

 

[mec]

Offensive to moderator.(deleted)

 

[ocelot777]

Het Boomstick -- aren't blowguns illegal in the UK? (Your secret is safe with me though )

 

[Boom-stick]

aren't blowguns illegal in the UK?

Not that I know of??
I did buy it here, but I don't think your supposed to hunt with them

Still got a couple 'a hundred darts that came with mine but I still make my own, use BBQ bamboo skewers, paper cone on the tail covered with super glue (for strength)and slice a thin cut with my dremel blade on the business end and glue in a hobby knife blade that I've re-shaped to act like a mini broad-head. I tried mounting 3 scapel blades on the shaft to act like a tri-point but it had to much drop for anything other than really close range work.

DW

 

[craftsman]

Blowguns illegal in the UK; how to make Fukiya darts

Check out the NSBA (USA based, National Sport Blowgun Association) website. http://www.enter.net/~craftsman/nsba/nsba.htm

Follow the links to the FAQ (Frequently asked questions) page, then to Question #9 - "Are blowguns legal?" - from there, there's a hyperlink to information about their legal status around the USA, and around the world, with links to specific government websites if appropriate.

Blowguns are banned in Canada, Australia and the UK. The UK Sport Blowpipe Association disbanded a few months ago, after the link was discovered (pity - great group!). Also banned in California, Massachusetts, and a few individual towns because of some lads with excess testosterone shooting songbirds, ducks, and geese with target darts, and the critter surviving long enough for a PETA photo to be taken and published.

The film cone (transparency paper) darts can be made following instructions on Tom Shapiro's "Paper Dart" website, the IFA (International Fukiyado Association) has a PDF file on their website, or go to the web page on the NSBA website for detailed instructions and photos of what's needed.

There are also links to vendors around the globe that sell barrels, darts, and accessories, history of the blowgun, and the sport in its present format. We're trying to get compettion blowgun target shooting sanctioned as an Olympic event - at least in exhibition - for the 2016 summer Olympic games.

There are national competitions coming up - May 6th in Germany; July 8 & 9 in France, and an International competition, with World Record holders for 10-meters, and Long Distance competing, at Bear Swamp Archery complex in Upper MT. Bethel, PA. The first World Cup games are being held in France in 2007.

 

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Looks like we're outlaws then, eh lads? We should all get tattoos and hang around outside the town hall, drinking cider and scaring old ladies. Can I be called "Snake"? I've always wanted to be called "Snake"...

Seriously, I think that blowpipes are another one of those infamous "grey areas" in British law. I'll find the exact wording in a mo, but I'm pretty sure that it states "anything designed to deliver poisons, chemicals or drugs, such as blowpipes used by vetinarians" are illegal. Since I don't intend to deliver anything of the sort with my blowpipe, I think that I'm in the clear.

Have to check that, though...

 

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Prohibited Weapons and Ammunition, section 3.9

Additionally,
it covers dart guns and blowpipes for
shooting drugged or poisoned darts (but see
section 8 of the 1997 Act which provides
an exemption from the need for authority to
possess such weapons provided they are held
on a firearm certificate conditioned to allow
their use for the tranquilising or otherwise
treating of any animal).

Thus, since we're not intending to inject anything noxious with our blowpipes (I hope), the law here doesn't apply. This law relates to:

vii) any weapon of whatever description
designed or adapted for the discharge
of any noxious liquid, gas or other thing
(section 5(1)(b));

Unless anyone has found anything to state positively that blowpipes are illegal, I don't think we have much to worry about. After all, without poisons, they can't be any more lethal than a perfectly legal 12 ft/lb air rifle.

(Peers cautiously out the window for signs of the JBTs)

 

[Boom-stick]

They can have my blow-pipe......
when they prise it from my cold.... dead... fingers!!

They'll be banning fists next to stop people punching each other.

 

[Matt_W]

Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988

Statutory Instrument 1988 No. 2019

SCHEDULE
Article 2

1. Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (offensive weapons) shall apply to the following descriptions of weapons, other than weapons of those descriptions which are antiques for the purposes of this Schedule:

(k) the weapon sometimes known as a "blowpipe" or "blow gun" , being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of breath;

2. For the purposes of this Schedule, a weapon is an antique if it was manufactured more than 100 years before the date of any offence alleged to have been committed in respect of that weapon under subsection (1) of the said section 141 or section 50(2) or (3) of the Customs and Excise

The above adds to a list of banned weapons that cannot be manufactured, sold, hired or imported in the UK. Prior to 1988 blowpipes were available in the UK although poisoned darts etc would have certainly come under the scope of Sec 5 1 b of the the Firearms Act. They can however be owned perfectly legally although you may get into trouble if you sell it or manufacture new pipes.

People are often a little taken by surprise by how strict UK weapons laws are, but if you think that we have to have a licence to watch TV it should not too much of a surprise. In fact you have great trouble buying a TV or VCR without havng a TV licence as the shops selling such things check the database to ensure you have a licence at the check out!

 

[Lo.Com.Denom]

Well, thank goodness that I picked my blowgun up a hundred years ago, from an Amazonian travelling blowpipe salesman! As I'm sure we all did, Right guys?

So I guess that blowpipes fall into that hinterland of idiocy that banned shuriken, multi-bladed/tined weapons and other such ninja-tastic goodness? So we can own them, but not manufacture, buy or sell them? Just as well my pipe didn't require any manufacturing to acquire its "blow". It is, after all, just a stainless-steel pipe, used for... er, whatever non-blowgun people use stainless-steel pipes for. No manufacturing there at all, ossifer.

(Look behind me, someone -- just see if my arse is covered yet...?)

 

[JShirley]

Some of the first "blowguns" I saw were just hollow segments from one of our tents. Matchstick body, sewing needle tip, cotton ball base, and tape. Enough for fun, at any rate.

The beads and wire came later.

 

[Boom-stick]

As daft as this sounds, the first blow pipes I made were from detailed instructions I found in a ancient ninja training manuel (circa 1970's )
out of sheets of paper. Some sheets rolled into tubes and others cut into cirles which in turn are folded into cones, then insert large bamboo splinters into the cones to act as points. very effective on little brothers
And very easy to construct in school during a maths lesson
For a less-lethal version the needle points were replaced with silly-putty.

I wonder if it's ok to have a blowpipe made from 100year old sheets of paper???

 

[craftsman]

Blowguns - update

Paper cone darts:
Google: Tom Shapiro's "Paper Dart" pages.
Also see the International Fukiya Association website for making darts using a 1" long brass brad as the point, and transparency film as the cone.
I hit a rabbit in my backyard (blunt point, just to get them out) from 40 ft with a 4 ft., .51 cal. pipe using these cones. Darts should be between 20-23 cm long.

The American Sport Blowgun Association is up and running (I disbanded the National SBA, because of health reasons - cancer. But I had surgery and I'm cancer-free), headed by Bruce from NJ ("talon-xls"), "Old Wayne" Wilson of Lynchburg, VA is tied for 1st place in the world with a score of 198 points out of 210. He's an "8-dan" (equivalent of an 8th degree blackbelt) Master.

I'm ranked 2nd in the US, and tied for 7th internationally with a 192 in sanctioned competitions (a handful of us around the USA have shot well into the 200's in practice and non-sanctioned events), am a 7-dan Master, and am the only IFA (International Fukiyado Association) certified instructor (sensei) in the USA. I have five instructors that I have trained so far, and another half dozen or so in various stages of requirement completion around the country.

The basic sport is a 10-meter target range, target entered at 5'3" above ground. wire target darts (plastic tailcones) - .40 or .50 cal. 4 ft. pipes. three-ringed bulls-eye target. Bulls-eye is 6 cm diameter - 7 points, inner ring is 12 cm - 5 points, outer ring is 18 cm - 3 points. Shoot 5 darts per round, 6 rounds (30 darts total). Perfect score is 210 points.

Alternate competition styles:

Long Distance Target - 24 cm diameter bulls-eye - firing line starts at 20 meters (about 66 ft.) - three darts. One must stick into the bulls-eye. After everyone who has hit in the first round is finished shooting, the firing line is moved back another 2 meters (about 6 ft.) and competition resumes - round-robin style until only one is left standing. World Record is 41 meters (France).

Cherokee Field-Style - Starting line - run to the firing line - shoot, score, retrieve darts, run to next firing line - continue to course completion, run to Finish Line. Distances of course can vary from 1/3 to 1 mile or longer - number of targets vary form 9 to 16 or more. Time and score are counted to determine placement. - no World Records are kept because of course variations. This is similar to the Winter Olympic biathlon.

Blowguns are banned in California, Massachusetts and Washington, DC, as well as Australian, the UK, and Canada. Blowgun hunting is not allowed in Wisconsin. Frog Gigging (except for certain protected species) is permitted in Florida.

Blowgun hunting in the US is still done by some Cherokee and Choctaw indigenous peoples, using hand crafted River Cane pipes, and hardwood darts (up to 21 in. long). Some claim to take deer with them.

I have written a book, my training method for blowgun target shooting for competitions, am in the process of finishing another - on the Martial Art of Blowgun Fighting, and am researching a third - hunting and fishing using the blowgun (check out the online photo of carp blowgun fishing at this German website - http://f2.webmart.de/f.cfm?id=1846053&d=0&sr=51&r=threadview&a=1&t=2446343 ), and BlowgunHunter's website for some great blowgun squirrel hunting and blowgun fishing videos.

Can anyone give me a lead to a publisher that may be interested in publishing these works? I've tried for two years, and have come up empty. Thanks.
e-mail me direct at [email protected] - use the Subject: "Blowgun Publisher" so I can spot it from the [SPAM] mail I get. Thanks.

 

[wooderson]

This sounds way more fun than a pellet gun in the backyard.