No shortage for these guns ...yet

[Flopsweat]

All I could find was black pipe and black powder as a kid. .for some reason there was a spool of cannon fuse lying around too. . I feel robbed that I never had a spud gun.

We had a guy at work once that built a film canister cannon for his desk that used a BBQ grill igniter button and hairspray. Had a program written on his pc to set off an actuator to fire it. He was good until I broke into the program and started firing it when he was not expecting. lol

Mike D and his friends approve.
https://hooktube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE

Me too, and a 16 ounce can at the top. But this was when beer cans were steel.
Called them "Polish Cannons"

This is what we called them. Or Spud Guns depending on the application. I remember a friend advising me to never light one off in an elevator. Said he couldn't hear right for a couple of days.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I have heard that if you mix charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulfur in the right proportions you will get home made black powder, which when poured into a length of 2" pipe (as 14 year olds sometimes do) with a cap at each end, and a fuse, you can take an 8" branch out of an oak tree 200 yards away. I have heard also that 14 year olds who do this have to go home and change their underwear immediately after.

 

[wired]

And furthermore said teenager , to make effective gunpowder on his 7 or 8th attempt would make a old cylinder sleeve and a couple of Big Block Chevy pistons and mix the constituent parts up in the cylinder sleeve in a moist state and put the goo between the pistons and pump up the shop hydraulic press for a week or so . Said teenager then would scrape it the mix, let it dry and then mill with a hamburger grinder and sieve.

Dont get me started on Nitroglycerine. Possible bad times there.

 

[oremike]

So if you shoot a potato gun at a screen door does it make hash browns?... asking for a friend.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

And furthermore said teenager , to make effective gunpowder on his 7 or 8th attempt would make a old cylinder sleeve and a couple of Big Block Chevy pistons and mix the constituent parts up in the cylinder sleeve in a moist state and put the goo between the pistons and pump up the shop hydraulic press for a week or so . Said teenager then would scrape it the mix, let it dry and then mill with a hamburger grinder and sieve.

Dont get me started on Nitroglycerine. Possible bad times there.

Two words: Picric Acid

 

[wired]

Two words: Picric Acid

Yes, Theres a reason Nitric acid isnt sold in the grocery store. It would be a lot easier than ripping it off from the middle school science lab.

 

[Flopsweat]

Two words: Picric Acid

One word: No!

 

[wired]

One word: No!

Better than Nitrogen triiodide.

 

[BigDog67]

And when I got older, I joined the Army and they gave me some REAL fun things to play with.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

We once made "dragster fuel" using, among other things, picric acid. We blew the porcelain out of the spark plug on a lawn mower engine that was mounted in a go-cart frame.

 

[Flopsweat]

Better than Nitrogen triiodide.

Not as good as orthosilicic acid:

 

[Deerhurst]

I also heard you can take the launch charge off of fireworks shells, ( to be used for other needs later) and get a much higher launch from a spud gun!

You make me want to load potatoes in my grenade launcher now!

 

[Flopsweat]

I also heard you can take the launch charge off of fireworks shells, ( to be used for other needs later) and get a much higher launch from a spud gun!

Oh you just reminded me that I discovered that bottle rockets will go crazy high up if you launch them from a piece of antenna mast instead of a bottle. You have to remember to move the mast around afterward to get fresh air into it for the next one.

 

[oremike]

It is rumored that you can make a knee mortar with PVC pipe properly sized for 8 oz bottle rockets. It might be more entertaining to replace the plastic nose cone with a M-80 that has it's fuse inserted in the bursting charge.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I heard somewhere that if you put an M-80 into a plastic baggy with a cup or two of flour, light the fuse, and toss it into the air you will get a fireball roughly 20 feet in diameter. But that's just a rumor, I'm sure.

 

[belshawelk]

makes me laugh. We made one years ago when we were not so smart but damn it worked.

Ours was stainless with a piezo lighter ignition. Power by...................................... Acetylene tanks. we could shoot taters through a sheet of plywood. Oh to be young, dumb and...................... having parents to pay your medical bills, again.

 

[wired]

When you fill a 55 gal. hefty bag full of 1/2 oxygen and 1/2 acetylene and light it with a match it doesnt burn the same as a full bag of acetylene. The ringing goes away eventually and the burns heal pretty quickly.