Blowgun Darts

Make a real blowgun from parts readily available in most homes!

Step 1: WARNING!

This IS a weapon and it IS dangerous. The blowgun should never be pointed at another person, and be careful where you shoot it. I've had the darts ricochet back towards me several feet on occasion. Also, be careful of pricking your fingers, eyes, etc. while making the darts. Thanks.

Comments

[KiNG07]

Yo. Your blowgun, would work for approx. less than 3m due to the short length of the pipe, and yo dont even have a mouth piece??. The mouthpiece can improve the PVC pipe by making more pressure behind the darts only if ur darts dont have space in the back (cone) part. Yarn would be a bad idea, i tell u. Try film paper. Where is your tutorial about PVC pipes? Yo shud know that PVC pipe bend at the centre thus deflecting the target????

[Kryptonite]

I guess that the maker used a fairly skinny pipe due to the width of the dart, but it would not be hard to put another layer of yarn around the outside. And for a general target-and-fun thing, you don't need specific shaped paper cone, and paper crumples. Also, due to the thickness of the pipe, the PVC pipe would not bend much.

[TheMadScientist]

if you want, instead of yarn just stick the pin through the middle of a flat cotton round, fold it a bit as it goes in so it's even and BAM, instant cotton cone flight.

[FunkNattidelic]

i have a pvc blowgun about 2 feet long and it shoots up to ten feet. my five foot blowgun will shoot up to one hundred feet or more ( depending on how much lung capacity you have ) i can get it to go about 70 feet.

[randy1_21550]

use copper tubeing and make a mouthpiece out of epoxy and fiberglass compound

[FunkNattidelic]

sorry, i left this out, And, it doesnt have a mouthpiece.

[robo_directions]

is it inner diameter or outer

[Cheeseduck]

outer

[Zippo1234]

these darts are really good for shooting around the house but they are very light weight and don't get good distance.

[clickydamir]

Hey, can you tell me what I fire these through. Oh, and can you also tell me where I can find a good yet easy DIY Crossbow. I need to find a design for Design class at school. Don't worry, the teacher said I could make one.

[Kryptonite]

My friend and I just used two pieces of wood about a foot long each, stuck them together in a T shape and used large rubber bands as the elastic. It's not too hard, instead of looking for some one else's, just draw a cross bow on a piece of paper, simplify it and make it out of wood.

[octo137]

yeah, i do the same thing, but with a clothes pin to hold the the arrow like the real ones.

[Kryptonite]

We just made a trigger the other day, it's awesome.

^.

[octo137]

but see, for about ten times less money and work you could make a good strong and accurate bow and arrow

[casvandegoor]

yeah? you only show the making of the darts?!

[Kryptonite]

Is that a problem?

[casvandegoor]

My appologies. I'd expected this instructable to contain instructions on how to make a blowgun. The instructable was useful.

[the "wow shammy"]

all you need to make a blowgun is a length of 1/2 in pvc a 1/2 in threaded female adapter and a threaded to smooth male adapter. stick the female on the pipe (cut it first) load the dart, then screw the male adapter in and blow. hope this helps ya'!

[Kryptonite]

Fair enough, blowguns are pretty straight forward anyway.

[elarmin]

you need to use a way longer pvc pipe and add more strings

[Camisado]

This I'ble only teaches you how to make blowdarts. You should change the name of this I'ble from ' Blowgun ' to ' Blowdart '.

[ZeroHourHero]

"about 2 feet of 1/2 inch PVC" What else are you going to use it for? To hit yourself when you're done?

[Camisado]

Wow, you're about a year late. And does he show you how to make the PVC pipe? Oh, that's right. No.

[da man]

how far and accurately will it fire?????????

[da man]

please answer!!!!!!!!!!!

[ich bin ein pyro]

the distance and accuracy depends on the blowgun. short guns have more power and less accuracy. longer ones have more accuracy but less power. the sweet spot length is dependant on your lung power. i guess there is no answer to it...

[Gibson_SG_95]

Actually, the longer it is, the more power and accuracy there is. Ive seen your comments all over blowgun and other gun instructables. By chance do you like projectile weapons? lol.

[ich bin ein pyro]

why yes i do like projectile weapons.. i even have made one myself for some odd reason, it wont let me reply to this comment, or other comments for that matter.. i have a spear gun (shoots chopsticks) a 5 rubber band slingshot (paper darts) and a bow and arrow (arrows but its too small for me now) and a .22 from my grandpa about the blowgun, i agree with you. longer blowguns will get more power but require more breath power. a 2 ft. blowgun would be halfway powerful because you would release the dart at the maximum velocity of your breath. compared to a 7 foot blowgun(which would be unlogical) it would release the dart at the end of your breath. since (homemade) darts are not exactly airtight, you lose a portion of air on getting it to the end....unless you have an air compressor for a lung it is oppisate with guns because they are more airtight and have less of a barrel to go through. by shortening the barrel you would get less friction on the barrel, resulting in more velocity. hence the sawed-off shotgun. pyro-

[Zetheros]

a 7' blowgun actually is logical. Natives used to use 12' blowguns made from reeds and bamboo. I usually use my 7' blowgun for killing rats in my backyard. I use 1' bamboo skewers attached to paper cones covered in regular clear tape, glued together with gorilla wood glue. The rat becomes staked to the ground and dies rather quickly.
I found a site which a person does the same thing that I do. http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/

[AnarchistAsian]

that is a common mis-conception...

sawed off shot guns offer no gain in power.
in fact, they cause a decrease in power.

the only reason they even exist is that people wanted more compact guns, not more powerful guns...

[Zetheros]

Sawed-off shotguns also offer increased width of destruction. The pellets are spread in a larger range and deals more widespead damage when used. It also provides excellent cover fire I should think.

[AnarchistAsian]

well that's just spread, on some shotguns you can just adjust it and uhh... shotguns are pretty much never used as cover fire, because cove fire is just shooting a TON of rounds randomly at the enemy, making them stay down so you can move to a better position. usually they use full auto, belt-fed guns...

[Kryptonite]

I've seen one sawed off shot gun in action, and the kick from it sprained the guy's wrist. (He'd never used one before.)

[AnarchistAsian]

did it have a stock?

[Kryptonite]

Yeah, but he was holding it at waist height with one hand above the the barrel to reduce the kick.

[AnarchistAsian]

That's a pretty stupid thing to do...

[Kryptonite]

Well yeah, he had a shot gun that he didn't want... so... well, you know how it finishes.

[AnarchistAsian]

yeah, haha

[Beans]

i have been shooting my whole life the friction does not matter much at all its the grain of the bullet and the load of powder ... longer the barrel the more accurate unless you go impractically long the velocity wouldn't change that much ... with a saw-off you loose distance

[randy1_21550]

with a 48" blowgun you should be able to go 250 feet with a velocity at barrel of 350 you should be able to drive the pin threw a 1/4" piece of plywood at 25' easily