Exploding .22 Air Rifle Pellets

 by mrjay
Give a bang when a hard target is struck, fun for plinking in the back garden/yard!

All you need is:-

Some strong glue I use some Cyanoacrylate based glue that bonds in seconds, longer drying glues may be more fiddly!

Some Caps, these are sold in most toy shops and are also available online...if you live in the UK they are now classed as "fireworks" and cannot be sold to anyone under that age of 18 (i know its pathetic...) they are available in many types 8 and 12 shot rings for revolvers, strips of 10 and the reels of 100 paper caps for the relay old style guns...these are individual caps and have to be separated from the mesh, but work well for this purpose.

Long or needle nose pliers I'll show you what they are useful later.

A knife to help separate the caps from the mesh.

And of course your projectiles. This method workd for both .22 and.177 pellet types.
 
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Step 1: Glue time!

For this I used domed .22 pellets, pointed are better as they create a nice bond with the caps, flat head are pretty useless as allot of glue would be needed...resulting in many sticky fingers!

What i have done here is to cut the mesh into managble sections, lines of 2 each holding 16 caps.

Simply apply a small amount of glue into each cap, make sure this entirely fills the cap, the amount of glue depends on what pellets you want to use.

Pointed pellets protrude into the cap which means more contact with the glue, domed do the same but need extra filling, flat headed pellets as i said have less contact and need an almost overflowing cap.

Once the caps have been filled place a pellet in the dricetion of travel onto the cap making sure their is not too much run-off from the glue.

Aron313 says: Mar 6, 2012. 3:29 PM
It doesnt make that big of a bang. Try using compressed powder balls. They can be found in artillery shells! Or big bottle rockets.
ihaveguitarskills! says: Feb 27, 2012. 7:52 PM
Wouldn't recomend doing this. Tried it, and jammed my gun. Almost had to replasce the barrel, and had to take everything out. Ugh...
ihaveguitarskills! says: Jan 30, 2012. 8:21 PM
I dont know why, but this Instructable reminds of an "incident" I had with some caps. Short story, the caps blew up in my hand and i had burns on them for atleast 2 weeks. It took off my finger prints a bit too.
bighead5454 says: Dec 31, 2011. 5:20 PM
Couldn't you fill the hole in the back of the pellet with powder (black/gun), then put the cap over it to make it more of a bang?
NE patsrock says: Aug 1, 2011. 4:27 AM
man that knife is beat up
imkwl12345 says: Dec 23, 2008. 12:17 AM
sweet lol i found that caps fit perfectly in .177 barrles so this would work really well. could u use hot glue?
mrjay (author) in reply to imkwl12345Dec 23, 2008. 1:31 AM
Awesome, I only measured it up, don't actual have a .177 to try it on. I assume hot glue would be OK, can't imagine it would set off the flash powder its nowhere near hot enough...will cool nice and quick too. drop us a comment if you give it a go : )
That Hamster in reply to mrjayDec 25, 2010. 11:01 PM
i dont know what temp flash powder ignites at, but airguns actually heat the air to 1000 Fahrenheit for a fraction of a second.
imkwl12345 in reply to mrjayDec 23, 2008. 10:20 PM
well i tried it with blu-tack first and it just came off but i got no more pellets left at the moment so i dno if it will work or not lol. it also works with no pellet but it stuff the main spring and plunger.
ilpug says: Dec 14, 2010. 10:37 AM
this is pretty awesome, but i wouldnt use them in a .17 hmr because they would explode in barrel and gunk it up, due to the insane velocity.
pogoman12345 says: Mar 6, 2010. 2:53 PM
i had the same idea but i have a .177 bb gun and they just wouldnt fit
demond101 in reply to pogoman12345May 9, 2010. 8:28 PM
 hi i have a .177 cal bb gun and a bit different designee that is working for mine o and i don't need to use a pellet just hot glue and for a pit more fun i added some gold and silver so they look more like bullets or mini grenade rounds
teddy1998 says: Mar 28, 2010. 5:38 PM
hey, have any of you heard that song: there was an old farmer?
you know: there was an old farmer who lived on a rock, he sat in the meadow, shaking his...... at some boys in the crick, with their feet in the water, hands on their....... at quater past four came a pretty young lady who looked like a....... she sat on the grass, pulled up her dress and showed them her....... and pretty white duck and told them she was learning a new way to......... while the girl in the meadow was rubbing her...... at the fellow down by the dock who looked like he had a sizeable.......If he asked her politely, she'd show him her little pet dog, who was subject to fits
And maybe she'd let him grab hold of her small, tender hands with a movement so quick and then she'd bend over and suck on his......

thank you thank you this was from youtube
mojobo1 says: Feb 15, 2010. 9:58 PM
I like it. I recently found that strike anywhere matches work pretty good, but they don't fly too straight at long distances, so I thought about making wax pellets (theres an instructable here on them) with the white-tipped match head on the end. But your idea seems more solid. And, now that I think about it.. The wax would probably just smother the match head, if it actually lit.

On a side note, those wax pellets work pretty good. They stay together surprisingly well, and shoot pretty far. Shot my foot (shoe on), and it didn't come apart, it just mushroomed.
spylock says: Dec 22, 2009. 10:46 PM
Im a Gunsmith and had thought about expoding pellets,but I wasnt thinking simply enough,Im gonna try this,it looks like alot of fun.
Colonel88 says: Oct 6, 2009. 1:36 PM
Lol the only reason i have a airgun is because its the closest to a real gun and you don't needa license for it. :D
air.guitarist says: Jul 3, 2009. 11:01 AM
AH i thought of doing this the other day and so i came here and you already had it. I used percussion caps though, they work a lot better. You can get them at any outdoor store that sells guns and ammunition. Mine didn't have those flanges on the side though
backyardmunitionist in reply to air.guitaristSep 23, 2009. 4:09 PM
Small rifle primers for reloading work well for this. If you find the right size they are almost a perfect fit in .177. I used to super glue 'em to pellets too.
mrjay (author) in reply to air.guitaristJul 3, 2009. 4:08 PM
Unfortunately I’m in the jolly old UK where gun ownership is pretty much non existent. Even air rifles/pistols are restricted : (
nwf2k7 in reply to mrjayNov 28, 2009. 5:22 PM
wat kind of pellets flat head or pointed?
air.guitarist in reply to mrjayJul 3, 2009. 8:11 PM
Ouch i'm sorry to hear that lol. But holy crap they wont even let you have musket caps?
mrjay (author) in reply to air.guitaristJul 8, 2009. 3:25 PM
Nope nothing like that : / sucks. there are a few local gun clubs but they are mainly .22 bolt actions and you obviously can't take your rifle home with you.
Hoz says: Aug 27, 2009. 8:15 PM
You are trying too hard. Think simplicity. When I was a kid, I used to shoot wooden matches out of my .22 Benjamin air rifle. Worked great! When they hit correctly, they sound like a firecracker. Not perfect, but some kind of feathering like the air gun style darts have on the end should make enough drag to insure proper drag/ flight. Brings back memories....
hammy10809 says: Aug 17, 2009. 6:00 PM
i bought these caps at the dollar store and the fit in my slavia 618 177 cal and where awasome
bionicleboy365 says: Jul 28, 2009. 7:19 AM
this a splendid instructable. well written great idea and actually works
Thundertydus says: Jun 29, 2009. 3:03 PM
Nice ibby; Can you make one for use in a .22 RIFLE?
air.guitarist in reply to ThundertydusJul 3, 2009. 10:52 AM
I wouldnt recommend it. You can just buy .22 tracer rounds, and they even make explosive .17 hmr rounds
Thundertydus in reply to air.guitaristJul 16, 2009. 12:38 PM
Well, I have my old 17 lever action but i gave it to my brother, and tracers are illegal where i live
sharlston says: Jun 23, 2009. 12:16 AM
what is the cheapest .22 pellets? i dont really care about quality because im usin them for a slingshot
mrjay (author) says: Jun 21, 2009. 4:46 AM
@ masterofsniping92 Its not rely suposed to be effective, just a bit of fun. @rofus I'll make a video shortly : ) @clayball97 Dont think it would work with a BBgun
clayball97 says: Jun 19, 2009. 5:04 PM
what would happen if you used an airsoft gun are the bb's different i don't have a .22 but i got tons of airsoft stuff
rofus says: May 26, 2009. 11:56 PM
would mind making a video on it?
J-L-B says: Apr 10, 2009. 3:19 PM
really cool. i have a diana SP50 air pistol and these should be really sweet,thanks. :)
J-L-B in reply to J-L-BApr 17, 2009. 8:02 AM
Mine didn't work. : )
masterofsniping92 says: Feb 18, 2009. 6:00 AM
This is a good idea, but considering the size of caps, it seems like it would be rather ineffective. I haven't tried it so I won't judge. Although, there are two other ways that are VERY effective. One is to buy some Beeman Crow Magnum pellets, fill the gigantic forward expansion cup with flash powder or black powder, and seal the end with hot glue, wax, or crazy glue. The other way is to glue the primer from a .308 or similar rifle cartridge to the head of a match pellet. Note that the latter method only works on .22 and larger, not .177 or .20.
stevethepir4te says: Dec 15, 2008. 12:50 PM
Nice, sorta makes me wish i hadn't converted my old pump action pellet gun into a paint ball gun... :(
mrjay (author) in reply to stevethepir4teDec 15, 2008. 1:47 PM
Yeah thats the problem with this site...none of my stuff works how its suposed to any more! its all transformed into something else : P
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