Introduction: Pneumatic Arrow Gun, PAG-1
The PAG-1, Pneumatic Arrow Gun. Can be used for hunting, self defense, camping, and it can be used safely as an awesome Nerf gun too! It is slimmer and more compact than a crossbow, and can fire multiple shots on a single tank of air. It can shoot both modified crossbow bolts and full sized arrows.
Step 1: Blueprints
The PAG-1 is my response to being poor and being in awe of the Verminator pneumatic crossbow.
https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/FXVerminatorExtre...
Costing over $2,000, I quickly noped out and sat down with my friends to figure out how to make our own. We ended up coming up with a bullpup style air gun, using a used fire extinguisher as the pressure chamber. After coming up with a rough sketch for the design, we got to work on making it, even though the final product had quite a few differences with the original design, most notable the lack of the pvc arrow shroud and a bigger stock.
Step 2: Pressure Chamber
The main part of the PAG-1 is the air tank. We used a fire extinguisher because we liked the handle and thought it would make a great trigger when on its side. First we had to make the tank refillable, and this was accomplished by drilling a hole into the side of the tank and J-B welding a bike tire valve in the hole. After waiting a day for it to dry, we tested the seal, and it worked!
Step 3: Making the Grip
The handle was built by cutting off the handle of the fire extinguisher with a scroll saw and J-B Welding a plastic handle on. This resulted in an ergonomic grip that functioned flawlessly.
Step 4: Vinyl Tubing
Vinyl tubing was attached to the opening of the fire extinguisher and a hole drilled in order for it to feed through. The tube is what will connect the pressure chamber to the firing rod.The firing rod was made out of a copper tube, 6mm outer diameter, that was sanded down by placing it in a power drill and spinning to make sure it was even until it let the arrows slip on and off easily.
Step 5: Fore Grip
A small slanted fore grip was cut out of wood and reinforced with triangle pieces. it is close to the handle, as this is in a bullpup design, and acts almost like a trigger guard.
Step 6: The Stock
The stock's connection is high on the gun, making it necessary to have it have a neck angling it lower. The three pieces of wood were glued and clamped together.
Step 7: Painting the Body
The tubes are all covered in painters tape, and then the body got a nice coat of white primer.
Step 8: Painting the Accent Peices
A bunch of metal accent pieces, including hooks to secure the vinyl tubing and a scope mount, were spray painted white, and then bright orange.
Step 9: Securing Vinyl Tubes
Hooks and brackets secure the vinyl tubing in place, safely out of the path of the arrow. The end of the tube is secured with zip ties to a connection of the arrow rod. A bike valve cover is also added for aesthetic and safety.
Step 10: Attaching Accents
A rubber piece is added to the stock for comfort, along with a scope, shotgun style fore grip, arrow holder and several metal plates to strengthen the body.
Step 11: Complete
And finally, the PAG-1 is complete. This beautiful weapon can be used to shoot both full sized arrows and crossbow bolts. A full tank at 150-psi can shoot 3 consecutive arrows at full force. The tank can be pressurized much higher, but to be safe we keep it relatively low. Specialized arrows allow it to shoot flaming projectiles, but they must be shot at a lower velocity. Possible upgrades include adding a 10 watt led into the orange fore grip and adding a green laser for quick accurate targeting.

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11 Comments
8 years ago on Introduction
I am a GIANT fan of anything pneumatic, that is not a potato gun (cuz those are illegal, and slightly on the boring/mainstream side. >.>)
Its builds like net launchers, bottle launchers, screw driver launchers, and this beauty, and arrow launcher (so sick!) That really put the 'pew pew' in pneumatic.
Great job, and I may build something like this myself!
PS. I wonder what the CIA/FIB think of these instructables... For all they know we could be one giant terrorist agency ready to take on the world with old fire extinguishers, bike frames, pvc, denatured alcohol, and a bit of luck and ingenuity ;)
The zombie apocalypse doesn't stand a chance..
2 months ago
What size us the fire extinguisher
7 years ago
Where did you buy the metal tube for the barrel? Been looking around but can't seem to find tubing that small.
8 years ago on Introduction
In step one, the blueprints, you name the 'arrow rod'. What is that? Aluminum? Stainless? Outside diameter? What size arrows are you shooting? Good job guys!
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
It is a copper tube that was around the same diameter of the arrows, we
filed it down by putting it in a drill and shaving and sanding for about
an hour. Outer diameter ended up being around 6mm. It shoots 31 inch
arrows, and hollow crossbow bolts.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
I have now edited the post to include that information. My apologies.
8 years ago
So what makes up the firing rod? Seems there's a slight shortage of info on that point. Very cool design and concept, it'd be awesome if you could design a hopper to feed arrows to the firing rod. Any idea how accurate this is at range?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
My apologies, we don't have that many supplies so we were busy "winging it" and not properly documenting the process. It is a roughly 24 inch copper tube with a 6mm diameter with a vinyl hose attached to one end. We thought about something like that but could not come up with anything that worked with what we had. We did however, begin building an attachment that lets it shoot airsoft bb's. It's not the most powerful thing, but we can pump it over 250 psi, and it will hit a target and inch off the center at 20 feet. Not the best, but it cost us less than $30 to make.
8 years ago on Introduction
Cool! Very impressive work.
8 years ago
This is insanely cool... Great build! Thanks for sharing
8 years ago on Introduction
Cool design.