Monday, December 31, 2012

Firecrackers in gelatin!


Firecracker video, part 1


Saturday, December 29, 2012

Firecracker launcher - finished!

Finished the firecracker launcher today.

More rubber, front handle, and a stirrup made from an old aluminum pipe. Ready for action!


Shooting dynamite sticks

OK, not quite...

...but some nice firecrackers!

Type II explosives, legal to fire in Germany only from the 31st of December until the 1st of January.

I made myself a slingshot for these nice crackers three years ago, but this year it has to be a launcher.

So I made a typical in-liner, chambered for the largest legal firecrackers you can buy here (23 mm diameter, filled with black powder).


The firecrackers are loaded into the breech, winchester style.




The built-in storm lighter helps keeping things under control, under time pressure.


It works fine.



Will increase the rubber some and also put in a steel piece to protect the wood from the burning fuse. Video on the 31st.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Homemade Assegai

I bought 10 cheaply made bayonets from Russia a few years back. The whole set was maybe 100 Euros. OK blades, but the handles are miserable. They probably all fit on an AK 47, but none of the designs is authentic.

Amongst them was this:



(in comparison with my Cold Steel Hold Out II, 4" blade).

A huge bayonet, the sharpened part of the blade is 36 cm (about 14"). The handle is short and edgy, making this a very unbalanced weapon. So I decided to exhange the handle against a nice 30 mm beech rod! This way I can fire it from my witch beheader bazooka.

I cut off the pommel and removed the scales. Then I cut a slot into the beech rod and fitted the blade in. Secured it with wood screws through the original holes, and also wrapped it with poly string (double constrictor knot). Rock solid.



Then I smeared on some epoxy putty and filed it down after it had hardened.
Last step: sanding it and oiling it with linseed!



Now it is a much more dangerous weapon, really a home made assegai short stabbing spear. And it fits nicely into the witch beheader!



BTW, the cat loves linseed oil, too...


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas present!

I always wanted to have the Armcross Leopro.

Read a review about it here

A reverse bow, very compact, and delivered complete with scope, back pack and accessories. It was designed in Russia, but made in Germany. The sole reason why I did not pick it up earlier was the price - 1599 Euros, about 2080 dollars. I guess others thought it was too expensive, too - the company went out of business, probably some time ago.

The Leopro got cheaper and cheaper - now was the time to go for it! My wife (on my not so subtle hints) bought it for 580 Euros, about 750 dollars. Brand new, with all the bells and whistles.



Here you can see it with the back pack, ready to go:




And here you can see me, right next to the christmas tree, unpacking my new toy:



Tuned it in already - lost three of the four bolts that came with it. Two went over the mat and disappeared into the muddy lawn. One went through the mat (obviously too thin) and got deformed by the stone wall behind it. Oh well, gotta order some more after christmas.

The power is very good (307 fps with a 425 gr bolt), actually a bit on the high side for my taste - at that kind of speed, bolts break often and early. I actually would prefer it to be a bit weaker, maybe 290 fps. That would be powerful enough for target shooting and the occasional Zombie skull :)

Big downside is that you need a cocking aid (basically a length of string with a little claw, in a pulley fashion). Impossible to cock this baby with bare hands. That is very common for modern, powerful compound crossbows, though - a high price you have to pay for compactness and performance.

Now I have to replicate the design and make a rubber powered variant - less powerful (this thing is beast), but even more compact and far less expensive. I may even make a tutorial.

Here are some more pics from the christmas party - early in the day, my niece and her loverboy had to go to his parents, too.



Sunday, December 23, 2012

9" Nail shooter!

Here is my latest work... a repeating slingshot crossbow, shooting 9 inch nails.

This is in continuance with my Chu-Ko-Nu based design line. This time, it is bigger than the pencil shooter, but a lot smaller than the chest mounted spear launcher.





The ammo is - nine inch (23 cm) nails. Those are cheap, about 8 Euro-cents a pop (10 Euros for 120 of them). Of course you have to cut of the head, done in about one minute.



The repeating action is done by pressing the butt against the chest and pulling back with both arms, like in a rowing machine. This is needed as you need a lot of draw force to throw the heavy nails - each weighs 76 gramms (1276 gr). The magazine fits ten of them.


With a bit of extra effort, you can very easily enhance the tip by sharpening it. I even hardened the tip of this one.


It works great. I may add more rubber soon, but already this is very effective. Like a Chu-Ko-Nu, but more compact and with a trigger!

Video will follow shortly!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Witch hunter shooting: Radio coverage!

Check it out on the website of the radio channel

Parody!

Found this really hilarious parody about me. The guy covered so much...

voice... baldness... safety glasses... shirt... intro... posing... apple... even the cat. My wife and me have been laughing for a long time.

Monday, December 17, 2012

"Witch Hunters" project update

The film team just left... after three exhausting, but fun days.

The weapons performed well, in spite of the cold, cold weather (not great for rubber based weapons). The beheading arrows cut deep into the targets (completely slicing the melons, cabbages and so on), but I do not think they would really chop an entire head off. I mean they would cut the throat, slicing the wind pipe and carotis for sure, but the head would stay on. Room for improvement I guess. More heft is needed.

The heavy spike ("Moby Dick") was most effective. It went all the way through the thickest part of a [b]frozen[/b] turkey, then on deep into the wooden back rest, and toppled over the tree trunk it was sitting on. Scary.

The burning was really fun... three mannequin puppets, dressed up as witches, were doused in alcohol, then set a on fire with the burning arrow. It clearly worked! The pyrotechnic guy then opened the gas valves, and fed 35 kg of propane gas into the fire. A solid 12 feet high flame wall was the result - pure fun.



The guys will now do the editing (hours of footage will have to be condensed into about 4 to 6 minutes), and then Paramount will have some change requests for sure, as they financed the whole thing. This will be a promotional piece for the movie, of course! I do hope the piece will be up on my channel before christmas - I can't wait!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Number 8!

The popular FieldSports Channel  recently compiled a ranking for the biggest hunting/shooting/fishing channels on youtube.

The Slingshot Channel came out at number eight! Amazing, if you keep in mind how narrow my specialty niche is.

See the list at fieldsportschannel.tv

I am really happy about this - I never expected THIS kind of attention. Have to pop a cork tonite.