[HOE]

Finally, it's here! Get some HDPE jugs and a BLOWTORCH

Enjoy the first few minutes of Destruction first.

 

[Blowhard79]

That was great!!! Really enjoyed the video and the dart making. I'm going to steal the string idea. I think it will hold better than a plastic bead I use.

 

[IOAN]

Super job. super fun! :looney: :bouncy: :banana: :thumbsup:

 

[Hoss]

I really like the video and the darts.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

[HOE]

I really like the video and the darts.
Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

Give this a try, the only difficulty is not having a section on your ColdSteel barrel as a guide for cone trimming. Need to figure that out.

This video is designed with minimal tool in mind. Cut a sheet from aluminium soda can and fold it into a cone as the mold, secure it with tape. No need to purposefully buy a plumb bob. Zero cost
Automatically centred for precision in the cardboard hole down there.

It's a Coke can!

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Very cool! Thank you for sharing this!

 

[Hoss]

I really like the video and the darts.
Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

Give this a try, the only difficulty is not having a section on your ColdSteel barrel as a guide for cone trimming. Need to figure that out.

This video is designed with minimal tool in mind. Cut a sheet from aluminium soda can and fold it into a cone as the mold, secure it with tape. No need to purposefully buy a plumb bob. Zero cost
Automatically centred for precision in the cardboard hole down there.

It's a Coke can!

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20210313_111124.jpg

20210313_111135.jpg

Thanks, I will try it for sure.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

[hoggy]

good stuff, thanks for all the info

 

[High Desert Flipper]

All this blowgun stuff looks really fun. I may have to try it someday. Is it easy to do a simple homemade or do the purchased ones perform better?

And looking around, I see several different calibers-, .357, 40, 50, 0.625..... Are there functional or performance differences with the different diameters? I am curious to learn a bit more.

 

[HOE]

All this blowgun stuff looks really fun. I may have to try it someday. Is it easy to do a simple homemade or do the purchased ones perform better?

And looking around, I see several different calibers-, .357, 40, 50, 0.625..... Are there functional or performance differences with the different diameters? I am curious to learn a bit more.

Forget about .40cal, either .50 or .62. In-between. Mine is 15mm pvc pipe.

Homemade or commercial pipe? I prefer Homemade for some weird sentimental value and the advantage to cut off a section of the pipe for cone making.

In the end, you have to make your own darts.

I never have access to commercial blowguns here, I recommend you start with .50cal. I was used to drool over those BlowgunNorthwest pipes back then as a teen.

Now I see there are Carbon Fibre blowguns available! 16mm bore size! You might want to try these if you got the $$$

This!! German product!
https://bogensportshop.eu/en/blowguns/blowguns-62/alexbow-blowgun-hornet-carbon-professional.html

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Is there a functional difference between the diameters? Do the wider bore blowguns shoot faster or more accurately? As a recently former marathoner / triathlete I've got pretty good lungs, and if there is an advantage to the bigger bores I think I stand pretty good odds of filling a large pipe volume alongside the best of them. Thus my curiosity about bore size vs performance.

 

[HOE]

Is there a functional difference between the diameters? Do the wider bore blowguns shoot faster or more accurately? As a recently former marathoner / triathlete I've got pretty good lungs, and if there is an advantage to the bigger bores I think I stand pretty good odds of filling a large pipe volume alongside the best of them. Thus my curiosity about bore size vs performance.

Smaller bore shoots faster Lighter darts, limited broadhead size, less impact due to overall lighter weight. Great for target shooting.

Big Bore Shoots slightly slower depending on the shooters performance. Takes a lot more effort to shoot, opens up potentials for much heavier projectiles! Bigger broadheads for hunting, much heavier stunner darts!

My personal opinion, I've shot .50 half inch copper pipe when starting out, don't like it, the air it can take in is very limited.

Technique is more important, breathe in slowly until your belly bulge out, in a relaxed manner Lungs totally filled up to the bottom. Never raise the shoulders and suck in!

Big Bore shooters...whatever we shoot at, we WANT IT DEAD

Edit: Big Bore can shoot light weight darts even better than .50 .40 cal. Due to the sheer amount of air behind

 

[HOE]

This is the Tracer Blowdart used in my video. Front-Weighted design, HEAVY! Will punch a big hole in the targets.

 

[vince4242]

High Desert flipper I am a recent convert to the cold steel Big Bore blowgun. I used to have fun shooting out of the conduit pipe but never really got into it like I am now. The cold steel.625 bore is polished mirror smooth inside and the darts fit perfectly with it. If you shoot lighter projectiles through it they will go faster and the heavier razor darts are amazing Hunters.

I really like the stun darts, they work great with my Spinners I use for my slingshot. Don't damage anything and weight is 4.9 grams. I have been shooting now for about 7 or 8 hours and can hit a 30 millimeter spinner 7 out of 10 times. The professional blowguns seem much more accurate than my homemade ones maybe it's the Precision of cones or the Smooth Bore but I am dead accurate with that thing in a very short time. Had my first kill today about squirrel, the razor Dart went straight through and only stopped because the cone didn't fly off. The squirrel was dead in under a minute and I felt very comfortable taking the shot what's just a few hours of shooting.

Hope this helps and I still love my slingshot, but the blowgun is a lot of fun and it's good for shooting indoors with the stun darts because there is no chance of getting a flyer shooting off in a weird Direction it goes exactly where you blow.

Cheers

 

[HOE]

A blowguns accuracy is determined by how straight the pipe is and how well made the darts are. Symmetry of the cones, length and balance of the dart shaft.

 

[High Desert Flipper]

High Desert flipper I am a recent convert to the cold steel Big Bore blowgun. I used to have fun shooting out of the conduit pipe but never really got into it like I am now. The cold steel.625 bore is polished mirror smooth inside and the darts fit perfectly with it. If you shoot lighter projectiles through it they will go faster and the heavier razor darts are amazing Hunters.

I really like the stun darts, they work great with my Spinners I use for my slingshot. Don't damage anything and weight is 4.9 grams. I have been shooting now for about 7 or 8 hours and can hit a 30 millimeter spinner 7 out of 10 times. The professional blowguns seem much more accurate than my homemade ones maybe it's the Precision of cones or the Smooth Bore but I am dead accurate with that thing in a very short time. Had my first kill today about squirrel, the razor Dart went straight through and only stopped because the cone didn't fly off. The squirrel was dead in under a minute and I felt very comfortable taking the shot what's just a few hours of shooting.

Hope this helps and I still love my slingshot, but the blowgun is a lot of fun and it's good for shooting indoors with the stun darts because there is no chance of getting a flyer shooting off in a weird Direction it goes exactly where you blow.

Cheers

I get it all, I spent most of my middle school winters with home mades. PVC, steel conduit, and even some copper pipe. But 30 years and a a bit of an analytical side later, I am wondering about the specifics. Are there differences between the 40 cal, 50 cal and the 0.625? It seems it would take more lung to fill the 0.625 and get a dart out at the same velocity as a 50 cal, but the dart would (or at least could) be heavier. On the flipside, it seems it would be much easier to get the dart up to a higher velocity with a smaller pipe, assuming the plugs fit equally snug in both. I am also a bit amazed at the short length of the commercial ones- it is hard to believe some of the 2 and 3 footers on amazon really have the length to accelerate a dart. Does it make a difference to go from 5' to 6'? It has been a few decades since I last blew a coat hanger wire darts with a cotton balls on the back out of a home made pipe, but if memory serves I was doing six footers while marveling at national geographic stories of aboriginals shooting 10 foot guns made from split / grooved / and wrapped back together tree branches. I had so much fun passing many middle school winter months in the basement with then- indoor slingshots were a no go back then in my parents house (probably a good thing back in those teen age wrist rocket days).

I am really curious to know if there is any solid info on performance differences between the various calibers and lengths available in marketed blowguns today.

 

[ukj]

A blowguns accuracy is determined by how straight the pipe is and how well made the darts are. Symmetry of the cones, length and balance of the dart shaft.

Any chance you could share your
Understanding of dart center of gravity and length factors to aid my
Next diy please?
ukj

 

[HOE]

A blowguns accuracy is determined by how straight the pipe is and how well made the darts are. Symmetry of the cones, length and balance of the dart shaft.

Any chance you could share your
Understanding of dart center of gravity and length factors to aid my
Next diy please?
ukj

Actually, the cone design is not the best Fletching for aerodynamics, so we need heavy darts or front-loaded arrowheads to compensate that drag from the cone.

Someone on YouTube came out with a concept that if the cone is soft enough to transform into vanes after leaving the barrel, that will be ideal!
This guy!

 

[Blowhard79]

There is so much I wish I knew about how darts fly. I have seen in the UK and surrounding areas they us a fine silicone tube to add small increments of weight to the front and middle of darts. Also really neat in Japan they use really long cones that are almost as long as the whole shaft. The mind boggles and it is so cool.

 

[vince4242]

I think as far as darts go I have found that a good close seal will make the darts go fast and straight. I have used foam ear plugs, yarn, paper, HDPE cones as shown in video at the top of the post. I think they can all shoot well as long as they fit the tube well.

If you want to shoot cans and and targets then I don't think it matters which size barrel you go with, I think smooth and straight are the keys where the barrel is concerned. If you want to hunt then you really need those razor dart to get that clean ethical kill. I use all kinds of darts in my .625" cold steel and all work very well, from 11" 3/16" wood dowels with ear plugs, to 3" shish kabob skewers with modified cold steel cones. All shoot straight and true as long as you have a good fit to the barrel. With and without weighted heads, the lighter ones shoot faster and the heavier ones take that full breath and blast of air that is consistent with the last strong breath to get the elevation correct. I set my breath for the hunting darts, then all the lighter ones go in the same place at 10 meters. If I were to go back to 15m then this would not work since I can get a flat trajectory with the stunners and razor darts at a maximum of 10m.

Not sure if you have seen this video yet Desert Flipper, but it has some great info on ballistics and the different calibers.

When it comes down to it, it is just like slingshots...it all comes down to what you want to do with the blowgun. I have the 4ft pro (thicker barrel) Cold Steel that is flat at 8 meters and the 2 piece 5ft from Tim Wells for hunting and is flat at 10 meters, maybe longer as I get better.

I hope this helps...I will do a post with my first kill soon so you can see the damage those razor darts really do!

Vince

Cheers