Improvement to my water balloon launcher

Specter · Post by **Specter** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:15 pm

as most of you know, i made a water balloon launcher over the summer. the one with the 4 foot barrel and 1 foot pc. i had some length of 1" pvc pipe left over from when i was cutting off small pieces for connectors on my cannon. I had the idea to make it into a barrel, considering i only needed one part, a male adapter. When i looked up the price i had from the summer, i expected it to be $.44 for the part plus 7% tax. However, the part was only $.38, so i was a bit happy that i would spend 6 cents less (whoohoo entered here) haha.

well anyway, i made the new barrel, which is about only 20" long. And i made myself and ammunition "cartridge" out of a triple A battery wrapped in masking tape, and a pink streamer added so i can find it in the shrubs. In my yard are some scrap aluminum sheeting from my house getting sided. I decided to set up a target with the largest piece. Pressurized the tank to around 100-110 psi or so, aimed, and fired. when the thing went out i was like "holy sh!t" , it WENT THROUGH the aluminum! which is about 2-3mm thick. it made a nice hole in it, and i was surprised.

i just have to be careful with my new canon, now that i know it's lethal.

and there ya go, i decided to share my story with you.

WaterWolf · Post by **WaterWolf** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:20 am

This kind of launcher is usualy called a "Battery Gun".
They can be fun, but are also just as leathal as a rifle. So please be VERY careful with it.

Specter · Post by **Specter** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:50 am

i'm the careful type person... i don't be planning to shoot any more batteries out of it. Just some acorns at squirrels, the most annoying thing in new jersey. haha

WaterWolf · Post by **WaterWolf** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:03 am

Squirrels are nothing more than "cute" and fuzzy rats.
Only harder to kill and more annoying.
But they can be quite amusing too.

My most memorable incident was when one was sitting on top of a gate in our back yard. Just sitting there screaming its head off.
One of our big dogs (In-fact it was the mother of the one in my avatar), was calmly watching it from below, when the rodent leapt off the gate and straight into her open maw.

But rather than swallowing, she held the squirrel in her mouth, with just the crazily spinning tail sticking out, and brought it over to her litter of puppies.
All sitting in a half circle.

She drops the squirrel in the middle of their circle.
And I get one short glimpse of its wet brown fir, before all of the pups pounce on it simultaneously.

What that crazy critter was thinking when it jumped off the gate I'll never know. A suicide attempt perhaps?
If so then it was quite a dramatic one.

DX · Post by DX » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:21 am

That's freakin' hilarious! I would have killed to see that scene! [yes, bad pun]

I don't have many squirrel stories as even though they are more common than trees in Jersey, cars tend to find them before you do. There was a day when Nibordude and I were throwing water balloons around in my 1/8 acre pathetic excuse for a backyard. We started aiming for a squirrel that happened to be sitting in the middle of the "grass". Nibordude scored a direct hit which caused the squirrel to flip over and then flip out.

i was like "holy sh!t" , it WENT THROUGH the aluminum! which is about 2-3mm thick. it made a nice hole in it, and i was surprised.

Try a AA battery in 3/4" PVC. You don't even need wadding, you can just drop the battery right in the barrel. Now THAT is lethal, I shot one into a wooden cabinet at only 80 PSI. 3/4" also fits marbles, of which two I fired at a fence. The first marble went into the fence and the second marble shattered on impact. If given a choice between being shot with a handgun bullet or with a battery cannon battery, trust me you'd choose the bullet.

I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but a 1 1/4" barrel would fit D batteries.

Specter · Post by **Specter** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:23 am

haha... thats a funny story.

hmm... i would think that a D battery would be a bit heavy to be shot far/fast.

i have a funny squirrel story too...

ok so one day me and my brother were throwing a tennis ball back and forth or something in my back yard. then there were these 2 dumbass squirrels chasing each other like they like to do, all mad and junk. so i see them, and they run into my yard, and i happen to have the tennis ball. so i go one way and i tell my brother to go the other way to stop it. It gets all confused and heads back toward me/to my right. i throw a fastball, and bean it right in the side. I think it got disoriented for a bit because i pegged the little rat with the fastest i could throw. i dont remember much, but i think it ran in a circle once or twice then ran toward a fence with a tree behind it.

o and long before this event, my dad had gotten a slingshot, and took an acorn, killed a squirrel with it. amazing that a squirrels food can kill him.

also i think quite a few years ago, i killed a squirrel with a rake. not sure bout that though, long time ago.

WaterWolf · Post by **WaterWolf** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:50 am

Amazing that a squirrel's food can kill him.

If you had a can of soup fired at you from a Pnumatic-Launcher that would most likely kill you as-well.