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How do you fill the tank?
We used to make them out of beer cans and use lighter fluid for propellant.
Spino would have approved. Loved to chase squirrels and tennis balls.


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Leshiy 2

I think Chuck is still in CA, and this state, in its infinite wisdom, has made it a crime to use a combustion-propelled spud gun. Compressed air is OK, but the old school hairspray guns have disappeared.

I used to hunt at a duck club that had the occasional poacher problem. We had a barn up on a hill, from which we could see most of our hundreds of acres of ponds after the leaves fell off the trees. The Saturday afternoon poachers would sometimes find themselves bombarded by flying potatoes, launched quietly from an ABS pipe fueled by hairspray.

I'd have it dipped (immersion graphics) in digital desert camo. I'm not big on shiny guns ....... even a tennis ball gun. But in the end, it's what makes the customer happy. I mean, it's important for repeat business. Word of mouth advertising and all ...............

SRH

Lighter fluid is all well and good, but white gas for a camp stove works more better! You do need to use steel beer cans.

The tank is filled with a simple schrader valve. Propane tanks typically have over 200 psi in them. I've run this one to 180 on my off-road portable compressor.

The projectiles are whatever you can stuff in a 2"x .065" wall tube. Small russet potatoes, apples, etc. My interest in it originally was for a tennis ball launcher to send a ball down the block for the dogs. I really don't have a desire for launching spuds or similar, but that's what the consignee wanted.

That would be very unexpected. So much so, that I think I need to focus on more likely scenarios.

I'm pretty sure that it is the BATF that frowns mightily on potato guns that are fueled by combustible products such as hair spray (lacquer and thinner). Perhaps a replica pre-revolutionary flintlock black powder potato gun would be legal though.

If making potato guns illegal seems petty, think about this...When we were kids, one of my Dad's neighbors called the cops on us because we were flinging apples with a stick. Actually, he thought it was his civic duty to call the cops on us about twice a week. For some reason, he reminded me of our own Gladys Kravitz, aka old colonel.

On this pneumatic potato gun, it might not be a bad idea to incorporate a pressure relief valve set to a safe working pressure, even though most air compressors won't exceed 180 psi. I'd imagine that British potato guns are subject to proof laws.

So, from someone who's never even seen a potato gun, what's the range of those things, fueled by hairspray or compressed air?

SRH

google pumpkin chucking, crazy stuff. They throw pumpkins hundreds of yards with compressed gas.

So, for all the questions about spud gun legality, ATF says they aren't firearms as long as they are muzzle loaded and used for recreational purposes. CA AG policy (never heard of any prosecution) is that a spud gun that burns something as a propellant, meets the definition of a firearm. Other states and municipalities may have their own definition.

However, this is why I made a compressed air spud gun. As with any common item, as long as it is used in a manner not to intend harm on a person, it isn't a weapon. The nature of this particular design limits the power to pressure attainable in the tank, which apparently is much less than combustion spud guns. My design is not unlike some of the rock concert T-shirt launchers used to put a T-shirt out in the crowd. It wasn't designed to be particularly powerful. I actually don't know how far it will push a spud as I haven't shot it where I could see where it lands. I made it because I like making things. It has "tacti-cool" features because that was what my neighbor wanted. It was made more to put a smile on someone's face than functional use.

I have in mind to make a sxs tennis ball launcher using a couple large diameter carbon fiber tubes and a trigger plate from an old sxs shotgun. But my current dog didn't like the noise from my tennis ball test mule. So, that novelty is shelved.

For you guys that want to put a tennis ball out there 1/4 mile, there are $50 hairspray tennis ball cannons on Amazon.