# Balloon gun



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

This sort of device has been mentioned before, and I thought some of you might be interested in my little project.

The grandson of a friend of mine has been wanting a slingshot. But I do not really know the lad, and I am not sure how impulsive he is. So I made him a balloon gun, which shoots dried beans, peas, popcorn, etc. pretty accurately at short distances. It will knock over an empty soda can at 10 feet, but does not have enough power to break a window or to cause really serious personal injury (assuming it is not used to fire BBs or small steel balls).










I said if the kid fools with it for a month and does not get into trouble, and if his parents still agree, then I will make him a more standard slingshot.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## NightKnight (Dec 16, 2009)

Ha! Pretty slick! I have never seen one of those before.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

NightKnight said:


> Ha! Pretty slick! I have never seen one of those before.


As you can see, it is very easy to make. I used 3/4 inch PVC pipe I had laying around. Just cut the neck off of a standard balloon, stretch it over the T, and tape it in place. The barrel is not really necessary, but it sure helps in aiming and getting the pull of the balloon straight. The sights are quite functional too. Just drop a projectile down the barrel into the bottom of the balloon, grasp the projectile through the tip of the balloon, pull back, aim and fire ... or pull back and fire without aiming and miss









Cheers ... Charles


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

i used to make that balloon slinghshot when i was a kid. id use pvc pipe like yours but with no handle. or i would cut the top off of a milk gallon or a plastic bottle, the threads on those would keep the balloon from slipping off. i feel like making one now. thanks for the momentary lapse of nostalgia !


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## lobodog2 (Nov 10, 2010)

I've never seen one of these before either. Charles, it just goes to show you, you never stop learning! Good idea by giving the youngster a month of probation too...


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

I once had one a like it as a boy. It was a commercial model with a balloon more like a bottle teat. It fired Daisy-style steel BBs. Sadly I binned it because I didn't have the strength to draw it. I recently tried bottle teats and it didn't work. The originals must have been custom thin latex teats.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

ZDP-189 said:


> I once had one a like it as a boy. It was a commercial model with a balloon more like a bottle teat. It fired Daisy-style steel BBs. Sadly I binned it because I didn't have the strength to draw it. I recently tried bottle teats and it didn't work. The originals must have been custom thin latex teats.


Certainly the bottle teats that are currently made are not suitable. Some folks said they used to make them using a finger from a kitchen glove. I have tried using a finger from a disposable latex glove, but it was just too thin. And my goal was to make something pretty low powered anyway, as I did not want the thing to be too dangerous if it was miss-used. Balloons are available most everywhere, so if the balloon ruptures, it would be easy to replace it. And balloons have just enough power for this application.

Cheers ........ Charles


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Well, after a short training session, I handed this device off to the young lad this afternoon. He has a month to prove his reliability, and after that I will make him a slingshot.

Before giving it to him, I checked it with a chrony. Shooting dried black beans, it was hitting about 70 fps .... not too shaby for a balloon powered device.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

We should have a competition to see who can get the most velocity and energy from a balloon gun of this type.


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## Ry-shot (Jul 22, 2011)

game on . im gonna go butterfly with those snake balloons


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## mckee (Oct 28, 2010)

Ry-shot said:


> game on . im gonna go butterfly with those snake balloons


Good luck with that haha


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## Ry-shot (Jul 22, 2011)

mckee said:


> game on . im gonna go butterfly with those snake balloons


Good luck with that haha








[/quote]lol


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## Ry-shot (Jul 22, 2011)

i dont have a chrony.....


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

I found that using very long balloons did not work for me. Everything seemed to bunch up and keep the bean from heading down the barrel.

Cheers ... Charles


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## SlingGal (Jun 18, 2011)

Is this (pic uploaded via Mobile so I don't know how it will display) kind of what you're talking about, Imperial? A Facebook friend of mine sent me this photo a few days ago....his buddies at his shop shoot fimo clay all over the place. Curious though, where does the ammo go?....how you shoot it? We have wide mouth bottles all over the place at my studio and some balloons....


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## Nico (Sep 10, 2010)

SlingGal said:


> Is this (pic uploaded via Mobile so I don't know how it will display) kind of what you're talking about, Imperial? A Facebook friend of mine sent me this photo a few days ago....his buddies at his shop shoot fimo clay all over the place. Curious though, where does the ammo go?....how you shoot it? We have wide mouth bottles all over the place at my studio and some balloons....
> 
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> 
> ...


Hi Rusty,

Yeah thats a basic form, in Mexico they called them "tira lilas" you simply drop a pea gravel inside the open end into the balloon, hold with your shooting hand and with other feel the pea gravel inside with your thumb and index fingers, center it and just draw back point and release.

I saw a most amazing thing with one of these tira-lias as a kid, my brother shot a pigeon with a 177 BB and struck at the throat and needless to say we had some picho'n frito later that evening.

Nico


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

SlingGal said:


> Is this (pic uploaded via Mobile so I don't know how it will display) kind of what you're talking about, Imperial? A Facebook friend of mine sent me this photo a few days ago....his buddies at his shop shoot fimo clay all over the place. Curious though, where does the ammo go?....how you shoot it? We have wide mouth bottles all over the place at my studio and some balloons....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


yes . only we never used tape. we would roll up the neck of the balloon and just put it over the threads of the mouth, the threads and balloon wanting to go back to its long necked shape hold it in place. the other difference is that we would leave some of the bottle neck on the mouth, to act as a type of rest/grip. ill try to remember to make one tomorrow and post my own pic up so you/others can get a better idea of what im trying to describe. we used to shoot them things in class at each other all the time. bits of pencil erasers, spit wads, rolled tape, lil rocks, pieces of chalk( rememeber the chalkboards before the white marker boards?), we'd even shoot lil charlie bugs - lol. to shoot it, you drop the ammo into the opening to the bottom of the balloon, pinch the balloon above the ammo if its a "soft" ammo or grip the ammo itself, and just pull and point to where you want it to go, just like a slingshot.


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

made this today

i was thinking of putting up pics of how simple it is to make. the pic above is what i used to shoot in school as a kid. first slingshot i ever made, its sort of a pfs. as for how it shoots - ever hear about the accuracy of the musket rifles?


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