Potatoes falling from the sky?

[cathie3455]

Ok everyone- up until yesterday I had no idea what a "spud gun" was- My husband was outside with my 4 year old and a piece of "something" came out from no where- then more pieces came- one hit my 4 year old and the other hit my husband in the head- (sorry it was funny). It would definately not be funny if one of my family members got hurt seriously - but this was funny. As my husband is ranting and raving with potatoe spewed all over his head-he decides to call our local police department- and I left to take my 4 year old to a party-On the way- I went through the neighborhood where I thought it came from and sure enough- I found the house and saw the "spud gun" the guy had no idea the spud would have flown that far- we are talking like 2 miles+ !!! He was very apologetic and told my 4 year old how sorry he was-I gotta tell ya- I couldn't stop laughing-but I just wanted to let you all know that the police officer did tell this guy that it was illegal and then laughed too.

[lukemc]

sooo.... you going to build one

[frankrede]

2+miles?
What did this spudgun look like?
even the biggest spudgun can't shoot that far that I know of.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

we are talking like 2 miles+

The spudgun that could send something of as poor a ballistic shape as a potato that far would be as big as a house... Besides, how could you tell from which direction the said starch projectiles originated?

[noname]

The SWAT gun probably could, providing it had a 1" barrel and an aerodynamic dart, in which case her husband would be dead.

[Flying_Salt]

The SWAT gun probably could, providing it had a 1" barrel and an aerodynamic dart, in which case her husband would be dead.

I bet it could with a 50' marble barrel...

Welcome to spudfiles, have a seat and enjoy, you'll be spending some time here!

[Brian the brain]

Okay, I admit it, it was me...



I live in Holland by the way...


the chance of two shots from something as inacurate as a homemade patatogun landing in your garden from 2 miles away is about...well...there is NO chance really.It could not even happen if the device was clamped down.

a skilled hunter would probably not be able to do that with a top of the line hunting rifle.

[mark.f]

Not only that, if the spud was fired at an angle designed to get maximum distance, (it varies with drag, but with a spud I'd guess somewhere between 33 and 40 degrees), it wouldn't even go 2 <I>kilometers</I>, (2,200 yards, less than two miles), let alone two miles.

Are you sure that his house was two miles away as the crow flies, not in street distance? You could check with Google Earth to measure the distance between his house and yours, in a straight line.

I could see it happening with some sort of more aerodynamic projectile... in hurricane force winds. Or maybe the spud went so high it got caught in the jet stream, but not on a normal day with a normal potato cannon, firing potatoes.

[schmanman]

The SWAT gun probably could, providing it had a 1" barrel and an aerodynamic dart, in which case her husband would be dead.

lol.


thanks for the mention!

the farthest I have put a spud is about a mile, mind you, with a 25 foot long barrel, and 90 psi.


2 miles would be ridiculous.


salty, I really do need to get a 50 foot marble barrel, I think a dart or marble could go that far.

[f.c]

as do i. ive launched marbles ridiculously long lengths.

[paaiyan]

The sky is falling!!! And it's the consistency of a potato! That is ridiculously bad luck, lol. Yea, you might want to check that distance, because two miles is terribly unlikely, though I do like the jet stream idea...

So you are going to start building them right?

EDIT: Oh, and as for illegal, state an local ordinances may vary, but the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms decided that spud guns aren't classified as firearms, therefore laws specific to firearms will not apply to them, unless they are used in a reckless manor. However state and local ordinances may have provisions for them, such as my city. The city worded the law carefully so pretty much anything that expells a projectile through the means of combustion or compressed air can't be fired within city limits. Note that it doesn't say anything about building them, just firing them.

[mike1010]

you do reaklize she will probably never go on the forums she just felt like seeing what the heck a spud gun was all about and the 2 miles was probly just an eAGERATION she probly had no idea how far it was and will probly never see a spud gun again i could be wrong however.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

The sky is falling!!! And it's the consistency of a potato! That is ridiculously bad luck, lol. Yea, you might want to check that distance, because two miles is terribly unlikely, though I do like the jet stream idea...

Some of the longest ranging guns ever have been able to fire their projectiles beyond the earth's atmosphere where resistance is negligble, which increases performance considerably. An early example of this was the german "paris gun" of WWI

The Paris Gun (also known as Lange Max, Big Bertha, Kaiser Wilhelm Geschuetz) of World War I was the direct ancestor of the V-3. The rail-mounted weapon was 34 meters long and weighed 125 tonnes. Its 180 kg powder charge could hurl a 120 kg shell with 7 kg of explosive to a range of 131 km. During the 170 second trajectory the shell reached a maximum altitude at the edge of space - 40 km. This was the highest altitude attained by a man-made object until the first successful V-2 flight test on October 3, 1942.

[mtronic]

holly blue balls Batman! Thats insane.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

holly blue balls Batman! Thats insane.

The Germans actually went one better by applying the discarding sabot principle:

The Peenemünde Arrow Shells were conceived and developed at the Aerodynamic Research Laboratories at Peenemünde from 1942 to 1945. The arrow shells were dart-like projectiles designed to be fired from special smooth-bore versions of standard German Army artillery pieces. The project was initially envisioned and designed as ultra-long-range shells using a 310mm smooth-bored version of the famed 280mm K5 railway gun (Anzio Annie). The arrow shell was 1.91m long and 120mm in caliber, with four fins at the tail 310mm across and a 310mm sabot or discarding ring around the middle of the shell (center of gravity). The ring was naturally discarded and would fell away outside the gun muzzle when fired, while the accelerating shell would reach a velocity of 1524m/sec and obtain a maximum range of 150km. Two guns were produced, and one of them fired in anger at the US 3rd Army located 125km away from the gun.

Still amazes me how on earth they managed to lose the war.

Ah yes, they were ruled by a madman