Potato Cannons

[WildBill]

...with the legal definition, crammin' a spud or a snowball up the tailpipe of a school bus means you just created a firearm...life ain't much fun anymore...

That's why every school bus has a license plate - it's registered!

[MadMonkey]

Wouldn't a potato gun fall under similar rules to blackpowder muzzle loaders?

Black powder muzzle loaders are still firearms.

I'm not up to speed on Texas law for them, but I was under the impression that Federal law didn't qualify a muzzle loader as a firearm unless it could be easily converted to fire regular ammunition (that's why you seem them in blister packs on the shelf at Cabelas or Bass Pro, with no paperwork to purchase). I could be wrong though.

[WildBill]

Wouldn't a potato gun fall under similar rules to blackpowder muzzle loaders?

Black powder muzzle loaders are still firearms.

I'm not up to speed on Texas law for them, but I was under the impression that Federal law didn't qualify a muzzle loader as a firearm unless it could be easily converted to fire regular ammunition (that's why you seem them in blister packs on the shelf at Cabelas or Bass Pro, with no paperwork to purchase). I could be wrong though.

Muzzle loaders are firearms, but are exempt from certain federal laws.

[Drjfiremedic]

Thanks for the insight guys! Some valuable information in the name of fun.

As for the guy missing a digit. I can imagine that was a very painful experience. This falls under my category of accepted risk. Because if you are going to play with fire, you may get burned.

I take the same risks getting on my four wheeler every day. But hey, what's a broken leg right? Lol, anyhow thanks you all for the info!

[VoiceofReason]

I have quite a lot of black powder left over from the muzzle loader I had. I figured it was no good as it is a few years old. I recently got it out of the closet, took it to the back yard, put a couple of tablespoons full on a piece of paper on the BBQ grill and set the paper on fire. The paper burned down to the powder and appeared to go out. It was a good five seconds then fooom! My son-in-law was standing about six feet from me under the patio umbrella and I couldn’t see him for the smoke. It was a calm day and it took a while for the smoke to clear from under the umbrella. My daughter walked out the back door and asked where my son-in-law was not knowing he was about five feet in front of her.

I then made a trail of powder about four feet long and my son-in-law touched it off with a charcoal lighter. I huge cloud of smoke went billowing up from the back yard and I decided we had better stop playing before one of the neighbors called the fire department.

I am retiring in July and moving to the country in South Texas. Going to have some real fun then.

[jimlongley]

I have quite a lot of black powder left over from the muzzle loader I had. I figured it was no good as it is a few years old. I recently got it out of the closet, took it to the back yard, put a couple of tablespoons full on a piece of paper on the BBQ grill and set the paper on fire. The paper burned down to the powder and appeared to go out. It was a good five seconds then fooom! My son-in-law was standing about six feet from me under the patio umbrella and I couldn’t see him for the smoke. It was a calm day and it took a while for the smoke to clear from under the umbrella. My daughter walked out the back door and asked where my son-in-law was not knowing he was about five feet in front of her.

I then made a trail of powder about four feet long and my son-in-law touched it off with a charcoal lighter. I huge cloud of smoke went billowing up from the back yard and I decided we had better stop playing before one of the neighbors called the fire department.

I am retiring in July and moving to the country in South Texas. Going to have some real fun then.

I did something similar with a willow stump in my backyard years ago. Ran a trail several feet, then some in a twisted paper "fuse" to a trail across the stump and into a 1" hole in the stump. The results were a spectacular disappointment. The fuse train worked like a charm, but the powder in the hole just made a big puff straight up into the air, with a smoke ring, hardly any sound. Of course being an experienced BP shooter at the time, my poor logic became apparent right away. No wad or tamping, so the powder just burned.

Years ago NYState Penal Code specifically exempted BP guns from the definition of a firearm, UNLESS IT WAS LOADED! and case law had made it clear that mere possession of the loading components for a BP gun, was considered to be loaded.

[Munk]

Wiki Link

Well, I guess we have found our loop hole in protecting ourselves when visiting Illionois since they are not considered a firearm in that state.

[VoiceofReason]

I have quite a lot of black powder left over from the muzzle loader I had. I figured it was no good as it is a few years old. I recently got it out of the closet, took it to the back yard, put a couple of tablespoons full on a piece of paper on the BBQ grill and set the paper on fire. The paper burned down to the powder and appeared to go out. It was a good five seconds then fooom! My son-in-law was standing about six feet from me under the patio umbrella and I couldn’t see him for the smoke. It was a calm day and it took a while for the smoke to clear from under the umbrella. My daughter walked out the back door and asked where my son-in-law was not knowing he was about five feet in front of her.

I then made a trail of powder about four feet long and my son-in-law touched it off with a charcoal lighter. I huge cloud of smoke went billowing up from the back yard and I decided we had better stop playing before one of the neighbors called the fire department.

I am retiring in July and moving to the country in South Texas. Going to have some real fun then.

I did something similar with a willow stump in my backyard years ago. Ran a trail several feet, then some in a twisted paper "fuse" to a trail across the stump and into a 1" hole in the stump. The results were a spectacular disappointment. The fuse train worked like a charm, but the powder in the hole just made a big puff straight up into the air, with a smoke ring, hardly any sound. Of course being an experienced BP shooter at the time, my poor logic became apparent right away. No wad or tamping, so the powder just burned.

Years ago NYState Penal Code specifically exempted BP guns from the definition of a firearm, UNLESS IT WAS LOADED! and case law had made it clear that mere possession of the loading components for a BP gun, was considered to be loaded.

Does anyone know where I can get a couple of anvils cheap? On TV anvil launching seems like a lot of fun.

Jim, I wouldn’t go to NY State for any amount of money or even at gun point.

I have an idea it would have worked much better if you had packed the powder in a thick piece of PVC, placed it in the hole then packed the hole or put a plug in it. I think that if I ever try to blow a stump like that, I will get a model rocket motor igniter so I can shoot it from a distance.

I will probably also rig a motor and igniter to burn up the PVC and powder, as a failsafe in case the powder doesn’t go off as planned. I can only imagine how unnerving that would be, walking up on something like that after pushing the button and nothing happening.

I bet it was funny seeing that huge smoke ring though.

[Ameer]

So if it's going to be a short-barrelled spud gun, don't forget to get your $200 tax stamp from Uncle Sam....

If the tube is more than half an inch in diameter does that make it a destructive device?

[i8godzilla]

As a kid we always used tennis balls and taped two cans the balls came in together. Would just cut out the bottom of one can and used what was at the time called 100MPH tape (now referred to as duct/k tape). Zippo lighter fluid was our choice. If you soaked the tennis ball in the fluid first it looked really cool at night.

I wonder why tennis balls now come in plastic container versus the metal cans of old?

[FishInTx]

Potato, tomato, squash, corn on the cob, just about anything from the garden not suitable for eating. Oh, and Golf balls!!