Blowguns anyone?

[Dultimatpredator]

They made it a legalized hunting weapon along with air guns in my state last year. We can get rid of nuisance animals on private property year around with or without a license. These guys were chewing holes in the insulation on my porch roof. Figured I’d give it a go my home made blowgun instead of the air rifle. I can tell you with a well placed shot they tip right over which shocks the living heck out of me! IMO with a well placed shot it’s no different than shooting a deer with a bow and arrow. I’m used to shooting them in the head with the air rifle or a 22lr and watching the squirrel bounce around for a few seconds. A well placed shot with a mini razor dart and most have stopped in their tracks. Squirrels either just lay down immediately or they slowly hobble a couple of feet and tip over. I’ve only had one that didn’t want to give up the ghost and I had to give it a second dart so far. Shot placement is critical. We all know a bad placed shot is a bad placed shot. I even had my fishing rod line tied to the darts when I shot a couple of them. Pretty slick system imo for not losing darts. I carved barbs with my Dremel tool so they stay in the animal as well ( just like a fish arrow). The one that didn’t want to give up the ghost I knocked out of a tree. It was suspended by my braided line and not going anywhere. It kept it from running off with my dart and allowed me to do a back up with a second dart. I’ve had fun and made some homemade darts that look like harpoons out of coat hanger wire and dollar store craft beads for cones. They work pretty good on big carp. You just have to make sure they’re swimming away from you so your dart can slide up underneath the scales. I even dispatched a nuisance possum the other day. The mini razor dart sailed right through it and popped the cone off. Stopped the possum in its tracks. Just laid down at the shot and expired. Those little mini razor darts are wicked. I didn’t think they would have the effect that they do for a quick dispatch, but I’m impressed.

 

[22magnum22]

What is your maximum effective range?

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Squirrels and possum I’ve been sticking under 10 yards so far. Closer to 5 yards. For Carp and Gar I try to get as close as I can get and make sure they’re facing away so you can slide up underneath their scales with my homemade darts. Normally a few feet and far as out to about 5 to 8 yards and sometimes I shoot farther. I’ve been bouncing off Gar 99% of the time but stuck one at 15 yards the other day. I hit it in the softer part of the belly, and it was facing away. If they’re coming at me head on I can’t penetrate them with my homemade darts. Small scaled fish It doesn’t make any difference. I’ve shot gizzard shad 15 to 18 plus yards because they’re thin skinned. But once again, that’s with home made “ harpoon style” darts I make on fish. I also use and made homemade five and 6 foot conduit piped blowguns. Just normal half inch conduit from the hardware store which is about $5 for a 5’ piece or $5.99 for a 10 foot piece. I cut them down in 1 foot lengths and I found that 6 foot is optimum for max penetration in my black target at 5 yards and 10 yards. I getting defections using a 5 foot gun with the homemade darts but when I switched to my 6 foot I was drilling some pretty big carp getting them landed. I am sure it all has to do with my dart design. I tried modifying a mini razor dart to use for fishing. I was getting penetration on fish every time, but the darts would pull out. I might have to order some of the fishing darts to try eventually. I’ve kind of settled on a 15 inch long dart made out of coat hanger wire. I’ve tried them from 7 inches to 33 inches. The biggest issue is if they’re not long enough, they slow down too fast in the water. I’ve been using rubber craft beads from the dollar tree instead of cones. They are waterproof and sink. The nice part is there’s already a hole to slide the coat hanger sign and also my braided line through so the ball just slides up and off so I don’t lose it. Those little round balls are heavy too, so in my opinion, it helps with penetration in the water. I posted this on some other forms and since I have, I can’t find my rubber craft beads at the dollar store anymore for some reason….lol the small pieces I made out a PVC T fitting. I just cut and melt it. They turned out pretty good after some sanding. They’re a lot nicer than the factory offerings. I can tell you if my harpoon dart goes in it anchors really good with the bars I made on each side. The barbs have to be dull to “hold and grab” or they will slice their way right back out. I would tell you if you decide to take up the sport to make sure you do a lot of practicing before you start hunting. The last thing you want is some tree hugger seeing an animal running around with a dart in it and reporting it to the 9 o’clock news. It’s easy enough to go and see pictures and stories like this all over the Internet. I would tell you when you first start out to rig your blow gun like I do for fishing and tie your dart on. That way one you don’t lose your dart and if you make barbs on it, the animal doesn’t go anywhere either except for you fighting it like you are a fish on a fishing pole if it decides to run with a poorly placed shot. The first couple squirrels that I harvested I left it rigged like I was blowgun fishing. I had only one of these squirrels try to run after the shot. The barbs I cut on my mini razor dart won’t pull out so the animal dosen't get away. Normally, I have to cut the line and push the dart out the other side if it didn’t exit. Normally they exit and go all the way through. This is a mini razor dart below that I modified. I just rig it like a carp dart. So when I shoot an animal It’s no different than shooting fish. It’s attached to your blow gun and it’s not going anywhere if it decides to run. If it does set your drag light.


Below is a mini razor dart head. I took my Dremel and put a cutting wheel on it and cut barbs on the bottom side. That’s what I shot my first couple of squirrels with. I had my fishing rig tied up to it and they don’t go anywhere. Like I said you just have to make sure the barbs are dull or they’ll cut right out like a knife tip and then if the animal wants to run, they’re gonna get away. With them dull the anchor awesome. I literally had to cut my string and just let the dart slide out the opposite side of the animal. If not your yanking pretty good and messing around to get the dart out.

A 15" home made coat hanger dart was used on the carp. Also an example below of how the point I fabricated looks.

 

[doggin coyotes]

Is that one of the blow guns Tim Wells sells?

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Is that one of the blow guns Tim Wells sells?

No, I made it. It cost around six bucks, or so, to build.

… and in my opinion, it’s a lot nicer than his… other than I wish it was aluminum.

A 1/2” metal conduit pipe from the hardware store was around $5 for a 5’ piece and $5.99 for a 10’ piece to cut down to 6’. The mouthpiece is a $.96 cent 3/4” PVC T fitting I fabricated. The camo job is Ductape from Walmart. I ran it the long way. The wood handle and mouthpiece I made from a scrap 2x6.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Give or take. The pipe use is a half inch piece of metal conduit. I put camouflage H2O water duct tape over it. The handle and mouthpiece is a piece of 2 x 6 I carved. The mouthpiece I made out of a plastic PVC T fitting. I think I paid $.96 for the PVC fitting. I do own a black mamba, but I haven’t even shot it yet. The woodland camo duct tape blowgun is a 5 foot version I made. The H2O water camo is a 6 foot pipe. I posted on how to make them over on blow guns forum. I’ll post the links below if someone wants to read how to make them. They are pretty easy to do. Saves spending $100 on a Slockmaster. I have to admit Tim’s little mini razor darts are awesome. That’s what I shot the squirrels with. Took them from my Mamba kit and used in my home made blowguns. They fit perfectly in the half inch conduit pipes so you could make your own blow gun and order his .625” darts. They actually fit tighter in the half inch conduit pipes, sealing better VS the slockmaster or cold steel guns.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Here’s some of my posts how to make some of the stuff. The only bad part is it does get rusty inside the metal conduit pipe. I normally try and clean the inside of the tubes with some three in one oil to clean the rust out of it. Might have to try and spray rust oleum down it and let it drip out. I haven’t run into any copper tubing that is .625 on the inside yet. The only stuff I’ve ran into for aluminum at the local hardware store is paper thin. PVC works in half inch as well. Problem is once you get past 4 foot they get pretty flimsy. You definitely can make one out of PVC half inch pipe since they’re 625 on the inside. You could just slide a piece of PVC in something more durable so it doesn’t flex. I like the half inch metal conduit because it’s pretty durable.

Made some mouth pieces today!!!

Watched someone on youtube make mouth pieces last night out of 90 degree PVC "T's". I went back to the hardware store to return my 10' Pieces of metal conduit since they were bigger in diameter on the inside than the five footers for some goofy reason. I grabbed a couple T's to play with for...

www.blowgunforum.com

Made a grip today

Had a scrap piece of 2 x 6 laying around. I drilled a hole through it and then traced my Glock handle onto the wood. I decided to exaggerate the finger grooves and kept using my Dremel to contour it till it fit my hand perfectly. It’ll fit a little loose around the barrel channel, so I’ll have...

www.blowgunforum.com

4th blowgun project done!

Started making them a couple weeks ago. This is another piece of 5 foot half-inch conduit. They cost me $4.23. The mouthpiece was $.90 that I made out of a PVC T fitting. Cut, heated and painted. Wrapped in camo duct tape. Pistol grip and mouth piece grip I made out if a scrap 2x6 and tru oiled...

www.blowgunforum.com

6’ foot blowfish gun together!

I was waiting for the paint to dry in my mouthpiece. Painted the PVC mouthpiece, black and then splattered it with some fluorescent yellow that I couldn’t get out of the can had to stick a nail in there and give it some love.lol. another 6’ piece of $4.99, 1/2” metal conduit. It was 10’ and...

www.blowgunforum.com

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I also made some modifications to the black mamba, but I haven’t used it yet. I bought a fishing reel seat off of Aliexpress for a buck and also some eyelets. I attached the eyelets to some pieces of PVC that I could slide (and wedge) onto the tube. Did the same thing with the real seat. I wanted to be able to take them on and off instead of gluing them on permanently. Turned out pretty cool. I just haven’t used the blowgun yet. It was present and I’ve been already been going strong with my homemade guns so I just have it set aside for a reserve. I must admit it’ll be nice not to worry about rust on the inside with the aluminum blow gun. By the time you order a heavy piece of aluminum pipe and pay shipping it’s cheaper just to buy a blow gun from cold steel. I think they were 32 bucks on Amazon a few months ago shipped but I’ve gone up a little bit for the 5 foot version. I definitely wouldn’t go shorter if you’re going hunt with it. I also don’t like the flimsy mouthpiece on the Tim Wells rig. It feels pretty cheesy. The pistol grip is also pretty cheesy and moves around. They definitely cut corners making it. You have to remember he puts his name on it and it’s rebranded from China. It’s the same tube as the cold steel guns and comes from the exact same place other than he puts his pistol grips and all pieces on them. Guess I’m just spoiled by my homemade jobs.

But if you’re interested in, wanna get started, don’t waste your money unless you really want a fancy camo job just to say it’s Tim Wells gun. I tell you just to order the 5 foot cold steel for half the price. I do like as mini razor darts, though. I haven’t tried any of the other ones yet. The mama came with sone 3 blade darts. Says they are for “big game” and look nasty. No way I would ever shoot a deer with a blow gun. I bet they would be wicked on raccoons or predators. I think they’re called a red tail dart.

 

[Duhhh]

I bought the Tim Wells blowgun a while back. Blowguns are killer. Got some rabbits, porcupine, prairie dogs, and squirrels.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I bought the Tim Wells blowgun a while back. Blowguns are killer. Got some rabbits, porcupine, prairie dogs, and squirrels. View attachment 20392

SWEET!!!

 

[Dultimatpredator]

This a a Slockmaster Mamba that I customized….



I just like the advertised 6 foot length “mamba”…. and it’s not 6 foot. It’s closer to 5’9”. Here’s how I rigged it up. I put some of the camouflage duct tape on the tube and wedged both the real seat and the PVC eyelet pieces over the tape. It was a lot of grunting to get them wedged on, but I can also pull them off if I just want take it out and use it for hunting…without a fishing rig on it. With all my testing I can tell you the extra foot of pipe gives way better penetration on cap and gar with my homemade darts. So the Momba is the one I wanted because of the length… they just didn’t offer it with the fishing gear so I had to make my own. My homemade pipes I just zip tied on an ice fishing pole… or a half of a two-piece pole. I use 30 or 40 pound braid to tie my darts with. I also leave the drag super loose yes I get a really big fish that wants to pull out the dart. It took 15 to 20 minutes to get those carp in. I got pulled around in the canoe for a long time until I tire them out. Pretty fun… let me tell you. The eyelet I installed in a piece of three-quarter inch PVC. Then I wrapped it with some set line. Then epoxied over it. I haven’t even shot this thing yet. It’s time to get it all in the backyard and start playing with it. Figured it’s too pretty to get bent and beat up when I can just keep using my conduit homemade guns that are a lot more durable. I also have to say I like the durability of a one piece gun as well. They stopped making 5 foot one pieces years ago. Too bad. I still would rather have a 6 foot though. If anybody wants to make one, I would say go buy a 10 foot piece and cut it to 6 foot. I’ve already done all the testing. I used to block target at five and 10 yards. With my homemade carp darts, I was getting an extra 5 to 6 inches of penetration from 5 foot to 6 foot lengths. If I went to 7 foot I saw no difference and if I went even longer, it slowed down and got less penetration. But I can tell you there’s a big difference between five and 6 feet for penetration.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Just made another new experimental homemade fish dart out of a bike spoke today. is the tip is way more narrower amd smaller then the harpoon darts i've been making. It's only ten and a half inches long too and i've been running normally fifteen inches. i've been having trouble poking through Gar with my homemade harpoon darts. I would think as small as this tip is I should be able to penetrate one pretty easy. I guess I'll find out soon. You can see the size comparison versus a many razor dart. My original harpoon darts were about as twice as wide as a razor. I bent the spoke tip in half and pounded it flat. I did some partial shaping and then filled it with j b welled in the middle to make it more durable. Once it was dry I did the final sharpening and shaping.

 

[Sgt_Mike]

Man gunning and fishing combined what's not to like.....
Neat Thanks for posting a interesting often overlooked way to harvest..

 

[Dultimatpredator]

If you get on YouTube, it’s fun to watch some of the guys on their shooting stuff with them. There’s one guy watch shoot a fox at night over a bait pile. He also took a skunk and a raccoon the same night. Just sad in his cabin with the window open and kept turning the light on to check his bait pile when he heard crunching. lol. It was pretty entertaining. There’s quite a few different videos of people shooting super small hogs with them as well.

Tons of squirrel hunters taking bad shots with YouTube videos out there…. And, of course, Tim Wells shooting every game farm animal he can get his hands on to promote his rebranded China/Cold Steel blow guns. I always wondered how he got away with shooting all the big game animals he does with blowguns and not getting his license permanently revoked…and that’s because they’re all shot on game farms, including his bear. Unfortunately, it’s illegal to hunt big game with them in every state and country that he says he was “hunting” with his blowgun kills. Still very entertaining, more power to him. I have to say he’s an awesome shot regardless… but aren’t we all?

 

[crapshoot]

When I was an electricians assistant we use to use a piece of 1/2" emt, a round wire nut that fit the bore and a sheet rock screw. Stuck pretty good into the walls across the room.

 

[soup]

Be careful not to inhale!!
Quite a nice setup, they still use blowguns in the Amazon for bigger prey then pests.
Soup

 

[Dultimatpredator]

I shot a big muskrat yesterday in the garden. It was a low broadside heart shot like the squirels shot placment. I followed up with a 2nd shot and a boot.

I need to try the 3 bladed red tail darts and see if they dispatch quicker.

 

[crapshoot]

Get you some poison dart frogs and see how they fly.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

lol… I would assume the three bladed dart head should dispatch stuff pretty quick, but they’re expensive. I don’t remember if I ended up with six or 10 of them in my kit, but I haven’t even tried them yet. They’re listed as a “big game” dart…lol. For deer and bear apparently…lol. That’s never gonna happen in my lifetime. After watching squirrels and a few other small game animals I dispatched with a good shot I have found out it normally takes a little bit for the critter to expire. The last thing I’m going do is shoot a big game animal like Tim Wells does (on a game Farm) and wait for it to expire or track it down “off camera” to finish it off with a firearm. I’m sure it would kill a big game animal just fine if you gave it a day to die and had a dog to track it down and thousands of miles of land where it’s legal to do so. Those mini razor/razor darts are maybe a 1/2” wide cut at the most. Not any room for error on a larger animal. As long as you didn’t hit a rib going in, which I’m sure happens quite a bit off camera, when he does his filmed “marketing sales” hunts. I don’t think I’d wanna shoot anything bigger than a raccoon if it was me. Something at least slow enough, and small enough, that I can follow up with another shot if needed. With a well placed shot of course it’s going die on a smaller animal. It’s just how far it’s going to travel and where it’s going to end up is the big issue. I’m sure a bobcat, fox, and coyote would be about Max big critters I’d be comfortable trying a dart on… and trying to find those things after smacking with a dart would probably be next to impossible unless you had a dog to track them down. It isn’t like the blood comes flying out like an expandable 2” broadhead I have found out. If they take off, it’s going be a guessing game, if, and when, you’re going find them. I’ll probably stick the squirrels, rabbits, possums, raccoons and similar. I made them to go blow fishing with. That way, at least they have whatever I’ve shot attached to a string so the odds of it getting away unless it rips the dart out of the string breaks is slim to none. It also doesn’t make the channel 9 news when a fish tears out a dart and swims off or gets away with one in it. Your neighborhood rabbit sure will though. You have to remember how wide a broadhead is versus a little half inch dart at the most versus the body size of the animal you’re shooting. At least with a squirrel that is 2 1/2 inches from chest to top. You’re hitting it with a half inch dart. That’s like shooting a deer with a 5 inch expandable…lol. But thinking about it the other way around shooting a deer with a half inch dart like they do on YouTube is ridiculous in my opinion. It’s like trying to shoot an elephant with a 22 long rifle and expecting a big hole and a quick blood trail if it even kills it. I would think anything from a coyote critter on down is gonna be a long wait even with a perfectly placed shot using a razor dart. I’m sure that triple headed dart would sure even the score though on critters that big.

 

[Dultimatpredator]

Found A guy using a viper 5’ with a razor darts for dispatching a couple coyote. Like I expected it sat through the video the whole time like it wasn’t even hit as he was talking about it. I would think that coyote would make it a country mile before it would expire.