Burger Picks - Q-Tips - Bamboo BBQ Skewers as Projectiles

[Moke]

So, how about an alternate ammo projectile?!

Perhaps a Burger Pick?



Maybe a Q-Tip?



Or, for those times while BBQ'ing on the patio


My wife and I went to dinner late last week. I ordered a burger, but asked for stuff to be left off.  My wife ordered a burger as well, w/ everything.
I got my order with a long frilly-ended burger pick to denote my custom order.
It was then that I flashed back to my childhood, and, launching a huge amount of those things into the drop panel ceilings at diners (I've eaten a lot of burgers in my time). I'd load them into a drink straw, and fire them into the ceiling like pointy-ended spit wads.
I then drifted into my beer guzzling college days, and the use of an improvised blowgun, and homemade darts that were made from finishing nails and a cone end made by pieces of index card stock.  The blow tube was a piece of  steel electrical conduit. The target backdrop was a piece of plywood, and the target was a beer bottle cap.  Our darts would pierce the bottle cap, and were quite accurate.

I sat there reminiscing, and then, reality hit, and I flash forward 50+ years,..... into an AHA! moment.

That AHA moment:
Wouldn't this be fun to load into the Beeman P17, and, see what its like as a dart gun.
So, I set up a piece of artists foam board that is about 1/4" thick, loaded the Burger Pick, and I took aim from across the living room, and, fired.
It hit the foam board exactly where I aimed it, and pierced it about half deep into the Burger Picks length. Woohoo!
Round one was successful enough to look forward to round two.

Round two came this morning. And, I feel it quite successful as well.

Round two came in the form of a small scale hunt for a mouse, whose nest I know of, as it lives in my generator shed, and I see it every time I open the lid to the shed.
So, i loaded last nights Burger Pick into my P17, and with one hand, I opened the lid, and took aim with the other. And sure as day, the mouse was there, and, I took aim, and tracked it to where I knew it was running to, and I took aim, and,....

And, this is a safer projectile for this concrete and mortar space, as I've had pellets come bouncing back at me, as the shed is cinder block, and some wood trim for the lid.

Beeman P17 .177  pellet pistol as the shooter

[Moke]

This was not a fluke!
Round three of the experiment just occurred.  It was another total success, but, without a trophy to prove it. It manged to slip out the same hole that they get into the shed through, I think?.
I went out to clean out the shed, as the little bastids had chewed up lots of foam insulating panels that I put in to quiet the generator, and I had a snow-like coating all inside the shed. So, I went to clean it out, and, there it was, mouse number two, in the exact spot as number one.
I took my last burger pick, and fired. At the last instant, the mouse moved, and I missed, and the burger pick broke. So, I went into the bathroom, and, grabbed a Q-Tip, that had a hard-rolled paper stem. I took a pair of scissors and cut the fuzzy end off of one end, at a very sharp angle.
I went back out, and opened the lid again. It was still there, so I took aim, and fired. The mouse tried to move again, but, this time, I hit it, diagonally broadside.
The Q-Tip projectile had hit it in the abdomen just behind the front left leg, and, went all the way through it, poking out the opposite side, just in front of the right rear leg. The shot angle looked the same as mouse number one, but just slightly further down body.
It then jumped off of the shelf, and, into the white foam beads mess on the floor.  I was not able to find it.  My assumption is that it either got back out the hole that they've used to gain access, or, it made it past me when I opened the shed door; or, it might even be in the generator working, still.  Regardless, it was hit really hard, and right through many vital regions.
I tried to find it, and, even got out my ShopVac, and vacuumed the mess of foam beads.

This is not a fluke! It totally works.

[Moke]

This shed is where the battle has been playing out @ img8705

The shelf/interface at the top-rear of the cinder blocks, where the roof meets cinderblock is where the battle has been playing out, @ 8711

Some of the anti-rodent measures that have failed @ 8700
I spent a long time trying to rodent armor this thing. The open spaces, the ventilation,... those holes have been covered by hardware cloth "chicken wire in 1/2" gridding; they have not been left open. The hardware cloth is cut to fit within the steel slots at each opening.

As you can see, mostly cinder blocks, and a wood roof. missed shots with hard projectiles have a tendency of bouncing back out. So, I'm experimenting with softer projectiles, and so far, good success.

[airpuffhunter]

very interesting

[Moke]

This time, with a Q-Tip dart.
From yesterday afternoon.

I hit it just behind the right ear.  The cotton fletching went into the body, but stopped, leaving an exposed tip.
Q-Tip darts are a typical Q-Tip swab, with two cotton ends. They are cut into halves with nail clippers, and cut at a sharp angle to create a point. They're good for a single shot, and become blunted on impacting any form of backstopping; low ricochet risk. Pellets in this same space, bounce right back.

[EdinGa]

We have a pack of these coming to clean out our new puppy's ears. I think I'll try them in my Daisy 35.


Gmark 500pcs Count 6" Cotton Swabs Wooden Sticks Cotton Tipped Applicator GM1091B https://a.co/d/7V4QhBC

[NorCal David]

You guyz are amazing, LMBO.
So how about the bamboo bbq skewers?

[airgunaut]

Moke, this has got to be the most interesting ammo post I’ve ever read.

I kept a drinking straw from a restaurant (we don’t drink from them), thinking it might have a use with the airgun. Never thought to use it for blowing out improvised darts. You are a bad influence!

[Bubba18655]

And the mouse is ready for the Christmas party hors d’Oeuvres tray.
Nice work.

[EdinGa]

And the mouse is ready for the Christmas party hors d’Oeuvres tray.
Nice work.

Thanks for that. I spit coffee all over myself when I read it. 

[Back_Roads]

And the mouse is ready for the Christmas party hors d’Oeuvres tray.
Nice work.

Thanks for that. I spit coffee all over myself when I read it. 

X2 LOL maybe a Santa hat garnish

[JPSAXNC]

Hardware cloth, don't know what size your using but mice can pass through 1/2" squares like it's not even there.

[Nvreloader]

Yep, anything bigger than 1/4" and they can slip thru it, cottontail rabbits can go thru 2x4 non climb fencing on a dead run, Chance isn't fast enough, but the 22 cal Pumper is..........LOL

[Tallbald]

Late to the circus but hehehehe! Love it. I too had an improv blowgun. Mine was the long thin steel tube from inside a trashed floor lamp I worked to disassemble at age 11 or 12. I made darts from short sections of coat hangers (remember when they were steel wire?) with bandage tape wrapping for the trailing end. Got pretty good at hitting small African game animals depicted on a fold-out National Geographic poster thumbtacked to the wall. Didn't think about the damage to the drywall behind it until time to repaint the room. Caught some flak for that from m y folks. Good times.
I need one of those pistols...
Don

[Luis Leon]

Will definitely be trying this in my lower power air pistol…. Thanks a bunch…

[Xraycer]

Dang it, there better not be a shortage of sandwich picks now!

I'm so going to try this on my dart board.

[Tallbald]

Hmm. Looking again, I wonder about the foot-pounds of energy of the toothpick projectile from the P17. Retained energy at 10 feet may be good to know also. Don't recall studies that show me the energy needed for a humane dispatch of said mouse. Enquiring minds want to know (grin).
Don

[NorCal David]

Hmm. Looking again, I wonder about the foot-pounds of energy of the toothpick projectile from the P17. Retained energy at 10 feet may be good to know also. Don't recall studies that show me the energy needed for a humane dispatch of said mouse. Enquiring minds want to know (grin).
Don

Anyone know the BC of a burger pick? 😂
For pellets, I have heard that 2 ftlbs would kill a sparrow or a mouse. Don’t know if that is true or if it applies to Q-Tips.
This thread has been really fun, thanks

[Mr.P]

This shed is where the battle has been playing out @ img8705

The shelf/interface at the top-rear of the cinder blocks, where the roof meets cinderblock is where the battle has been playing out, @ 8711

Some of the anti-rodent measures that have failed @ 8700
I spent a long time trying to rodent armor this thing. The open spaces, the ventilation,... those holes have been covered by hardware cloth "chicken wire in 1/2" gridding; they have not been left open. The hardware cloth is cut to fit within the steel slots at each opening.

As you can see, mostly cinder blocks, and a wood roof. missed shots with hard projectiles have a tendency of bouncing back out. So, I'm experimenting with softer projectiles, and so far, good success.

Have to say I like your generator shed…

I remember shooting strike anywhere matches out of my Crossman pumper when I was a kid. They would ignite when they hit a fair amount of the time.

[Xraycer]

I remember shooting strike anywhere matches out of my Crossman pumper when I was a kid. They would ignite when they hit a fair amount of the time.

You, Sir, are a bad influence!
Now, I'll have to try this as well. Purely, for experimental purposes, of course, and not for my own childish amusement.