Nanocannons

March 22, 2008 8:07 AM

Nanocannons and picomortars! Black powder cannons and mortars that fire BBs. (via)
posted by Class Goat (16 comments total)

I've always been a proponent of miniaturizing things because it makes you feel big.

I'm 6' and 205 pounds so not exactly little but it's still fun.
posted by Octoparrot at 8:14 AM on March 22, 2008

Cool!
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:57 AM on March 22, 2008

Fun projects. At what point do these guys run afoul of the law? They are making firearms, afterall. Could Washington D.C. citizens get around their hand-gun ban by manufacturing their own weapons?
posted by jsonic at 9:21 AM on March 22, 2008

Well, that's just adorable! Isn't you a cutie-wootie widdums instrument of hot iron death? Yes you is! Yes you is!
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 9:23 AM on March 22, 2008 [4 favorites]

You'll put your eye out, kid!
posted by slogger at 9:27 AM on March 22, 2008

Now I can protect my tiny schooners from wee pirates!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:27 AM on March 22, 2008

At what point do these guys run afoul of the law?

At the point that they stop making toys that can put a dimple in a door with a BB and make something that can penetrate skin.

Could Washington D.C. citizens get around their hand-gun ban by manufacturing their own weapons?

As a DC resident, I would feel uncomfortable defending myself with a 1/8 scale replica of a hand-gonne.
posted by me & my monkey at 9:31 AM on March 22, 2008

Next up: Femto-Flechettes
posted by Tube at 9:35 AM on March 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

As a DC resident, I would feel uncomfortable defending myself with a 1/8 scale replica of a hand-gonne.

Put away that hand cannon, son. I'm just here to talk.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:37 AM on March 22, 2008

I used to play with a toy cannon my dad had until he realized I'd never grow tired of the BANG from the caps it took, and he stopped buying them (I'd discovered all the places he'd hoard them, eventually)

this looks like even more fun, though I don't trust myself to load the proper amount of powder.

see kids? physics is fun!
posted by Busithoth at 9:43 AM on March 22, 2008

Finally! This is just the kind of weaponry I've needed; My garden gnomes have been laying siege to the neighbors shed, and in this kind of protracted conflict, having the psychological edge that cannon fire brings will definitely give them the upper hand.

I can't wait to see how quickly this demoralizes those damnable squirrels and their acorn catapults.
posted by quin at 9:55 AM on March 22, 2008 [7 favorites]

Today on MetaFilter: fun at home with zip guns and moonshine. It looks like it's going to be another traditional Easter.
posted by pracowity at 10:03 AM on March 22, 2008 [4 favorites]

Glad I found this. Now I'll have something to do about that damned bunny rooting around in the garden tomorrow morning.
posted by Picklegnome at 1:14 PM on March 22, 2008

My wife's father bought her one of these and it is really pretty impressive. It will shoot a flare about 80 feet into the air. If I show him these I bet either him or one of his brothers builds one.
posted by TedW at 1:39 PM on March 22, 2008

As kids back in the 1960's we made 'guns' that would shoot shot from shotgun shells using just a bicycle spoke and a spoke nut with the heads of wooden kitchen matches as the explosive propellant. That was just one of the many dangerous playthings that we came up with.
posted by X4ster at 2:23 PM on March 22, 2008

A link to this .410 shotgun revolver is in the related posts, I'd buy one if I didn't live in a communist state where they are illegal.
posted by 445supermag at 3:23 PM on March 22, 2008