Lego Guns! What next!!!

[Tricky]

Apparently these are all the rage in the states (where else!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYndIwvPOY&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcytA4BVjQ&feature=related

The manual that people want banned!
http://nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=flego

Which is in stock at Amazon in the UK!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forbidden-LEGO-P-Pilegaard/dp/1593271379

Can see the headlines now:
"Boy of 5 upset because airline won't let him take his lego on board"

[bopdude]

When I first read this, I thought it was something more :erm: well more dangerous, what will they think of next :rolleyes:

[zing_deleted]

I used to make lego guns 34 years ago.Ok they didnt fire anything and I was only 4 but they looked like the guns in space 1999 which was the game I was playing ;) :D

[alferret]

WTF its a freakin LEGO gun FFS
What shmuck will not be able to distinguish (sp) between a real gun and a lego gun??????

I used to have so much fun when I was a kid, I had an M16, Colt45, Winchester repeater and low an behold a single shot musket. Banks didnt bat an eye when I went in with my trusty sidearm and mum in tow :D

[Uncle Peter]

I used to make particularly potent projectile weapons from lengths of wooden mop pole, those really heavy duty elastic bands and clothes pegs. You wouldn't want to be in the way of it being fired so I better keep the design to myself ;)

[Tricky]

As kids we had piece of drainage pipe (washing machine size outlet) and a stopper with a nail in the bottom. Our ammo was CO2 containers out of fire extingisers! - Mates dad worked as a service engineer so his van used to be a few carts down every now and then. Looknig back those thing were dangerous - probably launched about 50 foot!

[Alien]

Ah, the projectile hijinks of youth, what memories. :D I too started with Lego, though my effort was of a much simpler design than the 1 in the video. I used a combination of ordinary & technical Lego, & heavy duty elastic bands, & in operation it bore more similarity to a crossbow than a pistol.

Other things I tried included a coathanger catapult, & something which I never came up with a name for, but fired the ink tube & nib of a biro from a pen barrel.

The coathanger catapult was simple. I used 1 of those wooden coathangers that had these little hooks underneath [dunno what they were for]. I looped 3 elastic bands together & strung them between the 2 hooks, & used solid core wire as the ammo. I took a piece of solid core wire a few inches long, then folded it in half repeatedly until I got a C shape about an inch in diameter. Hook that over the elastic bands, pull back & release; good for at least a 100 yards. :D

The pen 1 requires 2 different types of ball point pen: the ones with the conical shaped nib [Bic, I think] for the barrel, & another type for the projectile, though I don't know name or brand. You used to be able to get them with a transparent barrel tinted to match the colour of the ink. The ink tube with attached nib could be removed by unscrewing the other end. The nib was a thin, straight shape.

To make the pen projectile device:

Disassemble the Bic, so that you have just the barrel.
Do the same with the other pen, but this time you want the ink tube [with nib still attached].
With 1 hand, firmly hold 1 end of an elastic band [band width should be at least 5mm] against the barrel of the Bic, about 1/4 of the length distance from the wider end, & stretch the other end of the band over the open nib end of the barrel.
Drop the back end [not nib] of the ink tube from the other pen into the open end of the Bic barrel, so that the nib of the other pen is pointing up.
The ink tube should drop down until it stops against the band covering the nib opening of the Bic barrel.
With your free hand, stretch the band further away from your other hand. This should allow the ink tube to come through the Bic nib hole, & you should be able to grasp it with the band.
Aim, pull back & release. :D

Crude, but simple. In my middle school, the assembly hall used to have some tables at the back, where I used to sit & read, to keep out of the way of the bullies during lunch break [they'd usually be outside playing football or doing something else just as boring ;)], & because I wasn't really interested in socialising with the other kids. I reckon the ceiling of the hall must have been at least 40 or 50 feet high, & by the time I left that school there were several pen ink tubes embedded in the ceiling tiles. I went back out of school hours a couple of years later, & peered in through the window - they were still there! :D

Another, simpler, projectile device I just remembered consisted of a straight rod or bamboo cane & a small apple [or small potato]. All you do is push the apple or whatever down onto the rod/cane, & slide it down a bit [it's been years, so if you want to try it you'll have to experiment], then swing the rod/cane over-head in a similar motion to that of the arm of a seige catapult. Distance projectile will go depends on length of rod/cane, how far down you pushed the projectile, how hard you swing the rod/cane, & the weight & size of the projectile.

I did briefly experiment with a proper air pistol, but I won't go into that as it's a bit of a sore subject with Dilli. ;)

[punky]

Pleeeease don't shoot... Hey, that tickles, stop it *laughter*

You'd probably do more damage building a brick in lego and throwing it at someone.

[Alien]

Pleeeease don't shoot... Hey, that tickles, stop it *laughter*

You'd probably do more damage building a brick in lego and throwing it at someone.
If you're referring to the 1 in the video, I'd agree, however my design traded a much slower fire rate for significantly greater projectile velocity & momentum.