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Police charge two men for firing 'potato gun'

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited December 2001 in General Discussion
Police charge two men for firing 'potato gun'by Eric KeldermanStaff Writer
Dec. 12, 2001 Several Rockville and Montgomery County Police were called to 5719 Ridgeway Ave. in Rockville last Thursday with reports of a gun being fired and a possible injury.More than a dozen officers from both agencies set up a perimeter around the house, then telephoned to talk the suspects out, according to Rockville Chief of Police Terrance N. Treschuk.Police reported that they found two men shooting a "potato gun" -- a homemade weapon designed to shoot potatoes.The potato gun is two pieces of heavy plastic tubing about three feet in length, according to Capt. Michael England of the Rockville City Police Department. The base of the weapon, about four inches in diameter, is filled with a flammable aerosol, and has an ignition device like one used to start a gas grill, he said.The longer section is about two inches in diameter, England said, and holds the potato. The igniter sparks the flammable aerosol and the resulting force shoots out the potato.The two men were shooting at a shed, a car and into the air, according to Rockville City spokesman Neil H. Greenberger.Christopher King, 19, and James Butts, 18, were arrested and charged with violating the city ordinance against discharging a weapon and reckless endangerment, Greenberger said.The two face a possible $500 fine for discharging a weapon, according to Treschuk http://www.gazette.net/200150/aspenhill/news/83482-1.html
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Comments

  • Miss. CreantMiss. Creant Member Posts: 300 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    These things are a blast. Great for launching full cans of beer long distances.The three man water balloon launchers are a riot also and will shoot just as far.
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm no fan of these things and obviously the 'perps' weren't thinking too clearly, but one would think 'the powers that be' would have a little better sense of humor.
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  • jetjet Member Posts: 543 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I saw some kids shoot a water baloon 150 yards and through my neibors window with a three man slingshot.
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  • concealedG36concealedG36 Member Posts: 3,566 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    We used to shoot water baloons at people riding jet-skis on a lake near our house (as kids). It's amazing how far you can propel a water baloon. The marine sheriff didn't think it was too funny, but he just gave us a warning. I bet today we'd get in a lot more trouble.
    Gun Control Disarms Victims, NOT Criminals
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    G36, I woulda brought ya lemonade & cookies!
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  • LowriderLowrider Member Posts: 6,587
    edited November -1
    We made a spud gun at work several years back using 2.5 in. stainless tubing and a Coleman lantern ignitor.With a full load of starting fluid that sucker would launch a big spud about three hundred yards.A guy I know who works at Boeing told me they made one using 6 in. diameter pipe and blasted a big squash hundreds of yards into the parking lot right through the windshield of somebody's Lincoln.OOOOOPSI'm surprised the cops didn't search the home of these Rockville spud gun criminals and confiscate their real firearms.
    Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
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  • 7mm_ultra_mag_is_king7mm_ultra_mag_is_king Member Posts: 676 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    this sounds like fun! Spud war anybody?!
    when all else fails........................
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  • songdogsongdog Member Posts: 355 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    could youput a grate on the end of one of these to make french fries?songdog
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  • turboturbo Member Posts: 820 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dang I'd almost forgotten about Spud guns, yah!!! I remember these, about 35 years back.We even made old co2 launchers, and used match heads as the propellents, (kind of like a pipe bomb) back then, but we were kids an didn't know better.By the time I was 18 and 19 years old I was more interested in girls. We'd hung up these toys by then.
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  • concealedG36concealedG36 Member Posts: 3,566 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Songdog, ROFLMAO.Good one....Now, how to make curly fries?
    Gun Control Disarms Victims, NOT Criminals
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  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If it uses combustion to "Fire" a proyectile its a "firearm" ,if compressed air or spring action its a big BB gun.I made a 4 ft 10 incher BB Muzle Loader Mortar some years ago from an OxigenHP cilinder ,good for watermellon wars. Able to waste a car at 500y ,the problem was hitting it in the first place .....
    Ignis Natura Renovatur Integram
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  • songdogsongdog Member Posts: 355 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    G36- lets try putting riflings in the barrel so that the spud comes out twisting and turning making the best damned curly fries in the world.songdog
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  • Mark IIMark II Member Posts: 247 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    This doesn't surprise me at all. Do you realize that this is the same Montgomery County that Kensington is in? You know, the town that banned Santa Clause at the town tree lighting because two families objected.I think I'll go make a potato gun in honor of these two, then invite them over (I'm only about 5 miles from Rockville)and teach them firearm safety.
    "To meet with ill fortune is to meet with good fortune. To meet with submission is to meet an enemy."Mark_II@gunbroker.zzn.com[This message has been edited by Mark II (edited 12-18-2001).]
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Spud guns are toys compared to these monsters...check out the pumpkin cannons. http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/
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  • bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    this reminds me- ive got a spud gun in the closet.guess ill have to resserect it this weekend.
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Rem - UN bloody REAL; the one which took the title looks like something out of the battle of Stalingrad. Those boys are some serious about mashing pumpkins.
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  • Rotten BastardRotten Bastard Member Posts: 13 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wanna see what the ATF sez 'bout the Spud Gun?DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURYBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and FirearmsWashington, DC 20226 Sep 12 1995 3311.4 Mr. XXXXXXXXX address... City, State Zip Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX This refers to your letter of August 18, 1995, in which you ask about the legality of a device known as the "Spud Gun." These subject devices are generally constructed from PVC tubing and fittings and are designed to launch a muzzle loaded potato using aerosol hair spray or other type of propellant. Ignition is by means of some type of "spark" igniter. The Bureau has previously examined devices known as "Spud Guns, Potato Guns, or Spudzookas" and have determined that such devices, in and of themselves, are not firearms as defined in Title 18 United States Code (U.S.C.), Chapter 44, S 921(a)(3) or 26 U.S.C., Chapter 53, S 5845. However, any similar devices which can be determined to be weapons by reason of their design construction, intended use, actual use, ammunition or other factors may meet the definition of a firearm under Title 18 or 26 U.S.C. We suggest that you contact your State and local law enforcement authorities concerning possession of such devices. We trust that the foregoing has been responsive to your inquiry. If we may be of further assistance please contact us. Sincerely yours, Edward M. Owen, Jr.Chief, Firearms Technology Branch
    To summarize-"We don't think they're too dangerous, but to cover our collective a$$e$, check with the local LEOs."
    RBIllegitimi Non Carborundum
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Iconoclast, pretty impressive machines that fire a pumpkin almost 4000'.....not quite a mile....makes a spud gun look like "small potato's".
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  • travelortravelor Member Posts: 442 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    as a sign painter, and self employed, I have had to find a creative way to collect money owed by deadbeat customers....you see, most signs are good for only one end user, so they are hard to reposess, especially when painted on a building or vehicle....So I discovered that a three man water baloon launcher can be opperated alone, and water baloons are fairly acurate. And it didn't take me long to realise how quickly I could repaint a sign from a couple hundred feet out with the proper ammo....
    keep lots of extra uppers for your ar..you can change often enough to keep the thing from over heating...what ever caliber fits the moment..~Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
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  • billybbillyb Member Posts: 15 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've got plans for a pneumatic one that is supposed to do 500 yards. A recent pain in the butt poster on buckshot on another site made me think of trying canned potatoes in a spud gun, just cut the lid off and presto: saboted spudshot.
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  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You can get the mechanics out of one of thoose propane "bird cannons" and retrofit it to a cutt-off hi presure gas cilinder--- And you have a watermelon cannon...."caliper recomended for ammo selection measurments" otherwise (enjoy the juice )not for town use ...500y range 10,000fp impacts posible (Using 'Magnum' Watermelons)HE HE HE! hope your insurance is up to date...
    Ignis Natura Renovatur Integram
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Miss Creant-- That's alcohol abuse!
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  • turboturbo Member Posts: 820 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    WOW..Those pumpkin cannons could cause some serious damage to life or limb.Does anyone know how big and the weight of the pumpkins?
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I still haven't figured out the pumpkin keeps from compressing when it fires, preventing an orange mess....How would you like to swab those barrels out?For anyone that missed this click on here to see "Pumpkin Cannons" http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/
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  • cowboy62cowboy62 Member Posts: 70 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I evolved from the standard spud gun ammo to,making wax plugs that fit very nicely into the spud gun. We just used a three inch long section of the same pipe the barrel was made of as a mould.These little suckers would cave in a car door, and once in a while would go clean thru.My gun had a bazooka type stock with a large cross hair sight. that made it very accurate out to about 50 yds.The only problem was when the combustion chamber was worn out to the point that it would explode next to your head. OWWThat only happened once.Cowboy
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  • DiabloDiablo Member Posts: 251 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Make yourself a nice launch tube/ramp....set a full Oxy tank in it and sledgehammer the valve.......hehehe
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  • DiabloDiablo Member Posts: 251 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Make yourself a nice launch tube/ramp....set a full Oxy tank in it and sledgehammer the valve.......heheheHypothetically/theoretically.....Don't try it damn it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  • turboturbo Member Posts: 820 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cowboy,That reminded me, of a newsclip I remember seen on the old tube, when russia was in afghanistan, and on one occasion this muhageden fighter was running uphill with a loaded grenade launcher, finger in trigger, he trips while running uphill and BOOOM, blows a big hole in the ground in front of himself, cameraman hits the dirt, camera rolls all over the place, when the camera refocuses back in he direction of the fighter, he was sitting up, putting a shoe on.Moral of the story is, it's possible to walk away from explosions 10 feet away, but when something explodes next the computer it may be a different story.[This message has been edited by turbo (edited 12-23-2001).]
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  • RedlegRedleg Member Posts: 417 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    So, if I build a tube that launches, say....grapefruits...is that wrong? Or how about turnips? Pomegranates? Tomatoes? What, then, is the "Salad Shooter"? It fires a whole bunch of potentially lethal vegetables.
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  • bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    saw pictures of one of the (punkin-chunkers) once.it was a centrifugal sling powered by a 350 small-block.950 yards or so.
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