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Weirdest Question of the Day

CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
Does anyone know where to get .50cal RUBBER or hard PLASTIC round balls? No, I'm not going to shoot them at people or any other living creature. Odd ball experiment I want to try.

If you know a source please email me.

Thanks [:)]

Comments

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not to answer your question, but, when I was a kid my parents got me a toy muzzleloader for Christmas. This was probably 1960.
    It was a mock-up of a Kentucky rifle. This rifle shot a cork round ball!
    Where the drum was, there was a flat place where you stuck a Greenie Stick-em cap.
    A hole went from there into the breech.
    You loaded the cork round ball, and rammed it home with the little hickory ramrod.
    When you fired, the pressure from the Greenie Stick-em cap would propel the cork ball about 50 feet.

    Well, at school my teacher would read to us from Little House on the Prarie.
    Although I had never seen a real muzzleloader, Laura Ingalls Wilder recounted in detail about how her father loaded his percussion rifle.
    She talked about him making bullets, melting lead over the kitchen fire.
    She told about pouring powder down the barrel, followed by the ball. Then her dad loaded the percussion cap.
    When the teacher read this part of the book, I took notes! I knew just how to load a muzzleloader.

    I didn't have any ffg Goex, but I had some black cat firecrackers.
    I got the powder from 5 black cats. It is a fine, silvery powder.
    I poured that down the bore.
    I found a marble that fit the bore perfectly, rammed it home.
    I thought the rifle might blow up. I had the idea of wedging the rifle in a big bush. I aimed it at the foundation of the neighbor's house, 15 feet away. That way it couldn't hurt anything.
    I tied a 30 foot string to the trigger and pulled the string.
    The rifle roared! Big cloud of gunsmoke.
    I went over to look at the neighbor's house, there was a 1/2 inch hole in the concrete block.
    Nobody had seen me fire the gun and I sure as hell didn't tell anyone about it. People just figured it was kids tossing firecrackers, there were lots of firecrackers around in those days.

    Having had an immensely successful experiment, I somehow had the brains not to try it again. I was 9 years old.
  • bull300wsmbull300wsm Member Posts: 3,289
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
    Not to answer your question, but, when I was a kid my parents got me a toy muzzleloader for Christmas. This was probably 1960.
    It was a mock-up of a Kentucky rifle. This rifle shot a cork round ball!
    Where the drum was, there was a flat place where you stuck a Greenie Stick-em cap.
    A hole went from there into the breech.
    You loaded the cork round ball, and rammed it home with the little hickory ramrod.
    When you fired, the pressure from the Greenie Stick-em cap would propel the cork ball about 50 feet.

    Well, at school my teacher would read to us from Little House on the Prarie.
    Although I had never seen a real muzzleloader, Laura Ingalls Wilder recounted in detail about how her father loaded his percussion rifle.
    She talked about him making bullets, melting lead over the kitchen fire.
    She told about pouring powder down the barrel, followed by the ball. Then her dad loaded the percussion cap.
    When the teacher read this part of the book, I took notes! I knew just how to load a muzzleloader.

    I didn't have any ffg Goex, but I had some black cat firecrackers.
    I got the powder from 5 black cats. It is a fine, silvery powder.
    I poured that down the bore.
    I found a marble that fit the bore perfectly, rammed it home.
    I thought the rifle might blow up. I had the idea of wedging the rifle in a big bush. I aimed it at the foundation of the neighbor's house, 15 feet away. That way it couldn't hurt anything.
    I tied a 30 foot string to the trigger and pulled the string.
    The rifle roared! Big cloud of gunsmoke.
    I went over to look at the neighbor's house, there was a 1/2 inch hole in the concrete block.
    Nobody had seen me fire the gun and I sure as hell didn't tell anyone about it. People just figured it was kids tossing firecrackers, there were lots of firecrackers around in those days.

    Having had an immensely successful experiment, I somehow had the brains not to try it again. I was 9 years old.


    Dam Allen , you coulda put your eye out..[:0][:D]
  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah, the headline in the Atlanta Journal would have been,
    Dumb Kid Killed in Toy Gun Explosion.

    I don't know where the hell I got the idea for the 30 foot string, but that was the only smart thing I did that day.
    It didn't even bulge the barrel, astonishingly.
    I fired many a cork round ball after that.
  • CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I had several of those cork ball muzzle loaders too! Even had a couple pistols. Problem was they only came with 4-5 cork balls! I did same thing with the marbles but used match heads then later just a little black powder swiped from an uncle.

    I saw them for sale all over the south later on as a teenager. Seems someone had wised up and drilled holes in the barrels at the breach. Guess it still launched the cork ball but any propellant would've spilled out the holes.

    If your interested, you can email me about how I applied same juvenile technology to civil war cannons park rangers had been foolish enough to leave unplugged.
  • Hawk CarseHawk Carse Member Posts: 4,365 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Industrial supply houses have plastic balls in standard sizes and materials. If you really truly want a .50" ball and not something to patch up to .50, they will have it here:
    http://www.mcmaster.com/#=3stdp2
    You don't say your experimental application, but I would look first at acetal (Delrin) and Nylon for a good compromise of price and strength.

    For some reason, rubber balls are much more expensive.
  • BrigadeirBrigadeir Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have been looking for one of these rifles for my grandson for months. can they still be found?

    Thanks
  • CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    If they do rest assured they'll be painted PINK or some other odd-ball politically correct color. Oh how I pity and worry about the kids growing up today. Kid gets expelled for bringing a boyscout camping tool to school.....

    I was captain of my high school rifle team. Same in college AND with ROTC had locker in my dorm for firearms. As a 3rd grader when paroled for the day from elementary school I'd run up the street to the 5 & Dime, reach up and slide change saved from lunch money across the counter and they'd slide a box of .22LR back across to me. They all knew what I wanted. Only admonishment was, "Set any of these off near my shop and I'll tan yer hide".
    Would've too.

    Even TOY guns are are the ultimate in wickedness to give a child now. They can nuke cities on their electronic stupid boxes but don't dare raise your children to appreciate firearms, CPS and the evening news will be all over you. THIS is why childhood obesity is an epidemic. These kids don't actually DO anything. They exercise only their thumbs. Sad state of affairs...

    Back on topic though, I've not seen one of these in decades. If I do I'll be sure to email you. My guess is they've been long gone for reasons stated above.
  • odenthevikingodentheviking Member Posts: 523 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CapnRob
    If they do rest assured they'll be painted PINK or some other odd-ball politically correct color. Oh how I pity and worry about the kids growing up today. Kid gets expelled for bringing a boyscout camping tool to school.....

    Took the family to Disney last week, at the "Pirates" gift shop they had neon Pink and Blue toy muskets!!! Not a brown/wood stock in sight.
    I work with a non-profit called "You can live History". Dress up 4-6 graders for Civil War and Rev war. Then train, and drill them and then they get to have thier own re-enactment. We use a modern form of this toy musket but now the area where the cap sits is part of the lock, not the barrel. And the barrel is a very cheap metal tube. We drill out the back of the barrel and put in tubing. The kids make thier own cartridges out of flour and pour it down the barrel. The musket is then brought up and they blow on the tubing to make a puff of flour smoke to show they have fired, then must reload.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpTbgQ7_kew&feature=related

    I grew up on a farm in Virginia, youngest of 33 grandchildren. We would play Civil War, but no one would be the Yankies! So we just pretended they were there. I mostly remember a cannon my uncle welded up for us. We would put lit firecrackers down the barrel, What fun we had!
    Paul.
  • CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Uh Huh! Pink muskets....... what did I say earlier???

    Heaven help us all.
  • clownboyclownboy Member Posts: 85 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Born in '70 so missed out on these fine guns. Out of curiosity though, I looked them up on eBay. Just curious if this is the rifle you are talking about.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/1776-Freedom-Rifle-w-5-cork-Balls-Parris-38372-Cap_W0QQitemZ320456662764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9cb49eec

    Best,

    Brad
  • CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    VERY similar though lock mechanism is much cruder than ones I had as a boy. This is a later one with aforementioned holes drilled in pipe (barrel) at breach. I had these and early ones without holes. It was those which I added a little (VERY little) propellant to.

    A whole bag of cork balls! Gee, I never got that many. Marbles where much better projectiles though but required more ooomph than a paper cap could provide. Cork balls pushed by cap had muzzle velocity of approx. 20 feet per hour. Maximum effective range of say 5 feet. Still, great fun for an all American kid. If you've got one in your family I highly recommend as Christmas gift. Only 6 bucks + shipping??? Come On! Watch out though! Not pained pink.... ATF and mothers for political correctness may take issue!

    quote:Originally posted by clownboy
    Born in '70 so missed out on these fine guns. Out of curiosity though, I looked them up on eBay. Just curious if this is the rifle you are talking about.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/1776-Freedom-Rifle-w-5-cork-Balls-Parris-38372-Cap_W0QQitemZ320456662764QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9cb49eec

    Best,

    Brad
  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Did the same thing as a kid with marbles and Francis Bannerman flint pistol barrels having tangs broken off at the screw hole.We wired the barrels onto hand carved pistol stocks. They were held to the side since the barrels flew free from the wiring job about 20 ft.
    They were 50-75 cents each.
    We used fire cracker powder or strike anywhere match heads.
    Once I transferred the charge from a shotshell for a serious experience.
    I may have used firecracker powder to ignite it.
  • 1shotcleaner1shotcleaner Member Posts: 37 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    well all i can say is you lucky bas#$%@&. i had bbguns, and a bb michine gun that used freon as a propelent. but a muzzelloader that shot corks wow i would have ben in heven. the best i got was a co2 shotgun 380cal and it was about 10 feet long i was only 6 its much shorter now.i repacked thoes shels with every thing ever made that would fit in them. and i still have a box of full shels for it.guess i should tair it down and put some seals in it and see if it will shoot. if any one finds some of thoes TOYS let me know i have 5 children and they all know what the bisnes end of a GUN is for and what it does.no panty wasted librals in this family heck my oldest girl put one of our hogs down "darn thing wouldent stay out of the sand box" had her older brothers clean it befor i got home. yea how do you yell at them for that?worst part is i had them up for sale.hadent planed on eating any of them."22revolver" keep it in the barn for foxes and snakes oposums what ever. had to tell them to ask mom befor shooting any more animals.a funny twist to that was she asked her older brother and he dident want to get in truble for letting her shoot it,for no good reason,so he went in the house and told mom that darn pig is in the sand box again and i dont think its gona make it out. mom thought it was stuck untill she herd the shot. any way all of this crap about guns being bad is just crap. does any body remember bringing a gun to school to go hunting at your buddies house? i do and thats a fact. how come they are so bad now? did they change? dont get me started any way back to the topic at hand hobbylobby i think thats what it is called has balls in cork plastic fome glass and wood. maby some other ones as well.
  • CapnRobCapnRob Member Posts: 54 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 1shotcleaner
    well all i can say is you lucky bas#$%@&. i had bbguns, and a bb michine gun that used freon as a propelent. but a muzzelloader that shot corks wow i would have ben in heven. the best i got was a co2 shotgun 380cal and it was about 10 feet long i was only 6 its much shorter now.i repacked thoes shels with every thing ever made that would fit in them. and i still have a box of full shels for it.guess i should tair it down and put some seals in it and see if it will shoot. if any one finds some of thoes TOYS let me know i have 5 children and they all know what the bisnes end of a GUN is for and what it does.no panty wasted librals in this family heck my oldest girl put one of our hogs down "darn thing wouldent stay out of the sand box" had her older brothers clean it befor i got home. yea how do you yell at them for that?worst part is i had them up for sale.hadent planed on eating any of them."22revolver" keep it in the barn for foxes and snakes oposums what ever. had to tell them to ask mom befor shooting any more animals.a funny twist to that was she asked her older brother and he dident want to get in truble for letting her shoot it,for no good reason,so he went in the house and told mom that darn pig is in the sand box again and i dont think its gona make it out. mom thought it was stuck untill she herd the shot. any way all of this crap about guns being bad is just crap. does any body remember bringing a gun to school to go hunting at your buddies house? i do and thats a fact. how come they are so bad now? did they change? dont get me started any way back to the topic at hand hobbylobby i think thats what it is called has balls in cork plastic fome glass and wood. maby some other ones as well.


    I had one of those plastic BB machineguns too, STILL have it somewhere! Didn't work worth a damn, underpowered, clogged and froze up all the time. Of course now you can't get the freon cans either....
    Tired of the failures and week power, I hooked my first one up to SCUBA tank. Predictably I just HAD to have more velocity so I regged it up well past manufacturer's listed maximum. 10 - 20 then somewhere around 30% over before it popped. MARC something or another they were called. Sent the blowed up one back for replacement, they were rather good about it.

    So the kiddies shot n' skinned piggy afore ya ever even got home huh? Take THAT Swiss Family Robinson! By Golly your a TRUE American country boy if ever there was one Sir, love to meet you. Should you & family ever find yourselves in AZ you'd be most welcome guests in the Ole' Skipper's home.

    I'll be checking out Hobby Lobby for rubber projos, thanks for the tip!

    As for guns in school, see my 4th post in this thread. Teachers/professors would want to see & handle mine and talk guns and huntin' way back then when dinosaurs shared the parks with us. Today they'll summon the national guard and an army of headshrinkers when a kid brings a CAMPING tool to school.
    You see the old history books WE read were all wrong. The founders of this great nation were actually vegetarian pacifists and independence from Britain was truly obtained through meaningful discussion groups conducted at medical marijuana parties.

    All that "Give me Liberty or Give me Death..." stuff is far right kook propaganda invented by Fox news.

    Merry Christmas to All,

    Cap'n Rob
  • rudyjrudyj Member Posts: 38 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    CapnRob,
    Have you ever thought about useing hot glue from a cheapo hot glue gun into a roundball mold? I saw a guy do it for a 38 special on youtube. I think he was shooting them indoors.
    rudyj
  • oldemagicsoldemagics Member Posts: 5,821 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    was just gonna suggest the hot glue formed in a mold
    was recently reading on another forum about the "glooshooters" using hot glue bullets backed by primer only for indoor practice
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