How to make a Spud Gun

A Spud Gun is actually a homemade device that shoots a potato about 200 feet if you make a good one. Spud Guns are usually completely homemade from a PVC pipe. The potato is stuffed into the pipe and thrown using a mechanism. The mechanism generally can be of three types:

What is a Spud Gun after all?

1. Compressed Air Mechanism

In this mechanism, the system is powered by compressed air. The energy from the compressed air is used to shoot the potato. These guns are more silent that any other type of spud guns and are more effective. However, these are also difficult to make as maintaining a good amount air pressure is most important and without this, the system won't work at all!

2. Fuel Method

These guns make use of combustible fuel to generate energy and throw the potato. You can use propane or other such fuels. These are easier as compared to the compressed air method.

3. Hybrid Mechanism

These make use of hybrid method or two or more different methods. E.g. a gun using a compressed air as well as fuel method would be called as hybrid spud gun. These guns are a lot more powerful ones and also illegal in many parts of the world.

Spud Guns for Children

If you plan to gift your children with a spud gun, then instead of going by the above methods, go with a ready made gun that is available in stores. These mainly make use of a compressed air mechanism but are designed especially for kids and don't harm anyone. These are much less powerful but large enough to shoot a potato to a certain distance.

While spud guns can be fun, care should be taken that they don't harm anyone. After all Safety comes First