Fire at will!

Hey

I just took the potato canon to the back yard and had my first successful shot. I tried it a few days ago without success. I am not yet ready to load up the canon with a potato. If the pressure is too much for the PVC, it is going to blow up in my face. So a few days ago I simply left the barrel unloaded and tried to fire it. It was a long shot, and it didn’t pay off. All the gas (deodorant) was simply seeping down the barrel. I had mentioned this to my brother, and I told him I was looking for a piece of ammunition that would trap the gas, but not allow pressure to build up in the combustion chamber. He said I should try a sponge. So thats what I did this afternoon, and it worked.

I nearly had a heart attack when it went off. The igniter didn’t work first time, so I wasn’t expecting it to fire at all. It was incredibly loud and I’m pretty sure I upset all my neighbours.

Before I fire a potato I need to arrange a new igniter. I am not willing to stand next to it when pressure builds up in the chamber. There are two reasons for that, first off I don’t trust the PVC. Secondly, it’s too loud. I want some distance between me and this thing. A set of earplugs would also be a good idea.

A picture of the completed canon is attached. At this stage it looks terrible, but I am waiting to get a new igniter and to get it 100% finished. Then I will spray paint it and maybe make a holster for the deodorant ;) At this stage I am using the old 40mm PVC pipe to push ammo down the barrel. If I build another one at a later stage, I will definitely make a breech loader. This way takes too long.