How to Make a 40 Lb Bamboo Spear Gun.

Today I will be showing you how to make a 40 lb bamboo spear gun which can be made with minimal supplies. This is by far the most dangerous and powerful weapon I have ever made. It took me 15 minutes to make and the only reason it stopped working was because the paracord I used was too thin. (this will be explained later)

Unlike my other, less powerful weapons, the kind of things you would be hunting with this would be rabbits, woodchucks, raccoons, large fish etc.

To make this you will need a 1 to 1.2 metre long, 6 to 8 cm wide piece of bamboo, a hacksaw or serrated knife, an 80cm length of 30-50lb rubber tubing (the length depends on how much the rubber stretches), a piece of thick cloth or leather, string, paracord, a knife, a large nail or wooden dowel.

Optionally you can also use; sandpaper, inner tubing, and insulating or duct tape.

If there is one, cut the node off the end which you want to be the front. If there is a node further than 20 cm from the end there is no need to cut it off.

About 20 cm from the end, make a cut almost halfway through the bamboo, then make several more diagonal and sideways cuts so that you can fit the knife between the gap to split the bamboo.

Use the knife to split the bamboo for nearly a metre, then cut it off just before a node if at all possible.

Pics 3 and 4 are close-ups of both ends since I could not fit the whole thing in one picture.

At the back end of the bamboo, bore a hole through both sides just past a node if possible. Then make a diagonal cut as shown in pic 2.(This is not compulsory but I find that it makes it fire better).

Using some left-over bamboo, make a basic trigger lever. Cut off the pointed end of the nail, make a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the nail in the trigger, and force it through.

The nail should be sufficiently long, so that when you fit it through the trigger and the two holes, there is about one cm sticking out .

Take a few small pieces of bamboo, tie them into a small bundle and attach it half way along the handle. This will act as a pivot for the lever.

Take the piece of cloth or leather, wrap it around the the middle of the rubber-tubing and tie it in place using paracord; this will hold the arrow/spear in place like a pouch. Using as much string or paracord as you can spare, tie the rubber to the sides of the barrel.

If you want, you can make a foot brace to make pulling the bands back easier. To do this just use inner-tubing to hold in place a few lengths of string or paracord to the end of the barrel.

You can also use inner-tubing for the trigger so that the nail goes back into place after each shot.

I also wrapped the whole middle part with string and electrical tape to strengthen the whole thing.

To load and fire it, just pull back the bands, hook the paracord loop over the nail, fit the spear into the barrel and pouch and pull the lever up. This will force the cord off the nail, releasing the pouch. This weapon has an accurate range of about 5 metres.

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See you all next time for another weapons tutorial :-)