Your favorite ZIP gun?

[10 ga]

Back in the day, late 50s and 60s, handguns wern't so easy for kids to get, not like now where your local "dealer" has whatever you need/want if you got the $. I regularly built homemade hand and long guns that would actually shoot. I aint saying any of them were anywhere near safe but they would shoot. My favorite was the "22" made with a piece of car radio antennae. Used several different "frame" arrangements and once even saw one made in a Zippo lighter. My best buddy even ended up shooting himself in the arm when the caseing shot out the back of the "frame" instead of the bullet going out the barrel. "Kid you'll shoot your eye out" really did apply here. Then the 12 gauge made with a piece of pipe and a screw on pipe cap with a hole drilled for the "fireing pin". Guess I'm pretty lucky to be here and in 1 piece. Any "good" stories out there about zip guns? Guess I should go to the junkyard and look for "antenna" pieces before they become "hazmat" or a "restricted trade, backgroung check" item. 10 ga

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I never did do that but they sound pretty wild!

[3006guns]

I never had a zip gun as a kid because my Dad was a cop. So, believe it or not when all the neighborhood kids had cap pistols, I had Smith & Wesson top breaks or a Colt .38......all with the firing pins tastefully ground off. When I think of the value of those today I get a little queasy. Heck, even had a 1917 Spandau built Maxim m.g........with no bolt. Oh, those were the days.

I do have a zip gun now though. I was built in prison and confiscated during a cell search, then given to me as a novelty. It has a smooth bore barrel, held to a carved wooden frame/grip with a hand filed hammer...no actual breech block and rubber band powered. No doubt built in the prison shop. Although the workmanship is actually pretty good considering the "conditions" of manufacture, you couldn't pay me to put a live round in it!

[klcarroll]

Well, .....As much as I would like to deny it now; .....I was dangerous in my early teen years!

"Zip Guns" didn't interest the crowd I ran with: ......We quickly figured out that pipe fittings could be converted into muzzle-loading artillery! .......Particularly when you used quick setting concrete to encase a smaller pipe inside a much larger one! (Yes! .....I invented the barrel liner BEFORE Al Gore did!)

You'd be really surprised at what you can accomplish with pipe fittings and serpentine powder!!!

(To this day, ....I am amazed that I survived those years!)


Kent

[Geraldo]

Winter must be real bad up there if you guys are fondly recalling zip guns...

I lived out in the country and had real guns. :redneck:

[gnoahhh]

Heck, we just balanced .22 shells on top of our BB gun muzzles, held high above our heads. The emerging BB would hit the rim of the cartridge, and "bang!" All went well until one kid screwed up and lacerated his fingers with brass shrapnel. More blood than I ever saw before in my young life. We all scattered to our houses and all evening I did my best to act normal, and then the phone rang...

[oldhickory]

Well, .....As much as I would like to deny it now; .....I was dangerous in my early teen years!

"Zip Guns" didn't interest the crowd I ran with: ......We quickly figured out that pipe fittings could be converted into muzzle-loading artillery! .......Particularly when you used quick setting concrete to encase a smaller pipe inside a much larger one! (Yes! .....I invented the barrel liner BEFORE Al Gore did!)

You'd be really surprised at what you can accomplish with pipe fittings and serpentine powder!!!

(To this day, ....I am amazed that I survived those years!)


Kent

Yeah, about the same here. Me, a cousin, and my little brother built a 3" muzzle loading rock mortar in our early teen years. Man!..The places we would carry that thing and shoot it! A peice of threaded 3" heavy galvanized pipe with a small hole for a fuse, a threaded end cap, a bent "X" support off of something bent to form legs, black powder, canon fuse, and smooth river rocks. I don't remember how much powder we used, but it would sling a 2-3lb rock out of sight! We had fun with that thing until the cap cracked and we figured we had pushed our luck far enough.

[stubshaft]

There was once an article in a well known gun magazine about "zip" guns in prison and how they were manufactured. Being a curious 10 year old a quick trip to the hardware store netted me a 6" section of galvanized pipe, an end cap to fit and I was in business. Used my fathers drill to put a small hole in the end cap, a little masking tape around a .410 shell, rubber band and thumbtack and I was in business.

It worked great!

BUT, 10 year old hands do not have enough strength to hold a 6" pipe for very long and once fatigue reared her ugly head, the "zip" gun nailed me in the bicep and left a welt and bruise that would take 2 1/2 weeks to go away.

My days of gun design would have to wait for a few more years...

[Boz330]

. We all scattered to our houses and all evening I did my best to act normal, and then the phone rang...

AW Yes the dreaded phone call, I remember it only too well.:shock: Foiled again. My dad had absolutely nothing against corporal punishment.

Bob

[Thin Man]

One of my firends had a piece of a muzzleloading barrel, about 6 inches long, but no stock or other way to hold the barrel. The barrel had a generous hole in its side where the nipple and drum used to sit, long gone. We would push a fire cracker down the barrel with a stick and fish the fuse out of the nipple hole. Our projectiles were any available piece of gravel from the driveway that would easily fall down the bore. One of us would hold the barrel pointed at a cardboard box target while the other would lite the fuse. When the fire cracker went off, the shooter usually got a generous powder burn on a hand. We hit the box 1 try in 4. After the shot most or all of the paper from the fire cracker was gone from the barrel.

[leadman]

I fashioned a stock out of a 2"X4" and a piece of gas pipe for a barrel. The wood had a standing breech and the barrel slid forward to allow a black cat firecracker to be put in the end. My friends dad worked at GM and gave us ball bearings all the time. One down the muzzle, piece of paper rammed in, light the fuse, aim, wait, FIRE! Never could hit much with it but it was fun.

[onondaga]

I made a double barrel .22 short pistol. The barrels were the carb tubes from a Coleman stove. The firing mechanism was 2 piercing tools for CO2 cartridges. These were a sprung pullback and push up to fire thing and I had two triggers that activated them. The stock was carved wood and I had a space between the barrels with a shim. The 2 barrels were over-wrapped with copper wire. Shell ejection was wild blow back against the springs of the firing mechanism and I was hit many times with brass, but never hurt. The pistol had crude but adjustable sights and was sighted in and grouped about 4 inches at 10 paces. Best shot was an egg at 10 paces.

When Dad caught me shooting this Zip in the basement, he declared martial law, grabbed the gun and made it disappear and took my chemistry set too. Shooting privileges with my only real gun, a .45 Flintlock that I built from a kit were suspended for an entire summer!!!!!

This deadly weapon and ammunition was recently recovered after my dad died. It was in his safe ( LOADED, of course! )since I was about 10 years old, I'm 60 now and it still works!

Gary

[JesterGrin_1]

onondaga you know why he kept it don't you? He knew what you did was wrong but he might have been amazed at what you did and even kinda bragged about it to himself. :)

If he felt it was just junk he would have destroyed it and threw it away.

[Rangefinder]

Can't say I ever made a zip gun. BUT I did make a lot of cannons and muzzle-stuffers that really ought to have blown apart and limited my chances of achieving adulthood... :D Made a few "rocket launchers" and mortars using rocket motors and C02 cartridges, too. And hand grenades... and quite a few other things that should've gotten me into a lot of trouble... :D

[firefly1957]

Truck brake tubing and brass (bronze) fitting for 22 rim fire not very accurate But worked well. Mouse trap spring for firing pin power.

Also made a small cannon out of pipe We used lots of fuse when we set it off. Were using home made black powder and it did not fire well. So we decided to scape some powder from caps (several rolls) and mixed it with powder put paper over powder then 3/8 inch bolt on wadding. The whole thing was set between some cinder blocks at a construction sight about 10 inches of fuse. It blew to pieces taking five cinder blocks with it (2 behind three in front ) we did not build another one. We could not believe the cops did not show it made so much noise and smoke. A year later I got a CVA belt pistol kit to use it was safer because we knew what it would do and used it with the respect it deserved.

[Bent Ramrod]

When I was growing up it was more or less accepted that any healthy, normal male child would be inordinately interested in guns, pyrotechnics and explosives. Such an interest (I know it's hard to believe, kids) had no political or psychological ramifications whatsoever back then.

The .22 Rimfire Magnum was a novelty at that time and we would collect the empty shells at the rifle range. An hour's work with a paper punch would have the centers out of a couple rolls of caps and these were carefully rammed into the shells until no more would fit. A judicious choice of pipe nipples served as the chamber for this shell, and a marble or small ball bearing was loaded down the muzzle of the slightly larger bore. This whole contraption was taped onto the end of my Daisy Model 25 BB gun and I was ready for anything that roamed the second-growth woods of southern Michigan.

As I recall, the noise was deafening, the smell was glorious and it would shoot through both sides of a galvanized trash can. I never tried for groups, so I cannot give out any accuracy data.:-P

When I get together with my childhood friends and we go over all our adventures with various infernal devices we concocted, we always come to the conclusion that we were lucky to have survived. But we all did, and in truth I doubt I would be able to make it as a kid of that age nowadays.

[Frank46]

Jeeze, does that bring back memories. I went to a technical high school that taught trades such as electric installation, auto repair, basic machine shop. And a few others that I forget. Hey its been almost 40 something years ago. But remember teachers telling students to stop stealing the antenna's off the cars parked in the area. More than one budding gunsmith would show up with some part of his anatomy perforated and bandaged up. Frank

[oldhickory]

The "old-man" did his best to scare us boys straight, but we still got into a lot of mischief, like riding the tractors around pretending they were tanks and having a "gunner" ride on the axel with an ample supply of apples to throw at the "enemy". Another little discovery we made was with bows and arrows. We would tape a sparkler to the arrow, with an M-80 or small pipe bomb and shoot them straight up into the air at night, and watch em go, "BOOM!" Wooden target arrows were .19c at the hardware, and we were good customers.

Maybe our crowning glory was the shotgun bombs. We would cut the crimp off a 12ga. shell, dump the shot and wads, take an empty 20ga. plastic, (had to be plastic) hull heat the base and pull the metal off. Glue a fuse through the primer pocket, fill the 20ga. hull with black powder, stuff newspaper wadding in on top and put the 20 inside the 12 and shoot it. Most of the time it worked well, the 12ga. would launch the 20 about 50ft. before the 20 would explode-sometimes the 20 went off right above our heads! We were lucky none of them exploded inside the gun.

Funny thing is, I see the kids at the farm down the road doing much the same stuff today! I guess things haven't changed that much on the farms.

[cajun shooter]

My early years were in the 50's and we did see some Hot Rod movies that showed guys from the big cities using them. We were more into making some what very dangerous bombs. We of course did not know any better at the time. We had full access to the gross boxes of cherry bombs. I remember one day when the jantorial staff would not open the doors to the receration center on time as they were shooting hoops themselves. The doors were very large and thick. We filled the area between the two doors and when the bombs went off we could see wood flying everywhere. We ran like crazy. I remember seeing in the paper that it cost over $300 to repair the doors and locks. Our bomb making days were over.

[Mumblypeg]

There is a fine line between stupidity and crazyness. Knowing the difference is what keep us alive. I used to make ML cannon from pipe and fittings. 1 1/4" will take a D cell battery. 150 grains of 2F black will send it on its way pretty good. Also made a sort of flintlock with a zippo lighter, copper tubing and carved cedar stock. Just never pushed them too hard. The other kids were impressed though.

[wiljen]

We used to make carbide cannons for launching potatoes. Never did anything in the way of a cartridge firing zip gun but plenty of carbide or hairspray fueled spud launchers over the years.

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

We used to make carbide cannons for launching potatoes. Never did anything in the way of a cartridge firing zip gun but plenty of carbide or hairspray fueled spud launchers over the years.

DITTO - We styled one after a mortar, painted it drab green. Used hairspray and "black cats" to set it off. Had to abandon our baby in a field behind a rival highschool's football field one night after one of the Deputies doing security for the game "homed" in on the sound and got after us. Young and dumb.........

:redneck:

[firefly1957]

Smoke-um if you got-um: You reminded me of a stressful though fun night avoiding park rangers while setting off rockets and LARGE firecrackers. Today they probably would of called in a tracking dog then the county deputy told them it was none of his concern and to quit bothering dispatch.

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

Firefly - We heard later several of the deputies got themselves in their own trouble with it. They had a shift party after work and had a "few" and were "bustin spuds" into the Township Community Pool. Somebody called the town police and one of their supervisors showed up and reported them to the Sheriff. Heard they all got a couple of days off w/o pay.
Boys will be Boys....................

Mike

[DIRT Farmer]

Reminds me of the night one of the guys brought a tater gun past the medic station. Hair spray and WD 40 was kinda tame and they found the can of starting fluid in the back of my truck. The next shot hit the bank building and set off the alarm. Busted taters on the East side of the building and parking lot sorta gave it away, but the boys in brown decided not to bother the boys with the tater gun and carried the morphine.

[DIRT Farmer]

BOZ303, Did your Dad have tobacco sticks, I rember a few sessions with a 48 inch split hickory Tobacco stick.

[AkMike]

Heck, we just balanced .22 shells on top of our BB gun muzzles, held high above our heads.

My 'favorite' Uncle showed me how cool it was to tape a 12ga shotgun shell on the business end of a Red Ryder and shoot racoons down in the barn. Held at arms length of course!

[Lightning Ross]

We had gopher guns. Metal plate galvanized pipe that would fit a 12 gauge with a cap. Drill hole in the cap a nail and a trigger set up. With a trip wire out front. Dig out the gopher hole place the stiff trip wire down the hole. Mister gopher comes up to fill the hole. Hits the wire and gets a face full of 12 gauge. Every farm kid had 3 or four of them and got paid for dead gophers. Until the game warden caught us. He was out checking for pheasant hunters. No more gopher getters. Dad wasnt to happy he spent a lot of time building them.

[WILCO]

I never had a zip gun as a kid....

Me niether.

Just as well I guess. [smilie=s:

[mroliver77]

No zip guns here. We had the hairspray morter for a while. I was born in 60 so the 70s were my teen years. We could buy black powder guns at K Mart and a couple other mart type stores no questions asked. Much more fun than home made stuff! We got $3 - $4 for a muskrat and $20 - $30 for a nice coon then. We picked up corn that was missed in the fields and sold it. I actually got a couple acres to raise corn for myself. I got year old seed and used manure for fertilizer. We picked it by hand. Anyhow us farm kids had a few bucks to buy BP toys with. I had a .44 Army replica that shot very well. It made a kid feel big to strap on that big ole revolver. Nobody had a problem with it either.
Before that Dad bought us a Benjiman Franklin .22 air rifle. It killed many a rabbit! So I was always well armed as a kid and had little use for a home made gun.
Jay

[firefly1957]

Smoke-um if you got-um Everyone needs to blow off a little steam every now and then as long as there is no real harm. I have been friends with a few LEO's and some of the stories are surprising. Including one LEO that later ended up in jail but not for using .357 mag on a cat in front of witnesses at a local restaurant. The cats crime it was on the squad car roof when the officer came out after dinner. I do not think the guy was ever right in the head but he was an exception in the uniform.

[arjacobson]

:DI built a few 22 zip guns in high school machine shop class(try doing that today!!) Anyway my teacher caught me turning the barrel down and hauled me into a closed class room and started chewing me out.. He thought I was making a drug pipe!! When I explained that I was actually making a zip gun, he took a look at my design and gave me a few suggestions on how to make a better part!! We got along great after that.. Mine was two pc-screw barrel off-load round-screw barrel back on. pull spring loaded lever back and to the side. Flick lever to fire.. worked excellent.