Spudzooka, Spud Gun, Potato cannon... are they legal in MA?

Palladin said:
in college in the late 70's we made tennis ball launchers out of beer cans. this is before the rounded aluminum cans, the old tin cans had rims, like canned vegetables. Duct taped them together, squirt lighter fluid inside, stuff a tennis ball in with a broom handle, then spark a zippo at the hole in the end. WOOOOOSH ! I hit a kid in the chest at 50ft and knocked him down [rofl]
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BTDT and nearly got kicked out of school for it. 1977.
 
Necrothread - I guess it could have gone in the FUDD stuff at the range...,,

I was at the downtown fair today and a guy with Marshmallow Guns told me potato guns are illegal in Mass. He got caught at another fair with some, SWAT was called, he had to go to court and the ATF claimed you could bring down a plane with them. He got fined $1000 for each one.

I call BS / detailed but BS.
 
Thats what I thought too - this guy sure sold his story though.

It wouldn’t surprise me if you cause trouble with one, the DA will charge you with everything - just to plead you out into PP status.
 
it would be too funny to see on some departments facebook page a photo of their latest weapons raid, a spud gun with pictured along side a "cache" of a couple 10 lb bags of potatoes.
 
Palladin said:
in college in the late 70's we made tennis ball launchers out of beer cans. this is before the rounded aluminum cans, the old tin cans had rims, like canned vegetables. Duct taped them together, squirt lighter fluid inside, stuff a tennis ball in with a broom handle, then spark a zippo at the hole in the end. WOOOOOSH ! I hit a kid in the chest at 50ft and knocked him down [rofl]
Click to expand...

LOL, those were great fun! I had a PSGWSP moment with one in the late 70's in SoCal. Some long hairs were attempting to net some koi from a fishing pond behind and below my house so I thought I'd scare them off with the tennis ball cannon. I didn't want to lose tennis balls and wanted a bigger splash in the pond, so I used oranges from our tree and fired them like a mortar. "HEY MAN, KNOCK IT OFF MANNNN!" LOL, they could not see me through the trees and really couldn't figure out my location. My friends and I were laughing so hard we were crying until our fun ended when instead of firing the orange the bottom can popped off and hit me in the gut. I had a round black and blue mark for two weeks. I was so happy it didn't hit a couple inches lower [shocked] that I really didn't mind the pain nor the bruise.
 
Just My opinion, they arent illegal. But there are illegal ways to use them.
If someone is injured or property is demaged through reckless use. It becomes an Destructive Device.

As for as MA law.. its hard to say, since the way the "LAWs" are written everything and anything could be illegal.

It comes back to responsible use... you can own a 40mm M203 in MA.. if you did it would be hard to convice a jury a potatoe gun is an infernal machine.

If your too scared to live life for fear of getting raped by the government your living in a prison of your own making anyway.
 
I played in a golf outing a couple of weeks back where on one of the holes you could pay $20 to shoot your golf ball out of an air cannon. It was co2 powered. The hole was ~400 yards and all four of us hit the green. It was fun.
 
I held up a cardboard bullseye at a minor league hockey game years ago and got hit by a tee shirt way up in the balcony. It was a hand held CO2 mortar launcher, black of course. Wonder why there wasn't a big investigation there ?
 
atilla said:
INFERNAL MACHINE.
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This.
Youngster was charged way back 15-18 years ago with it after he hurt someone in town. I do not know what the final outcome was.
Acetylene works but very very dangerous. My buddy dented his dumpster with a spud putting just a seconds worth into the chamber. Also blew the cap off and the PVC cut the aluminum and plywood skin on his Winnebago.
 
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I think a variation of this gun is being used in Venezuela by anti Communist Protesters . . . . " morter guns" , one kid died when it blew up on his chest I think.
 
Like someone posted above, I'm sure if you use it sensibly it's hard to see how you could get into serious trouble. A couple friends and I made one years ago that we used to power with a spray of starter fluid and a quick spray of oxygen from one of those small disposable bottles you get at home depot. In hind sight we were idiots for pushing the limits of that PVC pipe, but WOW, what a loud report! And those spuds would be WELL out of sight when they finally came back down. Just like the real thing- be mindful of what is "downrange."
 
Pneumatic Antenna Launchers

Built one of these years ago, one of the most borrowed tools from my Ham Radio friends. Launch tennis ball with lanyard and fishing string attached to reel, reel in para-cord then pull over a big rope with para cord and pull up wire antenna with rope. Clears 150' pines with tennis ball loaded with lead ballast.
 
Since the thread was resurrected I'll join in. Couple buddies and I used to push our luck with these back in the day. We would drive around shooting street signs with them. Ahhh the good old days before any of us were smart and had nothing better to do and nothing to lose.

Starter fluid worked great. Adding an additional quick squirt from the mini oxygen bottles you can buy for porable torches at home depot was even better.
 

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