[pietze]

Hey there,

some of you maybe remembers the small slingshot crossbow pistol I was working on earlier. Since this was my first project, I learned a lot and I wanted to bring this indoor fun on a new level.

So I started with a slingshot crossbow sniper!


(Click images to enlarge!)





It's 130 cm long and the barrel has a length of 70 cm. I used parts of pine, cheap plywood and some metal and PVC parts.

The special thing here has to be the push rod. It was made to push anything within the PVC barrel. (I obviously was inspired bei Jörg's latest Syringe-Gun).

Btw: the hole in the middle is for a metal rod to have a better grip while reloading.





<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ieJpTh8dnzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Munition

The hardest part for now is building the right munition. The "sniper" is designed to shoot 8 x 8 x 160 mm bolts (basically pencil sizes). I build in a magnet to hold a metal tip and the crossbow shoots balls as well, but I have the feeling that it will not be very accurate.

At first, I started with really weak rubberbands and bolts made from drinking straws and pegs:



I could shoot them into cardboard pretty good, but then the black thera tubes arrived and now the light bolts burst into very small pieces. For now I am using pencils and stuff, but they don't fly really good... it's like the black tubes are to strong here. They are 20 cm long.

Magazin

I started with a dummy made of cardboard:



And then I made the wooden parts:



The idea is to let the bolts enter sideways into the barrel. The munition is hold upwards and a lever can push the bolts in.



It kind of works, I have to rasp some edges out to see if I can eject the bolts in a fluid motion.


So, I would really appreciate some feedback from you guys and maybe some consulting on the problem with the black rubber tubes. Should I really switch back to easy and softer rubber? I wanted the long size to increasing some power...

 

[bigdh2000]

Looks like fun.

 

[TheDaddy187]

great work... some very interesting designs here...

if the ammo seems too light, maybe buy some heavy wooden dowels and cut to size...

or maybe some steel/alu tube or bar?

you could also maybe try adding simple flights to ammo to increase acuracy?

i have seen things from standard feathers working to simply a piece of string to help keep bolts on course...

tape is pretty good to use to make flights with... electrical tape i personally find best, it is fairly hard wearing... plus will happily squash flat when in the mag...

i cant see anybody here agreeing to putting light bands on it we all love power and destruction...

its like buying a fast car and taking the turbo out to save weight

so i suggest trying some different ammo options and see what works best for you...

one final thought, you can buy aluminium or plastic 80lbs pistol xbow bolts cheap off ebay or amazon...

the alu ones hit harder, but i suggest going with the plastic ones as after just a few shots the alu ones are bent and broken...
the tips sometimes snap off the plastic ones but you can re attach the tip by heating it with a lighter and pressing the tip back onto the end...

hope this helps

 

[pietze]

Thanks, yes this is really helpful!

Actually, I have some of the materials already at home.



I will need a heavy tip still... and ideally I can fire the crossbow also indoors in my flat. In the big city, it's difficult to find a quite space so practice. In the end I will have to try everything by testing...


By the way, this is the plan. As you see, I will try to make a bipod later on.



I'm working on this since a week now... how does Jörg is able to make all his weapons so fast? : D

 

[kohlqez]

Did you ever see Jörg's pencil shooting machine gun thing? If memory serves pencils ended up being too light (or they didn't cause enough carnage for him...) and he ended up shooting some steel tipped aluminum tubes, maybe you should try something similar.

 

[onnod]

Great job!

 

[pietze]

It's time for an update!




It's time for an update!

I found the ideal draw weight and band-length right now. Further more, I had to improve the catch for the pushrod:

Did you ever see Jörg's pencil shooting machine gun thing?

Took me quite some time to find it. Now I know why, the "Strap on" in the title kept me away The Massacre Master" - Giant strap-on repeating crossbow.

The aluminium bolts look a little too big for my sniper to be honest.
That's why I experimented with my materials I have:



But these don't fly good enough, maybe I have to try iron tips? Not sure if you can buy such little tips that are 6 mm thick.

I spend today some time with shooting different things I had prepared as munition. These are my winners:

The thin wooden arrow (the long one):



chickpeas, M5 hexnuts and these IKEA thingies:



With these, I have shot through a cardboard with a distance of round about 12 meters. For more, I will have to try my stuff outside.

Here is a little video:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di1nONmrEv8[/ame]


Next steps:

I want to paint the sniper and I have to rethink my magazine type, as long the munition will be different now.

I looking forward to get your thoughts on this.

 

[pietze]

I finished my first ever painting on wood! I have uploaded pictures for the two people out there, that are perhaps still interested in this



At next, I will add a strap and then the project is finished. There will be no need for a bipod anymore, so I will enjoy testing some different "real" bolts outside in a garden soon.

Thanks you for visiting this thread. I hope this was somehow interesting for you.

 

[seppman]

Ahahahhahahaa... There is a window directly behind your cardboard target. You did realize that? Please go on shooting and show us some videos! Nice build!

 

[pietze]

Thanks for your comment, seppman : )

Yes, I knew about the window, but it's really no problem, because the test arrows have a wooden tip and don't even weight 10 grams. In my apartment, I work with long tubes and light munition (still I got some little imprints on the walls and a angry girlfriend...) to test everything. I wish I could test everything outside but that's the problem with the big cities and the shared garden of the house.

If you really want to see some videos, I will have to film everything when I visit my dad in June.

 

[pietze]

Finally I got the chance to test my slingshot rifle in the garden on a nice distance with the bolts I made for it.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJVT0zEwM_s[/ame]

Sorry for the mad music, but there were a lot of people talking in the original video and that song is something a friend made for me for something else.

 

[CactiBeast]

Wow! Nice sniper! Very nice paint job! Maybe you'd feel inclined to make a tutorial if i asked nicely? Please!

 

[LukeSlingwalker]

Very formidable mate, I take my hat off to you! (You´ve got a nice avatar btw!)

All the best!
Luke

 

[pietze]

Wow! Nice sniper! Very nice paint job! Maybe you'd feel inclined to make a tutorial if i asked nicely? Please!

Hi there,

thanks for your nice comment! The sniper has a lot in common with the railshooters that Jörg did in the past. You can learn already a lot of that.

I don't think I should do a tutorial for this build, because there is still some room for improvements. The rail may look nice, but the accuracy isn't as high as for example the Marshmallow sniper. And the thera tubes are too thick probably.

 

[Fipfip33]

Great job! Have you tried using pistol crossbow bolts? They are light and should work nicely. Just whack some heavier bands on it.

Great job again!

 

[PhysicsPhren]

The rubber is too long! Use less rubber so that you stretch it out more. You will get much more power with less. You could probably even cut what you have in half and double it up for the most power.

 

[Cheezus]

Nice work dude!
Keep us updated

 

[JimRhodo]

Love it.

Just had a look. Keep it up. I think you will build up a lot of interest even if people don't comment. It's great.

 

[pietze]

@PhysicsPhren Yes, you are right. After all, I think I also need thinner tubes like Jörg does in his newest crossbows.

It was a fun project to build this thing, but I rather would start a new one. I learned a lot and I am even more impressed now when I look at Jörg's work.