> >
> > As I remember, a zip gun is a homemade
gun...basically you take a piece of
> > heavy duty pipe and set it up with a jury rigged
firing pin (a nail or
> > something similar), so that when you place a
bullet in the pipe and hit the
> > non-business end of it, the firing pin will hit
the percussion cap of the
> > bullet and fire it. They're supposedly good for
short range work and were
> > used a lot before assault rifles were so readily
available in this country.
> >
>
> Thanks very much! I was envisioning something made
out of rubber
> bands and clothespins. Hmmm...wonder what a
ballistics specialist
> would make of it--nail marks on the cartridge, no
lands and grooves
> from the pipe, maybe. Interesting!
>
> -----Diane Trap
> trap@rhett.libs.uga.edu
Well, I grew up in L.A. in the 50's and I saw a few zip guns.
As I
remember, they were all .22 caliber rimfire weapons. They did
use
rubber bands to propel the firing pin onto the rim of the
cartridge.
The barrels were (I believe) a heavy brass tubing equal in
size to
the .22 caliber cartridge. As such, these were
smoothbore
weapons, with no grooves apparent on the bullets once fired,
but
probably not very accurate beyond 20 feet or so. The
cartridge
casing would probably not be found at the shooting scene
unless
the shooter took the time to pry the casing out of the tube,
which
seems unlikely.
Bill Holmes
Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to
accept the things I cannot,
and a great big bag of money. -anon. 13 year old.
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