Blowgun History
Borneo, Phillipines, Malaysia, South Eastern (North) America, Amazon Basin Locations, and Japan are the birth places of different forms of blowguns. Some of the American Indian tribes even made revolver style blowguns! Blowguns were mostly used for hunting small game and games of skill, but animals as large as deer can be killed with the proper poisons. The blowgun survives today through sport games in Japan and it is world reknown as an amazing "toy". Japan has serious competitions involving blowguns, but people all over the world enjoy quiet, indoor target practice.
Blowgun Accuracy
I personally can hit bumblebees out of the air. It is very difficult and I miss 8 of 10 times, but I can do it. In one session I shot 15 of them from the air on a bet. He bet 1 dollar for each one I could hit. The range was 5 to 10 feet. I can also hit a small tangerine hit 7 of 10 times from 30 feet. I am also a good shot with a rifle, and I'm sure it's a very similar class of skills. From 40 feet and beyond accuracy drops drastically, but the blowgun will propel a dart an easy 200 feet. Measured velocities are well beyond a normal C02 or pnuematic airgun at 300 plus Feet per second. With practice I would find it feasible to become much better with the blowgun. My lung capacity is not near what it could be, so I know effective range can be increased. I have read accounts of indians that could hit targets from over 100 feet away, but have not personally seen it.
Blowgun Poisons
Traditional poisons that acted fast enough to be useful were made of Curare, a nerve toxin. Modern and available poisons would be made of nicotine, causes heart attack. Both Curare and nicotine poisons leave the animal edible after the kill. Slow acting poisons could be made of manure to induce tetanis. Ricin is also easily made, even in the home laboratory and is extremely deadly, 3 days to live, no cure. To get poisons to stick to modern metal wire darts, you paint them with something porous. Newskin works perfect for holding poisons. Make sure and practice with darts painted with newskin though, as the added weight will change the trajectory of your dart. I don't recommend even playing with poison, it's against the law, and will probably get someone hurt.
Blowgun Power You MUST read this
The bead from a 5 foot long blowgun at 20 feet will leave a welt the size of your fist on your sister. I know. I regretted it terribly. Never under estimate the power of a small bead travelling 300 feet per second. It has enough power to kill or stun small animals without the dart. It can break glass easily, and just the bead will cause enough pain to stop all but the most determined attacker. I'm really sorry that I shot her and if I'd of known how bad it would of hurt I never would of done it! I know now that a dart will peirce and bury itself 2 inches through a half inch board of plywood. A blowgun dart can also easily peirce aerosol cans. If you don't have pliers handy, you will not be able to remove your darts from solid wood. I recommend shooting at layered cardboard or styrofoam, anything else is impossible to retreive darts from. Because of this awesome power, I don't consider blow guns a toy at all. They should be treated like a weapon, and used accordingly!
How to Aim a Blowgun
Aiming is pretty much instinctual. There are a few things to remember though:
1. Blow with the same power and consistency as often as you can.
2. Keep your elbows down for stability.
3. Keep both eyes open and look beyond the end of the barrel.
4. Shoot with good darts so that they fly consistently the same way.
5. Breathe in slow, explode from the stomach and chest without moving the blowgun.
6. Don't blink or flinch when you exhale, it will move the barrel and throw off your shot.
7. Keep the barrel clean by wiping condensation out whenever it builds up inside.
8. Don't inhale from the barrel, inhale from your nose for safety reasons.
9. Shoot the same object from the same place, over and over to learn how the dart flies. Moving targets don't really teach much to a beginner.
10. Choose a big target, like a cardboard box and shoot many times out of instinct, fast, without taking time to aim. Just close your eyes, then open them, aim quickly and shoot. This will teach you how to shoot by instinct. Later, make your boxes smaller and smaller and it will never seem difficult.
11. Practice the same way, every time. If your puff of air varies, so will your accuracy. If you hold the blowgun differently every time, it will be very difficult to learn by instinct how to shoot. Find a comfortable position, and shoot from that every time.
How to Care for a Blowgun
Blowguns are SOOO simple to take care of. There are only a few things that will actually cause damage to your blowgun.
1. Don't lean it where it will sag, instead lay it down flat someplace safe.
2. Don't put it away dirty, take a swab of cotton and wipe out the condensation.
3. Of course, don't bend, crush or damage the tube
How to Stalk a Bird
The easiest way I've found to hunt small game is to let them come to you. It's really tough to get 30 feet to a wild animal that doesn't trust you. It's pretty fun trying though. If you sit still though, many animals will come within 20 feet of you. The trick is to move the blowgun up very slowly for aiming. Or, you can rest the blowgun on the crotch of a stick or tree and wait for birds to fly nearby. I personally don't like killing animals, but I do shoot mice in our store. It is just as fun to hit a tennis as a living creature. But stalking the tennis ball isn't very much fun!
Where to Get Blowguns
I hope this article helps you out in shooting your blowgun. I hope at least that you respect this as a weapon. Blowguns have provided me and many other martial artists and regular people too! with hours of great entertainment. It is pretty easy to make your own blow guns, but for the time involved, it's usually cheaper to buy one prebuilt. Blowgun Darts are especially hard to make, they take a long time and are fragile. Factory darts are surely the way to go! They cost pennies a piece and are fairly accurate and consistent. A few months ago we made a mistake ordering blowguns. We ordered a few boxes, but misunderstood exactly how many was in each box. Frankly, we don't need to have 5,000 blowguns in stock! You are still in time for christmas if you would like one, and at 4.95 each, you won't find them cheaper anywhere. Ours comes with darts too!
Help us fix this problem, we need to sell these badly, and we'll reward you with our low prices! We ship fedex saver, and it is pretty exspensive, almost 7 dollars to order just one blowgun, but to order 3 or 4 blowguns is only a dollar or 2 extra! These make great gifts and will provide hours and hours of quiet "play". It is my personal belief that this skill and how to handle firearms are similar, if not the same. We have thumper beads available too if you are not comfortable giving sharp darts as gifts. They aren't accurate as far as darts, but are perfect for 20 foot to 30 foot range coke can type shooting galleries!
As soon as my son is old enough to not eat the blowgun, he's getting one!
If you'd like to see a picture of these blowguns, please click the following links:
http://www.ninja-weapons.com/Weapons/Blowguns/Blowguns.shtml - blowgun stuff
http://www.ninja-weapons.com/Ninja_Items/Ninja_Tools/255.shtml - 4.99 blowgun
If you have a "One Up" to my bumblebee story, I REALLY want to hear it, please email me and tell me of your experiences with a blowgun, I'll answer questions too, if I can.
Merry Christmas!
Brandon wrote this article.
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