I am here alone when it comes to shooting my cannon.  I have no spudgun buddies and my kids think I am crazy.  So I invite you to go shooting with me.  Last night I was finishing up some repairs on Big Red when I found more stuff that needed fixing.  On top of that I am sick with a cold.  I figured since is was cloudy that shooting today might get rained out, so I went ahead and did some more repairs.  Big Red is now in the best shape ever.  By 2:00 pm today,  I was finished, and feeling sick still.  But figured I could be sick inside or outside the house.  I decided outside was the way to go and hauled out the gun.  Everyone seems to always be trying to think of a better sabot or a good way to center a dart in the bore.  Me?  I just shoot and shoot.  I can't imagine spending much time trying to improve something that works so well and is very little trouble.

I first put an empty can in the barrel followed by the dart.  The fins are smaller than the barrel by about 1/2 inch.

I just let the nose lay against the barrel.  The darts are about 26 inches long and made from 1 inch thinwall PVC.

Some of you know I have plans to shoot into the pond about 950 yards away.  Today is not the day.  I don't feel like running back and forth.  I fired a couple of shots and capture it on tape  The pressure was about 42 PSI.  I was hoping to show that the nose of the dart had lifted up from the high Gs of the shot.  It was cloudy and the shutter speed was low.  The sky was in the background, which did not help either.  Here are the two shots.  It appears the departure angle is a little different.  No matter, they hit about the same distance from the gun.  I know what you think, 'but if.........'.  Go ahead, I will just keep shooting.

So, now we have to go find the stupid things.  I decided to take a few photos on the way so you could get an idea of how the farm is layed out and were the pond is.  I stopped every 50 steps and took a picture.  The first ones may be at a different zoom.

The big oak in the left, of the photo below, is about 620 yards from my house.  The barn at my grandparents old farm is in the left background.

Looking to the right (south) you can see the pond at the right of the following photo.

Now I have turned to the right and am walking toward the pond.

In the photo above you can barely make out the white tail of a dart, just right of center in the green grass.  Below it is easier to see.

If you look closely you can see both darts, below.  On the far left, in front of a bush is one tail.  On the right, in front of the pond is the second one.  They were about 14 steps apart and almost the exact same range from the gun, about 700-750 yards.  The gun could have turned a little after the first shot or the wind could have blown more on one shot than the other.  Still they are pretty close together.

Here is a shot looking to the northeast from southwest of the darts.  You can see the range was about the same.

I pulled one out of the ground and set it up beside the other.  You can see about how far they stick in the ground.  Notice the rocks in the background.  Had the dart hit one of those rocks it would have been smashed to bits.

Well, better go to the house and get another cough drop.