SpudFiles

Hey guys, I tried to make some darts and fire them from my 8mm barrel but they don't fly straight. I actually have another issue. The uh, skirt? Is made of paper with some tape to hold it together, what I notice is that probably before it even leaves the barrel, the skirt is instantly shredded. As the dart heads toward the target, it is no longer straight and bends on impact, while pieces of the skirt can be found maybe a couple feet from the barrel. So my questions are:

1) How can I make a durable "skirt" for the dart that would make it stable in flight?

2) Does the size of the skirt affect the stability of the dart?

3) Should darts be shot at low pressure high volume? Or low volume high pressure? I was shooting at around 600 psi which is what I assumed was ripping the skirt to shreds. I tried putting a 8mm bb behind the skirt but that didn't really help, the bb shattered, the skirt still shredded, and the nail still bent.

A nail in a caulktube nozzle, cut down to fit the barrel, usually works well.
You could glue the nail in place.

Paper cone skirts soaked in superglue are fairly durable, and if it gets shredded you can just add more layers until it holds together.

I'd say you're using too much pressure. Try starting low and move up!

Heres a link to a blow gun community, (caution: they allow talk of hunting but this is a a dart construction thread) feel free to delete.

http://blowgun.lefora.com/topic/3409058 ... cfKhPlViko

I dont know how well some of these would work in a cannon or launcher but its worth a try!

Nick