Alright, buckle up, cause I’m about to tell you about my latest project: the wooden stake shotgun. Yeah, you heard right.
It all started with a weird dream, honestly. Woke up thinking, “What if you could load a shotgun with wooden stakes?” Seemed crazy enough to try. First thing I did was hit the garage and started rummaging around. Found an old, beat-up single-shot 12-gauge. Perfect for this kind of nutty experiment.
The Stake Situation
- Next up: stakes. I didn’t want those flimsy, pointy garden stakes. I wanted something solid. Ended up chopping up some oak flooring scraps I had lying around. Cut ’em into about 6-inch lengths and whittled one end down to a decent point. Not too sharp, mind you, just enough to… you know… stake.
The Casing Conundrum
Now, how to actually fire a wooden stake? Couldn’t just stuff it down the barrel. That’s where the casing came in. Took an empty 12-gauge shell and carefully hollowed it out. Gutted the primer, removed the shot, the whole shebang. Basically, I was left with an empty plastic tube.
The Wadding Wizardry
To make sure the stake had some oomph behind it, I needed wadding. Used some felt scraps cut into circles. Stacked ’em behind the stake inside the shell. Figured the expanding gases would push the wadding, which in turn would launch the stake. Theory sounded good, anyway.
The Assembly Adventure
Okay, time to put it all together. First, I seated the wooden stake into the modified shell. Then, packed the felt wadding snugly behind it. Crimp the top of the shell just enough to keep everything in place. Looked like a bizarre, oversized dart. Kinda cool, actually.
Test Time!
Headed out to my usual testing spot – a safe, isolated area, of course. Set up a target – a thick piece of plywood. Loaded the stake-shell into the shotgun. Took a deep breath. Aimed. Fired!
BOOM! The shotgun kicked like a mule, just like normal. Saw the stake zip towards the target. And… thunk. It actually worked! The stake embedded itself into the plywood, not super deep, but definitely stuck. I was grinning like an idiot.
Lessons Learned (and a Word of Caution)
Alright, this was a fun experiment, but let’s be real. This is NOT a practical weapon. At all. The range is terrible, the accuracy is questionable, and the whole thing is just plain ridiculous. BUT it did prove that you can, in fact, fire a wooden stake from a shotgun.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Messing with firearms and ammunition is DANGEROUS. I’m an experienced shooter and took every precaution to ensure my safety and the safety of others. DO NOT try this at home. Seriously. This post is for informational/entertainment purposes only. Don’t be an idiot.
So, there you have it. My wooden stake shotgun adventure. A weird idea, a lot of tinkering, and a surprisingly successful (though utterly impractical) result. Now, what crazy project should I tackle next?
