.62 CALIBER BIG BORE BLOWGUN ARTICLE
Copyright by Jock Elliott - 2005
If you’re looking for what might be the ultimate stealth weapon for harvesting small game, let me suggest the humble blowgun.
Blowguns have a lot to recommend themselves to the 21st century frontiersman. They’re virtually silent; there is no string noise, twang or bang to alert game. They don’t require any movement that would give your presence away. You don’t have to cock a lever, pull a string or stretch an arm – all you have to do is breathe. They are mechanically simple and highly reliable. They are light and easy to carry. The only consumable items are the darts that you shoot, and these are inexpensive to buy or easy to make.
Further, they can be highly effective if used properly. In A Sporting Chance Daniel Mannix reports taking a wildcat, woodchucks, and pigeons with a blowgun (without the use of poison).
Blowguns
have been around at least since the 15th century, and some
authorities claim they’ve been around a lot longer, perhaps for thousands of
years. According to Eldon Wolff, blowguns were used in North and
If you can breathe, you can shoot a blowgun. You place a moveable projectile – the dart – in the tube, quickly blow into it, and – zing! – the dart comes zipping out of the tube. But don’t make the mistake of thinking they are harmless toys. I’ve found even the wimpiest blowgun could, at ten yards, stick a wire target dart into a block of wood with enough energy that I could never remove the dart with my bare fingers – I always needed pliers.
Recently, I tested a piece of gear that may be of interest for anyone who wants to purchase a ready-made blowgun that is easily capable of taking small game. The object in question is the five-foot .62 caliber Big Bore™ blowgun from Cold Steel, the folks who make tactical knives, swords, and spears.
The Big Bore blowgun is very well made. The barrel is fabricated of aircraft aluminum. It comes with an excellent high-flow mouthpiece, a removable ferrule at the muzzle that allows the whole thing to be used as a walking stick, and a quiver that slides onto the barrel. As an option, you can purchase a 2-foot extension with a metal connector that slides on to produce a 7-foot blowgun. A four-foot version of the Big Bore is also available.
A selection of hunting, target and stun darts comes with the Big Bore, and what particularly pleased me is that extra attention has been paid to the darts, which fly noticeably better than some other .62 cal commercial darts I've seen. The plastic moldings on the Cold Steel darts are clean and straight, and it shows in the performance.
And that brings us neatly to another point: both the Cold Steel .62 caliber broadhead and mini broadhead darts are designed to produce a wider wound channel than darts from a .40 or .50 caliber blowgun. With the wire darts that are commonly supplied with .40 and .50 caliber blowguns, you simply don’t produce enough damage to humanely kill small game or pests.
The Cold Steel darts are heavier than the small caliber darts, and they fly faster because there is more cross section in the dart cone for your breath to push against. The darts are not sharpened as they come from the factory, but that can be done with a grinder, stone, or file. I’m not convinced that sharpening is essential – I “Robin Hooded” a couple of the broadhead darts, and one dart cut the other in half.
In a DVD from Cold Steel, the company president demonstrated the penetration power of the Big Bore blowgun, putting darts through 1/4 inch plywood and hard-tanned 3/16" cowhide, even breaking ceramic mugs with stun darts. Emboldened by this demonstration, I set up a “tin” can (not aluminum) against my target in the basement and at 20 feet fired an unsharpened mini broadhead dart at it. It punched through both sides of the can. So then I launched one of the unsharpened broadhead darts, and it buried the blade into the can as far as it can go – right up to the plastic ball that is just behind the head of the dart. Bottom line: this is one powerful blowgun.
My accuracy testing both with and without the extension mounted indicates that hitting game at 40 feet shouldn't be a problem with a bit of practice. With concentrated practice, it might be possible to shoot accurately perhaps as far as 20 yards. Velocities, I believe, are higher with the extension, and that 7-foot sight radius certainly makes it easier to aim.
Over the
past few months, in preparation for this article and for fun, I've played with a
number of different blowguns. The Big Bore from Cold Steel is the best-made,
hardest-hitting blowgun I've tested so far.
n end --
photo captions
Photo 1 – At 20 feet, a mini-broadhead dart from Cold Steel punched through both sides of this “tin” can.
Photo 2 – A selection of .62 caliber darts from Cold Steel: (from left) mini-broadhead, broadhead, bamboo dart, and stun dart.
Photo 3 – The powerplant end of the Big Bore 5-foot .62 caliber blowgun. Below, the 2-foot slide-on extension that turns it into a 7-foot blowgun.
Photo 4 – Your Humble Correspondent launching a dart with the 4-foot version of the Big Bore.
posted: 05/01/2005. Copyright by Jock Elliott - permission granted for use of this article by Jock Elliott.
