Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Bear with me. This is a little convoluted on how I found this.

First, visit this Barney and Clyde comic at GoComics.com

That caused me to Google "carbide pingpong ball gun" which led me to this article:
Obscure Object Of Desire: Austin Magic Pistol

And also this one about Virginia outlawing them:
Virginia vs the Austin Magic Pistol

BTW: a quick search of Amazon shows that there are many sources of carbide for cannons, miner's lamps, and such. If you are so inclined.

I got over the fun of acetylene explosions when I was in high school chemistry class.
What's needed:
An empty 1 gallon paint can with a good lid.
a small dish
calcium carbide
a few CCs of water.
a long, lit, taper (or a lit match on a stick)

Use a nail to put a small hole in the center of the can lid.
place the dish in the bottom of the paint can, add calcium carbide (very little is needed) , water and tightly close the lid.
stand back, light the match and hold it over the hole in the lid.

Oh, did I mention that this should be done OUTDOORS or in a building with HIGH, CONCRETE ceilings?

I did this once after school in the school's chemistry lab (High ceilings with pre-stressed concrete beams). The resulting BANG! and the sound of the lid bouncing off the ceiling beam caused the Physics teacher in the next class room to come charging in through the connecting store room. He skidded to a stop, said, "Oh, it's you," turned around and walked back to his room.

Carbide was in regular use in the coal mines a long time ago. It's what they used for lights on the miner's hats. Some carbide and some water in the base resulted in flammable gas which burned at the center of the little reflector to light up the area in front of them for work.

I remember my dad talking about some of his uncles "fishing with carbide." They'd find a suitable container, drop in the right amount of carbide, put some rocks in it to sink it, put a small hole in the lid for water to leak in and then drop it over the side of the boat while in a "deep hole" in the river. Then sit and wait. After a time the container would explode from the build up of gas and some fish would float, stunned, up to the surface where they would be grabbed/netted.

It was illegal but that didn't stop some of the uncles.

"No person shall sell, barter, exchange, furnish, or dispose of by purchase, gift or in any other manner any toy gun, pistol, rifle or other toy firearm, if the same shall, by action of an explosion of a combustible material, discharge blank or ball charges. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor. Each sale of any of the articles hereinbefore specified to any person shall constitute a separate offense.

Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the sale of what are commonly known as cap pistols."

It appears to me that noise above that of the common cap pistol was the target of this legislation. Blank charges would cover toy cannons, would it not? Perhaps even starter pistols if designated as a "toy"?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

one of my favorite toys 40 years ago...