Summer is upon us. That means baseball, barbecues and backyard hijinks. And if your hijinks are anything like mine, they usually include a little artillery fire. No, I’m not talking about a Howitzer or vintage civil war cannon—although I’ll get the permission if you bring the noise. I’m talking about the potato gun. Yes, the sight of a freshly launched spud sailing over the neighbors’ houses is enough to make the heart swell with pride. But if you’ve built a gun of your own, you know that accuracy can sometimes be an issue . . .
The smooth bore PVC tuber technology that’s dominated potato gun ballistics for decades simply doesn’t provide the level of accuracy that OCD ‘tater launchers demanded. Sure, you can shoot a spud in a general trajectory (never forgetting that these guns can be lethal). But if you want to land a tater in a deep fryer 100 yards downrange, it’s strictly hit or miss.
But this is America, dammit! And that means there’s always someone toiling away in a basement or garage workshop looking to avoid their wife and kids. I mean, solve a problem—even if no one else perceives that the problem exists. And yea, verily, the rifled potato gun barrel is born.
Our friend Jeremy at The Spudgun Technology Center offers barrels in a variety of configurations and lengths. He claims the rifling gives you a 50% increase in accuracy. So don’t despair if you haven’t been able to achieve the one MOP (minute of potato) results the discerning shooter demands.
Now, if someone can grow genetically-engineered potatoes that provide perfect uniformity and the ideal ballistic coefficient, our work here will be done.