I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
I use to.

So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.

Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
bank account.

I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
account.

I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.

I'll offer to fly it over the pond.

Tone

On Tue, 23 Nov 2021 10:53:37 +0000, Tone <email@address.com> wrote:

>I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
>I use to.
>
>So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
>the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>
>Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
>this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
>the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
>bank account.
>
>I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
>telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
>account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
>account.
>
>I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>
>I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
>
I have a couple of tiny ones. I bought the first one on eBay for 25p
because it came up in a camera listing I had been scrolling through
and I didn't believe I'd actually get it with my first and only bid.

I bought the second one for a quid in the same way. Both were sold by
people who didn't understand basic electrickery and who claimed they
didn't work any more.

Because they each weigh less than 250g and are sold in toyshops I
exploit the grey area of the wording of the current regulations and
haven't registered either of them (and if you are going to tell me why
I can't do that I should let you know that I already have my fingers
in my ears and am going la la la la - I can't hear you).

I sometimes carry one in my pocket when I am out walking and then if I
see something I want to photograph from a different perspective I
-ahem- open up my coat and whip it out. I get about five minutes
flight time from each battery which is plenty good enough for that
sort of thing.

Nick

On 23/11/2021 10:53, Tone wrote:
> I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
> I use to.
>
> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>
> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
> this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
> the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
> bank account.
>
> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
> telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
> account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
> account.
>
> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>
> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.

I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
drone for aereated photography.

He'd know a reliable supplier.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 23/11/2021 11:39, RustyHinge wrote:
>
> I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
> drone for aereated photography.
>
> He'd know a reliable supplier.

uncletone at tempofm dotty co dotty uk

Tone

Might need a lot of batteries and people on boats to change them all.

So, what is your worry? I think mine would be the interception by the
customs and it costing more for import duty and delivery than the item cost
in the first place.

Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Tone" <email@address.com> wrote in message
news:snih7h$4id$1@dont-email.me...
>I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like I
>use to.
>
> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>
> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid �120 to this
> firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for the
> correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my bank
> account.
>
> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email telling
> me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my account. It
> can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal account.
>
> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>
> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
>
> Tone

RustyHinge said:
> On 23/11/2021 10:53, Tone wrote:
>> I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
>> I use to.
>>
>> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
>> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>>
>> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
>> this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
>> the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
>> bank account.
>>
>> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
>> telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
>> account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
>> account.
>>
>> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>>
>> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
>
> I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
> drone for aereated photography.
>
> He'd know a reliable supplier.

I met someone who was into drone photograpy, a few weeks ago. He had a
time-lapse photo of a wind-farm, with the blades in a couple of dozen
positions. "Like sunflowers", he said. Fantastic.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On Friday, November 26, 2021 at 5:24:31 AM UTC-6, Richard Robinson wrote:
> RustyHinge said:
> > On 23/11/2021 10:53, Tone wrote:
> >> I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
> >> I use to.
> >>
> >> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
> >> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
> >>
> >> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
> >> this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
> >> the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
> >> bank account.
> >>
> >> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
> >> telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
> >> account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
> >> account.
> >>
> >> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
> >>
> >> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
> >
> > I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
> > drone for aereated photography.
> >
> > He'd know a reliable supplier.
> I met someone who was into drone photograpy, a few weeks ago. He had a
> time-lapse photo of a wind-farm, with the blades in a couple of dozen
> positions. "Like sunflowers", he said. Fantastic.
>
>
> --
> Richard Robinson
> "The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem
>
> My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

I bought a quad copter , took it out and flew it, there was a slight nguyen and it would just drift downnguyen no matter what . its instructions claim it has constipation for a steady nguyen but it doesn't , try to fly it it just winds up down nguyen so it's up on the shelf.

I think I'll get a Benson gyrocopter. I was actually gonna try to get one of those as a teenager but my family said we don't want you dead . maybe that would've been better.

On Fri, 26 Nov 2021 19:47:32 -0800 (PST), Don Stockbauer
<donstockbauer@hotmail.com> wrote:

>On Friday, November 26, 2021 at 5:24:31 AM UTC-6, Richard Robinson wrote:
>> RustyHinge said:
>> > On 23/11/2021 10:53, Tone wrote:
>> >> I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
>> >> I use to.
>> >>
>> >> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
>> >> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>> >>
>> >> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
>> >> this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
>> >> the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
>> >> bank account.
>> >>
>> >> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
>> >> telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
>> >> account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
>> >> account.
>> >>
>> >> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>> >>
>> >> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
>> >
>> > I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
>> > drone for aereated photography.
>> >
>> > He'd know a reliable supplier.
>> I met someone who was into drone photograpy, a few weeks ago. He had a
>> time-lapse photo of a wind-farm, with the blades in a couple of dozen
>> positions. "Like sunflowers", he said. Fantastic.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard Robinson
>> "The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem
>>
>> My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html
>
>I bought a quad copter , took it out and flew it, there was a slight nguyen and it would just drift downnguyen no matter what . its instructions claim it has constipation for a steady nguyen but it doesn't , try to fly it it just winds up down nguyen so it's up on the shelf.
>
It's probably the flatteries. It almost always is. Either they are not
being properly charged or they've been properly charged so many times
they are now exhausted. Or it's the wrong battery in the first place.
Fix the battery issue and it ought to work fine.

>I think I'll get a Benson gyrocopter. I was actually gonna try to get one of those as a teenager but my family said we don't want you dead . maybe that would've been better.

Bensons are cool. No need to end up dead if you stay within the
operational parameters.

Nick

On 2021-11-27, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Nov 2021 19:47:32 -0800 (PST), Don Stockbauer
><donstockbauer@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Friday, November 26, 2021 at 5:24:31 AM UTC-6, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>> RustyHinge said:
>>> > On 23/11/2021 10:53, Tone wrote:
>>> >> I thought I'd get myself a drone as I can't explore the countryside like
>>> >> I use to.
>>> >>
>>> >> So, I was buying this one from Leftpondia, through PayPal. But I aborted
>>> >> the purchase when it suddenly looked a bit dodgy.
>>> >>
>>> >> Next day I get a notification from PayPal that they have paid £120 to
>>> >> this firm in Beverley Hills. I also get a receipt from the company for
>>> >> the correct amount in dollars. Yet no zbarl has been taken out of my
>>> >> bank account.
>>> >>
>>> >> I ignored it for a couple of days. Then last night I get an email
>>> >> telling me the drone is being shipped. Still no pnfu has gone from my
>>> >> account. It can't now either, as I have blocked the company in my PayPal
>>> >> account.
>>> >>
>>> >> I suppose, eventually, if it arrives, they'll want it back.
>>> >>
>>> >> I'll offer to fly it over the pond.
>>> >
>>> > I'll send you the emu of one of my neighbours if you like: he uses a
>>> > drone for aereated photography.
>>> >
>>> > He'd know a reliable supplier.
>>> I met someone who was into drone photograpy, a few weeks ago. He had a
>>> time-lapse photo of a wind-farm, with the blades in a couple of dozen
>>> positions. "Like sunflowers", he said. Fantastic.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Richard Robinson
>>> "The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem
>>>
>>> My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html
>>
>>I bought a quad copter , took it out and flew it, there was a slight nguyen and it would just drift downnguyen no matter what . its instructions claim it has constipation for a steady nguyen but it doesn't , try to fly it it just winds up down nguyen so it's up on the shelf.
>>
> It's probably the flatteries. It almost always is. Either they are not
> being properly charged or they've been properly charged so many times
> they are now exhausted. Or it's the wrong battery in the first place.
> Fix the battery issue and it ought to work fine.
>
>>I think I'll get a Benson gyrocopter. I was actually gonna try to get one of those as a teenager but my family said we don't want you dead . maybe that would've been better.
>
> Bensons are cool. No need to end up dead if you stay within the
> operational parameters.
>
> Nick

There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"

--
greymausg@mail.com
That's not a mousehole!

On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
> There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
> nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
> that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"

I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.

Tone

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000
Tone <email@address.com> wrote:

> On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
> > There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
> > nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
> > that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>
> I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.

Air rifles are classed as firearms in this country and require a
license so are paintball guns. Spud guns might not need a license[1] but
there is a law against having realistic imitations in public places without
authorisation.

A slingshot or any kind of bow would be OK though[2], unless it hit
someone or was thought to be threatening someone. You could probably be
successfully sued for damaging it though.

[1] If the spud leaves with 1 joule or more of energy then it's a firearm
and must be licensed.
[2] It needs a muzzle to be a firearm.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 13:17:17 +0000, Ahem A Rivet's Shot
<steveo@eircom.net> wrote:

>On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000
>Tone <email@address.com> wrote:
>
>> On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
>> > There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
>> > nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
>> > that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>>
>> I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.
>
> Air rifles are classed as firearms in this country and require a
>license so are paintball guns. Spud guns might not need a license[1] but
>there is a law against having realistic imitations in public places without
>authorisation.
>
> A slingshot or any kind of bow would be OK though[2], unless it hit
>someone or was thought to be threatening someone. You could probably be
>successfully sued for damaging it though.
>
>[1] If the spud leaves with 1 joule or more of energy then it's a firearm
>and must be licensed.
>[2] It needs a muzzle to be a firearm.

One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set
the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the
spud gun must be the possibility that the spud carries an infection
and the pellet could be responsible for the next round of Potato
Blight

Nick

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000, Tone <email@address.com> wrote:

>On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
>> There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
>> nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
>> that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>
>I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.
>
Or another drone.

I bought my £1 drone because I thought it might be useful as spare
parts for my 25p drone but since I managed to get each of them to work
properly and since they are similar to each other but not quite as
interchangeable as I had hoped, I fly them both.

The £1 drone had had its rotor guards removed before I got it so the
first horizontal contact it would have with anything else would be a
pair of high-speed spinning blades. In my fantasies about other drones
overflying my property I go outside and politely ask the drone flyer
to respect my privacy and not to do it any more and if they do it
again, to then send up my kamikaze attack drone and bring the offender
down in my garden. It hasn't happened yet: mainly because nobody I can
think of would find the street where I live remotely interesting
enough to overfly.

Nick

On 27-Nov-21 18:27, Nick Odell wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000, Tone <email@address.com> wrote:
>
>> On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
>>> There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
>>> nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
>>> that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>>
>> I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.
>>
> Or another drone.
>
> I bought my £1 drone because I thought it might be useful as spare
> parts for my 25p drone but since I managed to get each of them to work
> properly and since they are similar to each other but not quite as
> interchangeable as I had hoped, I fly them both.
>
> The £1 drone had had its rotor guards removed before I got it so the
> first horizontal contact it would have with anything else would be a
> pair of high-speed spinning blades. In my fantasies about other drones
> overflying my property I go outside and politely ask the drone flyer
> to respect my privacy and not to do it any more and if they do it
> again, to then send up my kamikaze attack drone and bring the offender
> down in my garden. It hasn't happened yet: mainly because nobody I can
> think of would find the street where I live remotely interesting
> enough to overfly.

There's more than one way to strangle a badger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighter_kite

--
Sam Plusnet

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:11:38 +0000
Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:

> One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
> airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set

Correct an airsoft gun qualifies as a firearm here, they're
perfectly capable of blinding someone.

> the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the

Yes they have pretty much at the point at which the projectile is
capable of causing an injury, I'm not unhappy about that nor about the
banning of realistic imitations. I do occasionally wonder about needle guns
because it seems to me that they could be a lot more dangerous at low
energies - but needle guns are rare (the only one I know of was made by a
school friend of mine just to see if he could) and I suspect there would be
a quick adjustment if that ever changed.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 2021-11-27, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000, Tone <email@address.com> wrote:
>
>>On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
>>> There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
>>> nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
>>> that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>>
>>I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.
>>
> Or another drone.
>
> I bought my £1 drone because I thought it might be useful as spare
> parts for my 25p drone but since I managed to get each of them to work
> properly and since they are similar to each other but not quite as
> interchangeable as I had hoped, I fly them both.
>
> The £1 drone had had its rotor guards removed before I got it so the
> first horizontal contact it would have with anything else would be a
> pair of high-speed spinning blades. In my fantasies about other drones
> overflying my property I go outside and politely ask the drone flyer
> to respect my privacy and not to do it any more and if they do it
> again, to then send up my kamikaze attack drone and bring the offender
> down in my garden. It hasn't happened yet: mainly because nobody I can
> think of would find the street where I live remotely interesting
> enough to overfly.
>
> Nick

I have several toy drones thrown in a corner over there->. Looking at
the internet, I see drones that `Might' be useful at around 12,000
euros. They are dangerous, it is very hard to know how far a person is
from the drone camera, and very easy therefore to actually hit someone.

One of my son's friends brought his to a valley in the mountains, and
sent it off, when it got to where the winds were interrupted, whiff, it
was blown miles away and never found.

The one I described earlier was disposed of by a shotgun blast by her
neighbour. Anyone thinking an airgun would do does not understand the
problems of knowing how far away the thing is. Ask someone who was in a
ack-ack battery when the V1's were coming over, which at this time are
very rare.

--
greymausg@mail.com
That's not a mousehole!

On 27/11/2021 20:06, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:11:38 +0000
> Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>
>> One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
>> airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set
>
> Correct an airsoft gun qualifies as a firearm here, they're
> perfectly capable of blinding someone.
>
>> the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the
>
> Yes they have pretty much at the point at which the projectile is
> capable of causing an injury, I'm not unhappy about that nor about the
> banning of realistic imitations. I do occasionally wonder about needle guns
> because it seems to me that they could be a lot more dangerous at low
> energies - but needle guns are rare (the only one I know of was made by a
> school friend of mine just to see if he could) and I suspect there would be
> a quick adjustment if that ever changed.

What do you understand by the term 'needle gun'?

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 27/11/2021 20:30, Maus wrote:
> On 2021-11-27, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 12:10:41 +0000, Tone <email@address.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 27/11/2021 11:26, Maus wrote:
>>>> There were stories a while ago that enterprising travellers (nudge,
>>>> nudge) were scouting targets with drones. I rang a relative to tell her
>>>> that, and she said, "There has been a drone around here all day"
>>>
>>> I guess an air rifle shot would fix that.
>>>
>> Or another drone.
>>
>> I bought my £1 drone because I thought it might be useful as spare
>> parts for my 25p drone but since I managed to get each of them to work
>> properly and since they are similar to each other but not quite as
>> interchangeable as I had hoped, I fly them both.
>>
>> The £1 drone had had its rotor guards removed before I got it so the
>> first horizontal contact it would have with anything else would be a
>> pair of high-speed spinning blades. In my fantasies about other drones
>> overflying my property I go outside and politely ask the drone flyer
>> to respect my privacy and not to do it any more and if they do it
>> again, to then send up my kamikaze attack drone and bring the offender
>> down in my garden. It hasn't happened yet: mainly because nobody I can
>> think of would find the street where I live remotely interesting
>> enough to overfly.
>>
>> Nick
>
> I have several toy drones thrown in a corner over there->. Looking at
> the internet, I see drones that `Might' be useful at around 12,000
> euros. They are dangerous, it is very hard to know how far a person is
> from the drone camera, and very easy therefore to actually hit someone.
>
> One of my son's friends brought his to a valley in the mountains, and
> sent it off, when it got to where the winds were interrupted, whiff, it
> was blown miles away and never found.
>
> The one I described earlier was disposed of by a shotgun blast by her
> neighbour. Anyone thinking an airgun would do does not understand the
> problems of knowing how far away the thing is. Ask someone who was in a
> ack-ack battery when the V1's were coming over, which at this time are
> very rare.

My stepfather was. By the time V1s began, the Bofors batteries were
radar equipped and the doodle bugs were rarely missed.

I unforget when I was at bawdy fpubby in 1944 I was walking on the Downs
(in crocodile, woodjer bleeve) whenin the sky over the chnnel there
appeared a ragged line of puffs of smoke, then a big red flash and more
smoke.

Then we heard the Bofors battery in Newhaven open up, an almost at the
same time the thuds of the exploding30zz shells - then a noise like
thunder. Ages and ages later a series of echoes of the tableau returned
from the Serapu coast.

What was more random was the accuracy of 3·7" gnus we watched, firing at
drogues towed a long, long way behind a tug (aircraft), but radar ain't
a lot of hfr locating cloff sox innit.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 21:07:58 +0000
RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:

> What do you understand by the term 'needle gun'?

A small device that fires a thin pointed needle like projectile.
The only one I've seen was powered by a soda-siphon cartridge and fired
modified pins (no head and a short length of cotton glued on as a tail) hard
enough to push one through a paperback book a few feet away.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 2021-11-28, Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 21:07:58 +0000
> RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> What do you understand by the term 'needle gun'?
>
> A small device that fires a thin pointed needle like projectile.
> The only one I've seen was powered by a soda-siphon cartridge and fired
> modified pins (no head and a short length of cotton glued on as a tail) hard
> enough to push one through a paperback book a few feet away.
>

The needle gun was an early rifle used by the prussian army in 19th
centory. The needle penetrate the cartridge and hit a primer at direct
back of the bullet. Main snag was that the needle broke constantly and
had to be replaced. Quickly replaced by modern Mausers after the
Franco-Prussian war.

--
greymausg@mail.com
That's not a mousehole!

On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:11:38 +0000, Nick Odell <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com>
wrote:

>One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
>airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set
>the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the
>spud gun must be the possibility that the spud carries an infection
>and the pellet could be responsible for the next round of Potato
>Blight

Of a one-joule spud gun, yes.

This is very much like* a spud gun, only shooting baseballs:

https://youtu.be/cqidD7kVnxY?t=1071

and the baseballs reach well over Mach 1.

Thomas Prufer

* well, maybe...

On 28 Nov 2021 08:58:09 GMT
Maus <Greymaus@mail.com> wrote:

> On 2021-11-28, Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote:
> > On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 21:07:58 +0000
> > RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> What do you understand by the term 'needle gun'?
> >
> > A small device that fires a thin pointed needle like projectile.
> > The only one I've seen was powered by a soda-siphon cartridge and fired
> > modified pins (no head and a short length of cotton glued on as a tail)
> > hard enough to push one through a paperback book a few feet away.
> >
>
> The needle gun was an early rifle used by the prussian army in 19th
> centory. The needle penetrate the cartridge and hit a primer at direct

I see, I'd not come across that before. My first encounter with the
term was in the hands of Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius character
whose needle gun fired needles laced with a mixture of curare and LSD, I'd
hate to experience that! Michael Moorcock had a nasty imagination.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On Sun, 28 Nov 2021 10:42:51 +0100
Thomas Prufer <prufer.public@mnet-online.de.invalid> wrote:

> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:11:38 +0000, Nick Odell
> <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>
> >One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
> >airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set
> >the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the
> >spud gun must be the possibility that the spud carries an infection
> >and the pellet could be responsible for the next round of Potato
> >Blight
>
> Of a one-joule spud gun, yes.
>
> This is very much like* a spud gun, only shooting baseballs:
>
> https://youtu.be/cqidD7kVnxY?t=1071

It seems there are two things called spud guns. One is a canon that
launches a whole potato the other is a toy gun that fires a small pellet of
potato made by digging the end of the gun (or cap cartridge) into the spud.

They came in cap fired versions that looked like a tiny revolver
and held a metal cartridge with the spud in one end and a cap (or three) on
the other and air fired varieties like this (which seem to be the only ones
made now):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun

This looks like the cap based one I had when I was twelve:

https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/807238503/cap-gun-pistol-made-in-england-potato?ref=reviews

With two or three paper caps or a cut down plastic cap (the ones
that came in rings) behind it the spud pellet did sting.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

In article <20211128103129.66d855e3260592f0085b85c7@eircom.net>, Ahem A
Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Sun, 28 Nov 2021 at 10:31:29 awoke
Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>On Sun, 28 Nov 2021 10:42:51 +0100
>Thomas Prufer <prufer.public@mnet-online.de.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:11:38 +0000, Nick Odell
>> <nick@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>> >One joule? Wow! That's about the amount of energy expended by an
>> >airsoft gun with a little plastic pellet so your laws seem to have set
>> >the limits incredibly low. I reckon the most dangerous aspect of the
>> >spud gun must be the possibility that the spud carries an infection
>> >and the pellet could be responsible for the next round of Potato
>> >Blight
>>
>> Of a one-joule spud gun, yes.
>>
>> This is very much like* a spud gun, only shooting baseballs:
>>
>> https://youtu.be/cqidD7kVnxY?t=1071
>
> It seems there are two things called spud guns. One is a canon that
>launches a whole potato the other is a toy gun that fires a small pellet of
>potato made by digging the end of the gun (or cap cartridge) into the spud.
>
> They came in cap fired versions that looked like a tiny revolver
>and held a metal cartridge with the spud in one end and a cap (or three) on
>the other and air fired varieties like this (which seem to be the only ones
>made now):
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun
>
> This looks like the cap based one I had when I was twelve:
>
>https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/807238503/cap-gun-pistol-made-in-england-
>potato?ref=reviews
>
> With two or three paper caps or a cut down plastic cap (the ones
>that came in rings) behind it the spud pellet did sting.
>
Nice bang could be had with two largish bolts screwed into either side
of a nut, Between them were place a 'number' of the paper caps. Screw
hand tight and throw into the air landing on concrete. Certainly loader
than you got out of pop gun.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On Sun, 28 Nov 2021 09:39:16 +0000, Ahem A Rivet's Shot
<steveo@eircom.net> wrote:

>On 28 Nov 2021 08:58:09 GMT
>Maus <Greymaus@mail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 2021-11-28, Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote:
>> > On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 21:07:58 +0000
>> > RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>> >
>> >> What do you understand by the term 'needle gun'?
>> >
>> > A small device that fires a thin pointed needle like projectile.
>> > The only one I've seen was powered by a soda-siphon cartridge and fired
>> > modified pins (no head and a short length of cotton glued on as a tail)
>> > hard enough to push one through a paperback book a few feet away.
>> >
>>
>> The needle gun was an early rifle used by the prussian army in 19th
>> centory. The needle penetrate the cartridge and hit a primer at direct
>
> I see, I'd not come across that before. My first encounter with the
>term was in the hands of Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius character
>whose needle gun fired needles laced with a mixture of curare and LSD, I'd
>hate to experience that! Michael Moorcock had a nasty imagination.

Not necessarily imagination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needlegun#In_fiction links here from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette#Small-arms_ammunition where it
cheerfully says:

Work at Johns Hopkins University in the 1950s led to the development
of the direct injection antipersonnel chemical biological agent
(DIACBA), where flechettes were grooved, hollow pointed, or otherwise
milled to retain a quantity of chemical or biological warfare agent to
be delivered through a ballistic wound. The initial work was with the
nerve agent VX, which had to be thickened to deliver a reliable dose.
Eventually this was replaced by a particulate carbamate. The US
Biological Program also had a microflechette to deliver either
botulinum toxin A or saxitoxin, the M1 biodart, which resembled a 7.62
mm rifle cartridge.

Nick