In recent posts I've shown photos of examples of my prototypes of a type of subcaliber blowgun dart that uses a lightweight shaft as a stabilizer, rather than the molded full caliber "cone" stabilizer that most conventional commercial blowgun darts use. To the side and further below are pictures of another example of this type of shaft-stabilized dart. The particular dart shown uses a foreshaft that is made from a sharp-pointed metal rod/shaft taken from a commercially manufactured "spearhead" dart that originally had a full caliber molded plastic cone stabilizer attached at the rear. I replaced the original full caliber cone stabilizer with one of my prototype stabilizer-shafts, made from a section of plastic sipper-stirrer straw. In many of the pictures the shaft-stabilezed prototype dart appears for comparison alongside a full caliber cone-stabilized dart; I shot both darts into plywood for a comparison of performance in accuracy and penetration.
The orange item in the top picture is a type of full caliber sabot with a forward-facing socket for the subcaliber dart to seat within. When launched, the sabot separates and the dart continues alone-- very streamlined with the narrow stabilizer shaft. When the dart and sabot are loaded in the barrel together, pending launch, sometimes I use a magnet to keep the dart from sliding or moving prematurely down the barrel. However, this combination of dart and sabot can also be used without a magnet, as long as I'm careful not to tilt the barrel too far downward. I have loaded the dart and sabot both by breech loading and by muzzle loading. During loading, if not using the magnet, I hold the barrel with the muzzle slightly elevated, so that gravity can help keep the back end of the dart seated within the sabot's socket. If I'm careful, when I'm ready to shoot I can orient the barrel at somewhat of an angle below the horizontal without dislodging the dart from the sabot's socket... friction helps hold the dart in place as long as I don't jolt the barrel or move or swing it too suddenly. Of course, if using a magnet, I can handle the blowgun more freely, and point the barrel straight down if I want without dislodging the dart. Anyhow, even without the magnet I haven't had any difficulty in being able to angle the barrel downward sufficiently to shoot at a target that was about knee high, from 10 yards' distance. So even without a magnet, a target shooter can easily use this kind of set-up to shoot subcaliber darts.
I shot an unmodified, full caliber cone-stabilized "spearhead" dart into quarter-inch plywood from a little over 10 yards, then shot the straw-stabilized "spearhead" dart into the plywood from the same distance. They both exhibited penetration through the plywood, with a small portion of the "spearhead" tip protruding from the far side of the plywood. Accuracy was good with the straw-stabilized "spearhead" dart; I was able to hit my intended point of aim near and to the side of the cone-stabilized dart that was already embedded in the plywood. I've shown pictures of the full caliber spearhead dart and subcaliber spearhead dart stuck in the plywood side by side, with views from the front, back, and side of the plywood to make it easier to compare penetration performance of the darts.
One other note: in some of the pictures you can probably see the "scotch" tape peeling up a bit from where I used it to help hold the straw stabilizer-shaft in place on the metal spearhead rod/shaft. I actually conducted this test a few weeks ago, so the tape is starting to relax its grip.
The orange item in the top picture is a type of full caliber sabot with a forward-facing socket for the subcaliber dart to seat within. When launched, the sabot separates and the dart continues alone-- very streamlined with the narrow stabilizer shaft. When the dart and sabot are loaded in the barrel together, pending launch, sometimes I use a magnet to keep the dart from sliding or moving prematurely down the barrel. However, this combination of dart and sabot can also be used without a magnet, as long as I'm careful not to tilt the barrel too far downward. I have loaded the dart and sabot both by breech loading and by muzzle loading. During loading, if not using the magnet, I hold the barrel with the muzzle slightly elevated, so that gravity can help keep the back end of the dart seated within the sabot's socket. If I'm careful, when I'm ready to shoot I can orient the barrel at somewhat of an angle below the horizontal without dislodging the dart from the sabot's socket... friction helps hold the dart in place as long as I don't jolt the barrel or move or swing it too suddenly. Of course, if using a magnet, I can handle the blowgun more freely, and point the barrel straight down if I want without dislodging the dart. Anyhow, even without the magnet I haven't had any difficulty in being able to angle the barrel downward sufficiently to shoot at a target that was about knee high, from 10 yards' distance. So even without a magnet, a target shooter can easily use this kind of set-up to shoot subcaliber darts.
I shot an unmodified, full caliber cone-stabilized "spearhead" dart into quarter-inch plywood from a little over 10 yards, then shot the straw-stabilized "spearhead" dart into the plywood from the same distance. They both exhibited penetration through the plywood, with a small portion of the "spearhead" tip protruding from the far side of the plywood. Accuracy was good with the straw-stabilized "spearhead" dart; I was able to hit my intended point of aim near and to the side of the cone-stabilized dart that was already embedded in the plywood. I've shown pictures of the full caliber spearhead dart and subcaliber spearhead dart stuck in the plywood side by side, with views from the front, back, and side of the plywood to make it easier to compare penetration performance of the darts.
One other note: in some of the pictures you can probably see the "scotch" tape peeling up a bit from where I used it to help hold the straw stabilizer-shaft in place on the metal spearhead rod/shaft. I actually conducted this test a few weeks ago, so the tape is starting to relax its grip.
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