Potowitzer - Shell Loaded Potato Gun 

If you could fully automate it, you could make a potato minigun! "It takes two hundred thousand farmers to fire this, for twelve seconds..."

Now make it belt fed

Hello to all the backyard scientist watchers!

RU-vid's algorithm brought me here 7 years late to congratulate you on reinventing the Dynamite gun. That was a weapon that used compressed air to lob explosives over short distances. Some of the field artillery versions use a similar ignited gas system.

This is actually giving me tons of ideas. Like how you can make this a breach-block like system!

I know it's an old video, but I really like the design, just add a metal clip to the top of the loader that clicks onto the lip of the shell when you close it, that way when you pull it back it will remove the old shell for you :)

Nice! Since You were 3d printing the shells,, you could make the shells with one (ideally 2) grooves and slap some rubber o-sings, those should seal the shell easily so you don't have to grease it.

This is AWESOME. I thought about this for a while. You guys killed it.

Who ants to fit one of these on a canoe with me and have a naval battle😂

Okay, but hearinf you both count together in "Missisippis" was super wholesome, keep up the great content!

Kim Jong Un @ his generals: YES. THAT. WRITE THAT DOWN.

I don't know how I found this station, but I am happy I did.

This is great! I was just thinking of making something like this, good to know that the pre-charged propane shells are a viable option!

when i first saw this i imagined a Airsoft tank or smth like that which would be pretty cool where u have a gunner, and a loader

pls show how to make this, I would love you forever if you did so.

I watched this video years ago, gave a lot of insperation for my own projects. Thank you :)

All you need is an extractor, and a self locking mechanism. Awesome design.

GUYS!!! Thank you so much for the inspiration! My friends and I are making a real tank and we needed a cannon concept. TBIS IS PERFECT!!!!

That's amazing. Sound like M203 grenade luncher when it fire

If you add a sprung catch / hook to the breech, as you pull the breech back the catch would also pull the spent cartridge back into the ejection slot, allowing gravity to clear the shell. You just need the catch to engage with the ridge of the endcap, much in the same way your fingers do at 3:51

I dont mean to be "That guy" but anyone attempting to make this should be aware that legally speaking, a cartridge-fed potato cannon with a bore of over .5 inches (or .50 cal) might be very illegal. In the united states, muzzle-loaded firearms are federally unregulated, meaning there aren't really any rules to having cannons. The issue lies in the fact that your design takes advantage of a cartridge-based system, and in the united states the largest projectile you can shoot from a cartridge is .50 caliber unless you have every round registered alongside a bunch of other legal stuff. (I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, I'm just someone who has knowledge and experience with the NFA and the rules regarding firearms)

Sweet project, you did there. Looks definitely like a lot of fun... ❤

That's so awesome! Now to make this with a huge magazine and extractor

Magnets for extractor! Nice build BTW!

you could create an extreaction and ejection method by redoing the top electrical contact, have it bend down to creat contact, then have a tongue come down and "lock" over the rim of the shell, then when you pull back the breach the toungue would catch and pull the shell out as well, then manually load another shell, close the breach and the toungue would catch the rim, etc...

Great idea. You need an extractor. I never understood the vital importance of extractors until I saw your design. Then you need a magazine. Then if you can do bolt action you can aspire to semi-automatic and automatic. I'm certain you could do those if you were willing to put in the resources. I believe for your design the extractor is very easy, just one tab right next to the electrical lead parallel to the barrel, but this one reaching about an inch farther to click into place over the lip of the cartridge. This would be designed to ride over the lip of the cartridge (like a fence latch) as you prepare to fire and catch and then pull back and down with enough force to remove the spent cartridge as you pull the action back after firing. Also you could easily design the potato gun so that there is a handle on the right or below with a trigger and the left handle farther back so that a single operator could use it and it would be a more stable platform. This assumes you can reload easily, like if you figure out the magazine. Or one person could just both reload it and fire it I guess. Anyway such a cool idea guys, thank you. Also for sure you can play around with projectiles and range optimization and various cartridge sizes. Then you need a contract with the navy. :)

This....this is art!!!

I've been trying to design reloadable shells that house the gas and ammo for a spud cannon and you guys are the first people I've seen to have a similar idea. Cool video

I made a potato bolt action gun once, it used a double bolt kinda situation for the gas and potato shells individually. This does however give me an idea on how to make a lower caliber magazine loaded bolt action that functions much faster and accurately

great one! adding a hook behind may be helpful to simplify the reloading process. it can drag the barrel off the track.

You guys definitely have the skill set and knowledge to create a real live firearm from materials you can purchase in any big box hardware store. You should put something together that nobody else has done. You would gain sooooo many subscribers from the gun community and it is totally legal as long as you follow certain measurements and rules set forth by the BATFE. Thx for this video and info and definitely a big "Thumbs Up".

I’m building a tank out of a lawnmower. I will for sure have to make this

My dad has his own potato launcher but it is a potato musket and it’s really old so it doesn’t work. It’s really large and it can cover about 1 acre of range and yes I know I said it’s broken but it stopped working not too long ago so we still used it before it broke I still remember it. It was really big and really loud and burnt my finger trying to fire it so I recommend you wear gloves, but that never happened again so you don’t have to

Wheni was a teenager I found out that if u put the tater in the end, spray hairspray in the other end then push the tater down to compress the air and fuel it gave us a better further shot.

I like how youtube is raccomending me this 7 years later

We have gone from Muskets to Cartridges. Soon we will have Potato Machine Guns.

This is amazing

That's probably the most bad ass thing I've ever seen and I've been to 2 worlds fairs and a donkey show.

I made a one shot, break open shotgun like this back in 2005. I used it until 2008 when I noticed a crack in the chamber. I kept it for years before it was burned up, when my storage was burned down, due to a range fire.

I didn't see any asking so I figure I have to, is there any plans available online or from you that give the dimensions and materials needed to make one of these??

You could use a wood plug with a bullet like taper. The wood plug could be marinated in gas with the petroleum jelly, you could shoot a fireball.

Cool! I see somebody has actually started with this concept. The shell is the first step to the truly automatic potato gun. (Enough of the pepper-boxes claiming to be Gatlings. Lets build a real one!) Now you just need enough of the cartridges to do it. For a high volume firing spud gun, it's probably more safe to keep the propellant out of the spud cartridge though. So it's still going to have a few more engineering challenges in that regard.

Potatoes are good because they are heavier, denser and create an awesome seal. They fire harder and faster. Still really cool though

You need an "ejector" on the top of the slide that will "hop" over the rear lip on the cartridge, then hooks on and pulls the "casing" out on the backstroke, like any semi auto gun...

It would be easy to make an extractor to pull that tube cartridge out when you pull the wooden bolt back. A simple hook made out of wood with a spring to help clip it over the PVC end cap edge. You could mount it on the top and move the electric strip off to one side. It should be able to pull the tube back and let it fall. But if the tube hangs up, the hook. could be made so that when you pull the bolt back it would go under a bar that would rock the hook up to release the tube of it doesn't fall.

Just saw this. Awesome take on a potato gun.

This idea has a lot of potential.

Love the desing, i def think not having to ram the potatoe is nice. I went about it a different way by having my potatoe cannon be bolt action. Barrel and combustion chamber separate, potatoe goes in back of the barrel and the combustion chamber gets pulled back forwards, has gasket/o ring to seal. Cannon was a 63mm L48

I saw you guys on discovery science you guys are awesome

So much fun. I used to use hair spray for my muzzle loader tater launcher.

I agree with the comments about an extractor. Make the upper contact a bit longer and put a 90 degree bend in it so it hooks over the edge of the cap on the cartridge (right were you were using your fingers).

This is actually quite a fun idea, I've seen _many_ takes on potato guns (I was a moderator on the Spudtech forums before they became spudfiles and have been an active member since, if you know what that means, then you know lol. If you dont know, that was over 20 years ago when internet forums on things you liked was the only social media and it was fun and nice and respectful😒) and an artillary cannon style potato gun is one I haven't really seen before. I've seen lots of repeaters, revolvers, even _semiautos_ lol, but something that replicates a man-loaded artillery piece is something special. You guys should revisit this project with higher power fuels like compressed air and propane held back by a burst disc held between a PVC union, make that a part of the cartridge and your road to youtube success will be fully paved😅. On a side note, if anyone enjoys fun potato guns, I've got two recent videos on my channel showcasing one I will be shooting soon, it's a bolt action propane powered tennis ball cannon, capable of throwing water filled tennis balls at 450 fps. Dangerous. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7RcewWb2ZwI.html

you should modify the tab you use for the + connection so that it also hooks onto the rear lip of the shells, that way it extracts them when you pull back the breach block

Make shells go boom on impact.

This thing is the definition of bad ass!!

since you load it with the ram back, you could probably make a shell extractor so you don't have to knock the shells out yourself. Just like a tab that catches on the cap

Nice project! One thing to add, where on top there's a extention for electrical contact you could use a hook over the exention to grip the rim of the shell so that ejecting them manually becomes even faster.

I have an idea here, tell me what you think: use a burst disk/pressure release valve in front of a hybrid combustion chamber with hydrogen and oxygen. use a magnetic induction coil to avoid the need of metal contacts use aluminium casting and a 3d printed sabot to make a sabot round If any of you watched the myth-busters arrow machine gun episode, essentially the mechanism would be an up-scaled version of that possibly with an electric motor instead of a handle spun wheel

An upgrade idea: modify the top contact strap to pull the shell out of the breech, just like a bolt action rifle.

I'm honestly very curious how they made this, I would pay to have a small DIY instruction build on making it. I'm thinking for a more fun purpose, such as mounting it to a car or something, but it'd still be fun to have in general.

you could 3d print something that ejects the case, maybe a piece of plastic on the slider that picks the back of the shell

Since you are using something as light as 3d print I wondered if you'd be interested in making a folding finned projectile for your Potowitzer.

this is amazing!! you guys should totally try to make a double barrel potowitzer

you guys are so Nerdy but in the best way! keep it up!

You can try and make a projectild that can hold paint powder, it is more fun to see an explosion after a hit.

You can/should use the petroleum jelly to diesel the projectile by putting some on the underside that will experience the high pressure...for all of you kids out there that have no clue what I am talking about and are known to get in some trouble now and again ...this is specifically for you... diesel fuel does not need spark plugs to ignite.. It automatically ignites under pressure with the correct fuel to air ratio...many different fuels can be dieseled...and petroleum jelly happens to be one of them ..people take PJ... And put a tiny bit in the cavity on the back side of .177 pellets for pellet guns.. The pressure causes it to ignite and dramatically increasing velocity of the projectile..just need to make a similar indentation in the 3d printed projectile and you are in for some fun.. Be prepared for people to call the cops because it does make it sound alot louder

I have to ask for a follow up video... with whistles printed into the projectile fins. awesome work.

Holy shit. This showing up in my recommended was crazy. I watched this video like 6 years ago

Very clever.

looks like fun love the update, fyi if you extend your top contact it could double as a spring latch to draw the cartraige out

the potowitzer reminds me a lot of breech loading swivel guns

You could also have a plate on the back of the shell and a plate linkt with the igniter so you can shoot quicker

The petroleum jelly also aids with penetration of any butt shots.

You could make the top electrical contact √ shaped, so it contacts the metal ring, but also slides over the endcap's edge. Then when you pull it out, it'd snag the endcap and pull the shell out, dropping it when it clears the barrel.

What if y’all use some sort of extractor to grip the rim of the shell to increase speed by not having to push the shell out

MAKE A MAGAZINE. that would be amazing to have it fully automated. and an easy little holder mounted on top would be amazing.

I’m holding out until someone invents the fully auto potato gun

It's a very good design my congratulations

Perfect!

If you could use compressed air or co2 cartridges you could make a pretty cool airsoft cannon.

Perfect

pretty cool

I used to have so much fun with potato guns. I once made one with a 4" pipe that would shoot a tall can of dog food as ammo. It had a pretty wild kick.

We need an ordnance lab collab now

If you added a simple pair of extractors, one hook to either side of the top contact to grab the rim of the shells, your empties would drop free as you re-cock the cannon, speeding up your firing rate. At first glance the metal bar looked like it was an extractor, but you showed that it came up short, and was the contact to the perimeter of the shell.

You guys can use a rubber membrane, like stretched balloons, as sealing.

Yes.

"Let me show you its FEATURES!"

We need a gravity fed mag with an auto extractor for the shells. The slide going back should grab the shell and pull it back

consider filling the shells with rosin, or spin casting for a hollow but even coating to provide some weight and durability

How do you get the grill lighter to light the propane that's inside the shell?

Depending on where you live (US vs Canada), ATF might rule this a destructive device, given its bore is greater than half-inch and it fires a projectile from a self-contained cartridge. A previous ruling about caseless ammo could be distorted to include PVC cased ammo. Great ingenuity and work, though.

😂 I wish I had seen this when I was a kid in the 80s! 😂

You should attempt a sabot, I feel like that would be interesting.

The lack of potatoes disturbs me.

I don't wanna rag or anything but for enhanced "shelliness" close up the "breech" a bit more so if feels more like a canon

I just had a idea . If the canon would have lunched tree seeds in a lil bullet you could make a tree altilety potato cannon

i think it would be awesome if you made a discarding sabot for the potato cannon love the videos

they need to add an extractor/ejector mechanism and it will be essentially a real howitzer