The arrow zipped through the tin can and embedded itself firmly into a marula tree. The young farm boy smiled happily: "This one is great! It is a really dangerous weapon"

Pipegun

The young boy was my cousin, Leon Jacobs, who invented this spear gun himself. It is an ingenious design, which can easily be manufactured with very few tools. All you need is a bamboo stick or PVC pipe, a dowel or straight stick, a fairly thick nail or wire, copper wire or string and a bicycle or motorcar inner tube. If you have a penknife or Leatherman you are set.

I would not recommend any boy making this weapon for recreational purposes. It can really be dangerous. With this weapon your son could certainly take out the neighbour’s cat or even the neighbour himself. And no matter how much of an annoyance he or his cat is, you and your son are bound to end up in big trouble.

It may, however, come to pass that you find yourself in a survival situation. You will certainly need some kind of shelter, food and water. A weapon of some sort can have a dual purpose - a means to defend yourself against an enemy or a predator and a means to hunt with. Perhaps you cannot find a big enough bush or tree to make a bow with, but you do have a pipe of some sort, be it a PVC pipe or even one of these sturdy brown paper holders which are often used for mailing things. Any pipe that is strong enough to fit the trigger system on to, and soft enough to cut with the cutting tool you have available, be it a knife, a saw or a cutting torch.

You will need a piece of reasonably hard wire - about 2mm or thicker. You will need a dowel, a reed or a straight stick (shoot from a branch) of about 60cm (24 inches) or longer. You will need something from which to fashion a point, be it a thick wire, a piece of metal, a piece of bone or horn, or whatever would be strong enough to penetrate. All of these you might find in the veld. The wire you may find on a fence or on the wreckage of your car or plane.

The biggest problem will be the pipe and the inner tube. If you have a wrecked car or plane, the inner tube would be no problem, and if you look carefully you may find something else to use instead. If, however, you are lost on a hike or for some other reason, it may be much harder to find a pipe. If you happen to stumble across a bamboo bush, you are set. All you need to do is to hollow out the bamboo completely.

To make the pipe spear gun you have to follow the following steps:	Cut a square of about 2cm (across the pipe) by 40 cm (along the length of pipe) at the back of the pipe - about 10 to 15cm (4 to 6 inches) from the end.
Then drill a hole 1 to 1,5cm above this hole - through both sides of the pipe/bamboo.	Take a piece of wire, straight and long enough to go through both holes in the bamboo. Push the wire through both holes and bend it flat on both sides, so that the wire sits tight. You now have the basis for your trigger.
	Now you have to fit the piece of inner tube to the front of the pipe. The tube will project your arrow. The tube will be cut to a length, depending on the length of the pipe, that will provide enough force to drive the arrow. Here you will have to experiment a bit. Tie the tube to the front end of the pipe as indicated on sketch D. You can tie it to the pipe with pieces of the tube cut at a width of about 5 to 10mm. • You can make the arrow from reeds, a dowel or a thin, straight stick. Cut a notch at the back, into which the tube can fit. You also have to make a little hole in the arrow for the trigger to slip into. • Fit your arrowhead to the arrow and tie it down. (We will show you how to make arrowheads and how to fit them to your arrow in future articles.)
You can now fit the trigger by bending another wire around the wire fitted to the pipe gun. You have to bend the trigger as close as possible as shown on sketch D.

You are now ready to try out your new weapon.