Popgun Challenge

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We were asked to help at the local Church Fete by providing some form of stall or entertainment.  Mike and I between us had several low power air rifles which were seldom used, so we decided to try using them for a Shooting Gallery. This had to be safe for all to use, so strict supervision and no risk of ammunition straying too far or bouncing back.. The targets were to be small boxes of Chocolate Drops or Jelly Sweets stacked on a shelf in front of a loosely suspended backdrop made from an old bed sheet - knock one down and you win it. The big challenge was to convert the rifles to fire corks instead of the usual  pellets, so a few experiments were carried out in the workshop before making adapters to fit over the muzzle end of the rifles. These were designed to fire wine bottle corks, and over a five meter range were just powerful enough to knock over the targets, and as a bonus they went off with a sharp crack. A couple of friends volunteered to open a few bottles of wine and donate the corks, after a few weeks had donated about 100 corks, so a big thank you to Robin,Sam and Keith. The event was a great success, and the stall was kept busy all afternoon with customers of all ages having a try.