High precision nail darts?

[Forum Admin]

Have you tried that thicker paper yet? If you can think of a good base material, you might want to try using the paper as fin stabilizers too. I've really been having good luck with them, paper towels make an ok base wad, soon I'll get a 1" thick sheet of foam to use instead.

[FighterAce]

I tried them... getting the same accuracy as my regular thin paper darts.. the only difference is that I dont get any rips in the paper and I could use the dart again if I could pull the nail out straight.

I even tried the fins and I'm not too happy with them. For consistent shooting you'd need to place them at the right spot so they dont effect the balance and make them perfectly level so the fins dont cause the dart to turn in mid air. You'd also have to be careful not to bend the fins. They can act as ailerons if you know what I mean 

Nail dart that doesnt want to stay level inside the barrel is still my enemy #1
My first idea failed but I have another ace up my sleeve  Place a short paper tail in the front of the larger paper tail, give it some spiral cuts and you have a centering device and "rifling" in 1

[josephlys]

{Place a short paper tail in the front of the larger paper tail, give it some spiral cuts and you have a centering device and "rifling" in 1} Posted on: PMPosted by: FighterAce . Can this really work as a stabalizer for AGs. have you tested it? How many fps is your guns muzzel velocity. Mine is low powered 100 psi in (1 foot 3/8 dia steel pipe) will your stabalizer work in a low power AGs.

[Forum Admin]

I had mixed results with fins made of printer paper, but great results with cardboard cut from my superglue and pellet packaging.   3/4" long stabilizes a 16d nail perfectly when cut to fit snug in a .545" ID barrel. A more weather proof solution I plan to try soon is pounding the tail end flat and making 2 canted fins that will produce a stabilizing spin (similar to the SCMITR). I really need to get a small sledge hammer to make such activities easier.   Combine that with a hook that produces a spinning knife on impact, and hopefully I'll have one very lethal dart.  

[FighterAce]

Can this really work as a stabalizer for AGs. have you tested it? How many fps is your guns muzzel velocity. Mine is low powered 100 psi in (1 foot 3/8 dia steel pipe) will your stabalizer work in a low power AGs.

I think it should.. havent tested it yet because I have very little free time at this point.
GGDT says they are going around 122fps but it dont buy it, seems to me they are going a lot faster. Mine goes up to 10 bar (for now) so I dont think there will be any problems at 7 bar.

I've heard of shotgun shells called SCMITR but after I googled it to confirm what I know about em I found these things again



If they fly more stable then the 5.56 then this is the way to go    Also, check out that sabot 

[FighterAce]

I was thinking about the blast shifting the dart after firing... if you dont cut the paper 90° at the end, air could have more force on the side where theres more paper and thus tilt the dart in mid air and possibly inside the barrel causing the nail to "hug" one side of the barrel wall. What do you think?

I'll try cutting a few dart ends at weird angles to see how they fly and see if this really is a factor

[FighterAce]

I just cut one dart at a weird angle and it flew like sh**. It seems to me this really is a big factor. Inspired by a jet engine nozzle designed to cool the hot exhaust, I came up with this radical tail end design.



It seems to fly really nice out of the blowgun, I'm gonna test them tomorrow to check their grouping.

I tried shooting the dart out of the blowgun with both 7cm and 5cm nails. The 5cm nail seems to fly much faster and level. I'm not quite sure what I should do to make it stable with the 7cm nail. Because it has a bigger head then the 5cm, theres less paper left behind the head so thats like less tail. For it to work I'd have to switch to a 3/4 barrel to allow for a bigger and longer tail for stabilization. Because a bigger bullet out of the 3/4 barrel has more drag, it wouldnt be as powerfull at 100 meters as it would out of the 1/2 barrel right? Or would the power difference be neglible?
I wish some1 made some data points on barrel diameter/bullet drag and distance.

[FighterAce]

There was some very strong wind yesterday. Same thing today but I still tried to shoot them but with no luck. With such strong wind even the normal darts had erratic flight paths and landed all over the target. This test is really scrapped, I'll need to make a new set of darts to repeat the test.

btw. sry for the quattro post but nobody is replying and if I just edit it, it wouldnt register as a new post and nobody would see it 

[Forum Admin]

Funny, it was windy here yesterday as well. I couldnt get anything done, the kids were being kids. 
Dont worry about multiple posts, they dont bother me a bit. Hope you have better luck with the weather. Its supposed to be nice here tomorrow and I get off at noon. 

[FighterAce]

That rabbit aint gonna wait for the wind to calm down so you can shoot em 
Seems like darts arent such a good choice for windy scenarios. I'm thinking about a completely new design, gotta get some parts today so I can make a prototype.

[BoyntonStu]

That rabbit aint gonna wait for the wind to calm down so you can shoot em 
Seems like darts arent such a good choice for windy scenarios. I'm thinking about a completely new design, gotta get some parts today so I can make a prototype.

Heavy bullets do better in wind.

I believer that the cross sectional area dimension that is most affected by the wind.

Truck vs car, etc..

I like the way you keep on trying.

You are a great role model!

[Forum Admin]

That rabbit aint gonna wait for the wind to calm down so you can shoot em 
Seems like darts arent such a good choice for windy scenarios. I'm thinking about a completely new design, gotta get some parts today so I can make a prototype.

That's for sure! Bow hunters have the same problem with the wind. That's why I've been trying to find a way to keep the tail as small and light as possible and increase the weight of the projectile itself. I've had mixed success with all metal darts, most of my problem has been with sabot separation. Today I'm going to get some better material to work with, so wish me luck. Keep us informed on your results. 

[FighterAce]

dang... they really do fly horrible in the wind




We need something different then a conical tail...

[FighterAce]

Theres your problem 



When you fold paper into a cone, usually theres one spot where there is just one layer of paper. This proved to be a weak spot in the design. It folded to one side after firing and disturbed the balance of the tail so it landed sideways, bending the nail. Lucky I was shooting at an angle... again 

[FighterAce]

Heres another try at fins. I was surprised how flat it flew out of the blowgun. I'll have to make a few more to check the grouping.




It was really easy to make and it both centers and stabilizes the dart. If anyone wants to try it out, I can post some pics.