# Could I make a working gun entirely out of diamond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094 "2010-11-18T14:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/21 "2010-11-18T20:38:25Z")
Read the thread, **kmb** ; no gunpowder. In fact, no bullets. It’s a flechette gun, and that might make the diamond/fullerene thingie almost feasible. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/22 "2010-11-18T20:42:02Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Read the thread, **kmb** ; no gunpowder. In fact, no bullets. It’s a flechette gun, and that might make the diamond/fullerene thingie almost feasible. Oh, missed that post =) Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/23 "2010-11-18T22:31:28Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Should have made it clear - with diamond bullets! Well, they would probably kill the victim. But his heirs might be pleased. Presumably the diamond bullet embedded in his body becomes part of the victims estate. And a diamond big enough to be a bullet would be quite valuable! ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/24 "2010-11-18T22:50:24Z")
I have no doubt that a buckytube composite gun would be functional. The diamonds would be superfluous. Particularly in the future, when 10 cm nanotubes are commonplace. Hell, at that point, you may have buckytubes the diameter of a bullet. The barrel could be one giant multi-walled carbon nanotube. By that point, we wont be using copper for electronics anymore. Turn that buckytube into a coil and make it a coil gun. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/25 "2010-11-19T04:58:56Z")
a crossbow might work better ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/26 "2010-11-19T08:19:22Z")
A diamond crossbow? Now that’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/27 "2010-11-19T13:01:58Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, they would probably kill the victim. But his heirs might be pleased. Presumably the diamond bullet embedded in his body becomes part of the victims estate. And a diamond big enough to be a bullet would be quite valuable! Probably no so much if it is a manufactured industrial diamond. Reminds me of an old Chris Rock routine: "You don’t need no gun control, you know what you need? We need some bullet control. Men, we need to control the bullets, that’s right. I think all bullets should cost five thousand dollars… five thousand dollars per bullet… You know why? Cause if a bullet cost five thousand dollars there would be no more innocent bystanders. Yeah! Every time somebody get shut we’d say, ‘Damn, he must have done something … Shit, he’s got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his ass.’ And people would think before they killed somebody if a bullet cost five thousand dollars. ‘Man I would blow your fucking head off…if I could afford it.’ ‘I’m gonna get me another job, I’m going to start saving some money, and you’re a dead man. You’d better hope I can’t get no bullets on layaway.’ So even if you get shot by a stray bullet, you wouldn’t have to go to no doctor to get it taken out. Whoever shot you would take their bullet back, like “I believe you got my property.” ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/28 "2010-11-19T14:01:47Z")
> [@JXJohns](#): > > The bullets would trip any scanner or metal detector. FYI This is reminding me of the airport backscatter thread that’s currently going on; I chose not to jump on anything there, but I will here just because that thread was irritating me. A metal detector will not usually detect (a small number of) bullets. It depends on the device’s sensitivity and how it’s calibrated. I’ve accidentally carried ammunition through a checkpoint. In fact, at the time, I sometimes used my laptop bag to carry my pistol, ammo, and other shooting gear, and then when I had to go visit a client would just swap the range stuff out for the work stuff. I never once even got tripped up by the explosive detectors. Nitrocellulose? Not detected by explosive detection tools? Bullets not detected by metal detectors? Thank god they managed to find my tiny screwdriver and toothpaste. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094/29 "2010-11-19T14:19:38Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Well, you wouldn’t get it past an eager TSA groper anyway unless you designed a way to stow it in your hoohoo. You wear it as bling on a gold necklace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-make-a-working-gun-entirely-out-of-diamond/561094.md?page=1)