# Man builds gun to fire pumpkin a mile **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876 "2002-10-18T19:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/1 "2002-10-18T19:31:19Z")
From Ananova: \*\* > [@](#): > > Man builds gun to fire pumpkin a mile > > A man in the US has built a cannon to fire a pumpkin a mile. > > Jim Bristoe’s invention has a 30 foot barrel and is powered by a 700 gallon air tank. > > It’s named “Ain’t All There”. > > During a demonstration in Elletsville, Indiana the 42-year-old electrician and mechanic said: “You don’t need to cover your ears, but you’re going to know I shot it.” > > When Mr Bristoe fires the cannon, a 10 pound pumpkin is hit with 11,300 pounds of force. > > He says the pumpkin projectile leaves the muzzle at about 900 mph, and during the test it fired a pumpkin through the rear of a Pontiac. > > Mr Bristoe plans to take the two tonne pumpkin cannon to the first annual Pumpkin Propulsion Contest at Verizon Wireless Music Centre near Noblesville, on Saturday. > > The contest is sponsored by Indianapolis radio station WRZX-FM and is the brainchild of morning show host Gonzo Greg and his colleagues. > > “It’s more of an exhibition than a competition, and we don’t know what to expect in terms of entries,” said Greg. > Story filed: 18:04 Friday 18th October 2002 > > \*\* What if this fell into the hands of Saddam Hussein? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/2 "2002-10-18T19:43:14Z")
He picked the right name for it, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/3 "2002-10-18T19:45:15Z")
Great, just what we need . . . A pumpkin-sniper, shooting from up to a mile away! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/4 "2002-10-18T19:47:26Z")
Police have released this [preliminary sketch](http://dougbarber.com/red/Red_Photos/pumpkin/pumpkin.html) of the suspect . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/5 "2002-10-18T19:50:35Z")
Eve and Shirley, you silly girls. Thanx for the Fri p.m. giggle. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/6 "2002-10-18T20:02:13Z")
Witnesses to the pumpkin-sniper cannot agree on whether the pumpkin was smiling or frowning. But all agreed that the pumpkin had an eerie glow behind his triangular shaped eyes. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/7 "2002-10-18T20:06:00Z")
THat pretty much made my day. I mean who wouldn’t love to see a pumpkin fly a mile. (yeah, I know, small things, small minds, amusement, blah blah - I don’t care.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/8 "2002-10-18T20:17:57Z")
My potato gun is suddenly passe? ---
**Author:** ![Fibonacci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Fibonacci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibonacci)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/9 "2002-10-18T21:09:53Z")
“The contest is sponsored by Indianapolis radio station WRZX-FM and is the brainchild of morning show host Gonzo Greg and his colleagues.” Some brainchild. [The World Championship Punkin’ Chunkin’ event](http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com) has been taking place in Lewes, Delaware since about 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/10 "2002-10-18T21:20:07Z")
Funny, some of the witnesses at the crime scene gave the police a description that fit [this guy](http://us.imdb.com/EGallery?source=ss&group=0145487&photo=NB29-S1.jpg&path=gallery&path_key=0145487) pretty well, too. Guess it just goes to show you can’t always trust eye-witness accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/11 "2002-10-18T21:29:00Z")
Oh, and every year my High School’s Physics classes have a pumpkin launching contest, but they’re not allowed to have any hydraulics or anything. ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/12 "2002-10-19T05:24:25Z")
The story sounds wrong. 900mph is supersonic. I doubt you can get a pumpkin to supersonic speeds in a 30 ft long barrel without destroying the pumpkin. The resulting pumkin pulp would not travel a mile. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/13 "2002-10-19T21:08:43Z")
Exceeding the speed of squash. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/14 "2002-10-19T23:07:09Z")
Starfish, perhaps the gentleman uses a sabot, such as those used in shotguns to limit the in-flight spread of shot pellets. –Nott ---
**Author:** ![EggNogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@EggNogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EggNogg)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/15 "2002-10-19T23:11:29Z")
The words that stike fear into any Brit: “Only in America” egg ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/16 "2002-10-20T00:13:33Z")
It’s the Great Pumpkin Cannon, Charlie Brown! ---
**Author:** ![Badandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@Badandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badandi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/17 "2002-10-20T00:47:12Z")
And the Punkin’ Chunkin’ happens to be about ten miles away from my house… It pretty much sums up the mentality of Sussex County Delaware. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/18 "2002-10-20T01:48:07Z")
God, please let someone get a video of this thing onto the internet 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/19 "2002-10-20T02:26:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by starfish \* > \*\*The story sounds wrong. 900mph is supersonic. I doubt you can get a pumpkin to supersonic speeds in a 30 ft long barrel without destroying the pumpkin. The resulting pumkin pulp would not travel a mile. \*\* From what I saw in the paper this morning I think it should be “900 feet per second,” not 900 miles an hour. 900 fps is about 600 mph, just under sonic speed. It is about the same as the muzzle velocity of a cal. .45 Colt Automatic Pistol bullet. It would still require a pretty stout pumpkin. But, what a hoot! ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876/20 "2002-10-20T03:20:42Z")
…meanwhile, on the other side of Noblesville, the residents were heard to say… “Where the **HELL** are all these flying pumpkins coming from?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-builds-gun-to-fire-pumpkin-a-mile/132876.md?page=2)