# Vampire Hunting Kits: An In-thing in the 18th Century, I'm Sure **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901 "2018-08-20T04:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/41 "2018-08-22T13:43:37Z")
Note, I’m not saying I think these things are legit - I think they’re all fake as hell. I just think that the use of plywood isn’t an _automatic_ fail. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/42 "2018-08-23T02:35:29Z")
The NRA museum does have a vampire-THEMED colt detective special made in 1927. That same site said most vampire hunting kits were made in the 1970’s (Gen-X forever!) [![](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_002.jpg?resize=590%2C393) ](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_002.jpg?resize=590%2C393) Get a load of these silver slugs: [![](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_013.jpg) ](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_013.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/43 "2018-08-23T15:18:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Ooh, got any pics? This thread has made me want to make one, myself. I might even base a LARP off it afterwards - I’m thinking a gathering of vampires and vampire-hunters, but each vampire has a different set of folklore weaknesses…I might include a [vampiric watermelon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_pumpkins_and_watermelons) for shits and giggles. > also thinking of a werewolf hunter kit… Probably but I wouldn’t have any idea how to post them or how to go about getting a place to post them. As I have said in other threads I am so technologically challenged that I had to get an Amish kid (really) to help me set up my flip-phone and learn how to make calls on it. And he gave up trying to teach me how to take pictures with it. :smack: I helped with a werewolf kit but that used a lot of more modern stuff and was set up in a old doctors type bag for offensive operations (movie of course). Vampire kits are great use for old Bible-boxes and odd containers like that. One thing with either you need to decide is are you going defensive or offensive? If you are looking more for defense like a traveler would carry there is more for vampires than werewolves to make up the kit. Crosses, some holy water, garlic, a nice rosary. For werewolves its more a matter of self-defense (gun with silver bullets, silver knife) and that is pretty much it. Some plants would work but those need to be fresh so no real boxed kit is going to help in Wolf-land. Now you want to go offense toss in a nice crossbow and some assorted bolts and lots of other cool things but you get more suitcase than box. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/44 "2018-08-23T16:39:55Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > The NRA museum does have a vampire-THEMED colt detective special made in 1927. That same site said most vampire hunting kits were made in the 1970’s (Gen-X forever!) > > [https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P\_0591\_002.jpg?resize=590%2C393](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_002.jpg?resize=590%2C393) > > Get a load of these silver slugs: > > [https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P\_0591\_013.jpg](https://i1.wp.com/mygunculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P_0591_013.jpg) [The young Van Helsing {Richard Benjamin)picks up his gun and fires several silver bullets at Dracula (George Harrison)] Dracula: No, no, no! Silver bullets are for _werewolves_, not Vampires! Van Helsing: Are you sure? Dracula: Yes! –Love at First Bite [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5_xsdo57-Ow/hqdefault.jpg "Amor a primeira mordida - Love at first bite") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_xsdo57-Ow) Actually, that’s right. Nothing before Bram Stoker suggests using silver bullets on vampires. It’s not in _Dracula_, either. I DO recall _Famous Monsters of Filmland_ claiming that a silver bullet fired into a vampire’s coffin would keep him from using it, but I don’t know where they got that non-factoid from. By the way, silver bullets as a remedy for Werewolves is a 2oth century concept. It’s got no support in folklore. What DOES have support in folklore is the use silver bullets against _witches_, oddly enough. That goes back to the 18th century, at least. Theo Grey devoted a chapter of his **Mad Science** to casting silver bullets. But beware, he strongly suggests against actually trying to fire these, as there’s a good chance that they’ll jam in the barrel. I don’t know how the Lone Ranger got away with it… [http://graysci.com/chapter-two/calling-van-helsing/](http://graysci.com/chapter-two/calling-van-helsing/) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/45 "2018-08-23T18:57:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > [ > > Theo Grey devoted a chapter of his **Mad Science** to casting silver bullets. But beware, he strongly suggests against actually trying to fire these, as there’s a good chance that they’ll jam in the barrel. I don’t know how the Lone Ranger got away with it… > [Calling Van Helsing](http://graysci.com/chapter-two/calling-van-helsing/) As someone who has done it (made and fired actual silver bullets) the real freaking question becomes HOW THE FUDGE DID TONTO CAST THEM OVER A CAMPFIRE? I mean c’mon ------ not even some White Guy fire generates the needed heat let alone some tiny little Plains Native fire. Ain’t gonna happen. If you want to make functioning silver bullets the key (other than one helluva furnace) is either making a mold for the purpose or resizing the slugs from a normal mold to assure proper tolerances. Best bet is to go muzzleloader and a patched round ball; much more forgiving and a little cheaper as the balls weigh less than bullets for the same calibre. You can load ball in a modern round but you are back to the sizing issue although not to the point of jamming the barrel. Jamming the barrel is possible but really unlikely. If you can get something to actually go through the loading/reloading tool and chamber, it will almost certainly clear the barrel. Hitting anything is another story. (Ages ago a shirt-tail relative did several articles for a gun magazine on various subjects; think Mythbusters 40-60 years back. Which lead to several interesting weekends up the Old Family Farm that continue to this day. Some day in the appropriate threads I’ll mention the Shadow using 2 1911A1s at the same time and/or shooting guns underwater. The first was impossible, the second surprisingly easy if you clear the air from the system first.) (Anyone else flashing on that old Carson routine where Tonto was looking for a new job?) ---
**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:** [August 23, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/46 "2018-08-23T19:21:39Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > As someone who has done it (made and fired actual silver bullets) the real freaking question becomes HOW THE FUDGE DID TONTO CAST THEM OVER A CAMPFIRE? Tonto was pocketing the silver and returning the lead bullet to the cartridge. > [@kopek](#): > > (Ages ago a shirt-tail relative did several articles for a gun magazine on various subjects; think Mythbusters 40-60 years back. Which lead to several interesting weekends up the Old Family Farm that continue to this day. Some day in the appropriate threads I’ll mention the Shadow using 2 1911A1s at the same time and/or shooting guns underwater. The first was impossible, the second surprisingly easy if you clear the air from the system first.) What’s wrong with firing two 1911A1s at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/47 "2018-08-23T20:36:04Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Wooden bullets I understand, but silver bullets? I believed that was for werewolves. Vampires and werewolves were closely related in some mythologies. In some Spanish legends, for instance, vampire bites make werewolf slaves, who, when killed, become vampires. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/48 "2018-08-23T20:54:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Tonto was pocketing the silver and returning the lead bullet to the cartridge. > > What’s wrong with firing two 1911A1s at the same time? The Shadow knows… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/49 "2018-08-24T02:58:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What’s wrong with firing two 1911A1s at the same time? Reloading and fumbling with the safeties for starters. And on wooden bullets; we had cases back in the days of my youth for 8mm mostly and used to jokingly say they were for the Eastern Front in case Uncle Vlad decided he had a dog in the fight. 🙂 (Actually they were for practice and as a sort of blank in machine guns with a special adapter to shred the wood. They were NOT, as some GIs claimed, for capturing enemy; wounding rounds.) ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/50 "2018-08-24T07:03:52Z")
In Japanese lore, the sight of a katana usually does it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901/51 "2018-08-24T07:24:06Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > As someone who has done it (made and fired actual silver bullets) the real freaking question becomes HOW THE FUDGE DID TONTO CAST THEM OVER A CAMPFIRE? I mean c’mon ------ not even some White Guy fire generates the needed heat let alone some tiny little Plains Native fire. Ain’t gonna happen. The melting point of silver is within reach of a wood fire - I’m not saying it’s a good or effective way of working, but a campfire can melt glass (~1400 C), so it should be able to melt silver (962 C). If we allow for impure silver (say, a lead-silver alloy), it’s even easier to reach. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-hunting-kits-an-in-thing-in-the-18th-century-im-sure/819901.md?page=2)