I was watching the clay pigeon shooting on the Commonwealth games the other day and thought wouldnt it be cool if the clay pegions had a hollowed out inside filled with petrol so they exploded in a ball of flame when hit.-- Gulherme, Aug 02 2002 A brief history of clay pigeon shooting. http://www.glswrk-auction.com/200.htm [DrBob, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Only if I can use real pigeons.(Psst! "pigeon".)-- angel, Aug 02 2002 How about a claymore pigeon that shoots back?-- FarmerJohn, Aug 02 2002 Well u could make a more extreme version that as well as exploding, explodes and shoots shrapnel everywhere, this would mean you would have to shoot it and dive behind a mound of dirt or somthing-- Gulherme, Aug 02 2002 [Gulherne], you appear to have dropped these: "Y" "o".-- angel, Aug 02 2002 Where's that clay pie gone?
Why would these explode when hit? Petrol is unlikely to detonate as a result of impact and there is no incendiary charge or device that would facilitate the explosion.
Perhaps the addition of a pressure sensitive explosive to each clay target would help, but I'd hate to be the trap operator. They accelerate pretty quickly out of the trap, and that could be enough to cause detonation.
Personally, I'm all for using real pigeons. The final was 6 contestants x 150 targets each. That's 900 fewer pigeons, just for those six shooters.-- UnaBubba, Aug 02 2002 That would be caused by the sparks struck by pellets passing through the metal can. There's no metal in a clay.
If we're going to use real pigeons then I'm in favour of fitting them with an explosive charge, just in case that Welsh guy who missed 31/150 is competing.-- UnaBubba, Aug 02 2002 Could you not make metal clay pigeons then?-- calum, Aug 02 2002 Unlikely that they'd fall apart, the better to see whether you hit them.-- UnaBubba, Aug 02 2002 Even if you had an ignition source such as incindiary rounds, the PetroPigeon would burn too slowly to have much visual impact at normal viewing range. Better to be loaded with strike-anywhere matchheads (what are those made of, anyway?) and powdered magnesium or aluminum. Maybe add salts of strontium and copper for color. Much more flash and bang for your enjoyment.-- BigBrother, Aug 02 2002 Wouldn't the geese be a bit of a large target? Since they are being flung, use anything you want, how about rats? Bunnies are a good size too.-- rbl, Aug 02 2002 Make the clay's explosive as described, but aim them so the land in the shooting blind. Now there is real pressure not to miss. Would also work with the flying rats rbl wants.-- namaste, Aug 02 2002 ahem: rBL. Exploding flying rats, what fun.-- rbl, Aug 02 2002 You know that they hear you and may they find your car windshield and your stoop and may they lock on to the newly balding spot on your head. Poor little birds becoming prey. You're just AWFUL!!!!!-- rubyissues, Aug 04 2002 So are pigeons. They're not birds, they're flying rats.-- UnaBubba, Aug 04 2002 Now we're getting specist, can I put the boot in on grey squirrels? UCLA has an infestation on a Napoleonic scale, but all's I get is 'weird lonely guy' looks when I try to kill em myself.-- General Washington, Aug 04 2002 From the squirrels? Mmmkay...?-- UnaBubba, Aug 04 2002 If you moulded a disc in the Clay Pigeons from potassium chlorate in an organic adhesive binder (soething similar is used in alot of cheap AP land mines) and then added a small impact-sensetive detonator, they'd go BANG in a very satisfying way. You could add a sachet of petrogel for a flameburst effect. An automated clay trap wouldn't be diffcult to build. The fallout zone would have to be well fenced, as I guess any missed birds would go off when they hit the ground.
But personally, I'm right behind the idea of using real pigeons, and real squirrels ("Bushy-Tailed Tree Rats"). General Washington, go with what you believe ....
Oooh, and I've had another idea ....... <Insert 8th of 7's obligatory anti-cat rant here>.-- 8th of 7, Aug 06 2002 We did that potassium chlorate thing at school. Petroleum jelly and softened paraffin wax to bind the mix. Detonate with a blasting cap. Blew quite a hole in the ground, after we buried it into an earthen bank. 90/3/7-- UnaBubba, Aug 06 2002 Ahhh, school chemistry lessons in the good old days ..... "happiest days of your life" ...... stoic mixtures of oxidisers and fuels ...... sticking nitro groups on aryl rings....... I wonder how we survived ? We had no right to ....-- 8th of 7, Aug 06 2002 Lux flakes, motor mower fuel... sticks to kids.-- UnaBubba, Aug 06 2002 the earliest clay pigeons were actually glass balls filled with feathers-- chud, Sep 01 2002 lets modify the glass balls and feathers idea to a hollow clay sphere, kinda like two pidgeons glued together, line the interior of it with featers that had been hollowed out and half are filled with high explosive, and the other half of the feathers are filled wil partially solidified petrol jelly, and inside of the explosive feather padding is a fair sized flat glass vial that is filled with a combination of 3/4 nitroglycerin and 1/4 fine sawdust. the vial would have to be attached to all sides of the pidgeon incase it didn't get hit directly, then it would split rapidly and then would go off. much better then the original.-- Cracked Helmut, Oct 30 2002 modify the glass ball filled with feathers to a clay sphere somewhat like two pidgeons glued together, and fill it with petrol jelly as a sort of padding, and inside of the petrol jelly place a flat disc that spans almost the entire width of the pidgeon, and fill it with nitroglycerin. it sounds good to me, only you just gotta hope that a piece of shot actually hits the disc and not just the side of the pidgeon.-- Cracked Helmut, Oct 30 2002 Obligatory "i thought this was going to be"... a way of cheating by making the clay pigeons explode automatically whether you hit them or not. But i like this idea better.
Tell me Senor Washington, how are you trying to kill them? Guns, knives, poison, traps, biowarfare? If you have a decent GM department near you, you could even use genowarfare...-- sadie, Oct 31 2002 I don't watch too much of this kind of stuf on TV, but if they had these...COOOOOLLL!!!-- smileydudette, Mar 02 2003 Exploding targets are a real product.-- xylene, Oct 07 2003 halfbakery