“Stupid Expert” Builds A Machete Slingshot For The Impending Zombie Apocalypse

machete_slingshot

Sometimes people build things for the simple challenge of building. This is one of those cases.

The gentleman you see in the image above is [Jörg Sprave] of The Slingshot Channel. He is a self-proclaimed “Supid Expert” on the subject of slingshots and has taken his love of flinging things at absurd velocities to a whole new level.

His latest creation is a machete slingshot, which is really more accurately described as a machete crossbow. Measuring over six feet long, the impressive apparatus fires a specially altered machete with an insane amount of force using thick rubber bands. In the test firing shown in the video below, the machete is embedded up to the hilt in six layers of very thick cardboard, requiring quite a bit of work to remove.

As he states in the video while brandishing his bloodied forearm, building such a device is extremely dangerous, and should be limited to “Stupid Experts” . In no way should you attempt to build one of your own.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSU1jQoGIqo&w=470]

50 thoughts on ““Stupid Expert” Builds A Machete Slingshot For The Impending Zombie Apocalypse

  1. AIM AWAY FROM FACE!!! WTF? Really! Cool but WTF, seriously! This guy is awesome, who would think of something like this? He out crazied me!!! Wait I still have my trusty underwater grenade launcher…

  2. Sorry about the link – not sure why embedding youtube is now broken. This hack isn’t much different from commercially available spear guns. But they have a much better designed release mechanism. I have some serious concerns about this device maiming or killing the shooter. Wearing a faceshield is a good idea and clothing helps a bit and this weapon really isn’t THAT bad but you would not find me anywhere close to it without some cut and slash resistant clothing on head to toe.

  3. This is definitely more stupid than ingenious. This is seriously dangerous – and it does not look very well crafted! If you see this guy coming ’round the corner, RUN!

  4. Really awesome, but I was a little disappointed with the demonstration. I want to see machetes flying through the air, not smashing into a target three feet away. What is the effective range of this thing?

  5. @Nate – This guy isn’t as stupid as he may claim or appear. Longer than three feet and the machete may flip, bouncing back unpredictably from a handle strike. You can see it starting to happen in the second shot.

    Like many of his creations, this is meant as an entertaining novelty, not a serious weapon. Watch some of his other videos, this guy is *strong* and could have tripled the bands and power on this if he’d wanted. Or even used his legs to draw the bands like on one monster slingshot.

  6. Total range is probably limited to at most 200 feet or so. Effective range is probably 75ish or less. The machete is just so massive compared to the “arrow” on commercial spear fishing “harpoon” guns.

    This hack gets a 10 for the creative and blog friendly buzz generation ability but only a 2 or a 3 for actual realistic potential as a legitimate weapon.

  7. Sorry, it’s a slingshot, not more accurately described as a crossbow. A crossbow uses, wait for it, a bow that sits perpendicular to, or across, the stock. The bow is the source of the source of energy. This guy’s awesome weapon uses an elastic band as the energy source.

  8. Completely unusable. What if there aren’t any ‘stupid experts’ around when the ZA comes? What if they’ve been zombified, or are zombies with lasers in their eyes? Needs a rethink to make simpler. Plus you’d want to keep your machete, not throw it away…

  9. first off, he was successful as this video just went viral. secondly, the contraption is erratic. i thought if the long body had a guide like a ‘drain’ or something, it would be less erratic. powerful and dangerous, but no range. who the hell wants to slingshot a machete? haha. nevertheless, cool work on the slingshot.

  10. You can snuggle up to a zombie with a melee weapon but I would defiantly prefer to stay several feet away if at all possible.
    A pear or halberd being far more preferable than a machete. Possibly machete on a stick if I had to.

    I would have gone for some stabilizing guides on the firing mechanism but that seems like it would have been over engineering a design that is not actually meant to be practical.

  11. This is the kind of insanity I can fully approve of. I imagine this could be easily adapted to throw more convenient ammunition, but he of course gets mega bonus points for thinking of something quite unconventional to fling with his high power toy. :)

  12. He does mention that he built it just for the challenge and that it’s not intended to be a practical weapon. I’m fascinated by the sheer audacity of the idea.
    This guy has built a whole bunch of slingshots, some with probably enough power to pierce a human skull, so I assume he knew what risks he was taking.

  13. You could make a rapid fire version out of a tennis ball launcher with minimal modifications.

    This is idiotic and that guy is just asking to get locked up, it’s all fun and games until someone loses a head, then it’s just fun.

  14. I love how everyone is impressed by shooting at a target 3 feet away. It’s not impressive, it’s not “throwing” it with any real force.

    Impressive starts at seeing it go to the hilt through 3/4 inch plywood from 100 feet away with even a general semblance of accuracy.

    Which will NOT happen. throwing machetes is stupid as hell. It makes as much sense as shooting live cats at someone. Zero accuracy, near zero chance of hurting someone because if you watch it you can see the projectile start to tumble as soon as it releases, there is a HUGE chance that at 4 feet it will be sideways.

    Plus he had to sharpen the hell out of it to get it to cut through the cardboard.

    Epic Fail.

  15. thank god he had the flimsy plastic face shield on made to protect from small flying particles cause if that machete had flown off towards his face it would have totally saved him…

  16. I think it’s a bit hilarious how some of you are discussing this semi-seriously when the guy himself says that the only practical use for it is to get hits on youtube.

    His enthusiasm for his hobby is infectious though, I ended up watching his videos for a good hour or two last night.

  17. this = retarded on soo many levels!!

    guy = retarded for making it! then making a video of it, then hackaday = retarded for posting it on their site. WTF hakaday, sort it out, this isn’t a hack it is a weapon! kids use this site and your giving them very bad ideas!

    just my opinion and i don’t care if you flame me for it

  18. I totally agree with all you who feel this is extremely dangerous, as a Zombie, I want you to know that we oppose dangerous technology of this type. Now if someone could build something like a slap chop for removing the upper portion of the skull, that’s a hack I could get behind.

    Please report this post to your moderators and legislators, this is a perfect example of a Zombie hate crime waiting to happen. Thanks for the support.

    Please wear a helmet and keep your brain safe,

    A concerned Zombie

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