The Claymore mine is a rather fearsome weapon of war, using explosives to blast a cone of shrapnel towards advancing enemies. It’s not really something you should try and build at home. An airsoft version, though, is altogether more appropriate. [RegiBlackwood] has developed a simple way to build exactly that.
It’s a cheap and cheerful build, with the claymore housing itself built out of cardboard. Wooden dowels are used to stake it into the ground, just like the real thing. In the center of the housing sits a regular old mouse trap. Only, it’s been modified to hold a sling carrying a payload of BBs. The trap is also tweaked to make its spring more powerful, and to enable it to be triggered with the tug of a tripwire. When triggered, the mousetrap fires and hurls the sling forth, spewing a rain of BBs from the front of the device—ideally quelling the advance on your position.
Built properly, it’s a fun piece of airsoft hardware that could really change the dynamics of your regular game. If you’re looking to do point defence, you might also consider building yourself some automated turrets as well…
Font towards enemy
(Times New Roman leaves jagged wounds)
Cause of the serif.
I shot the serif, but….
The write-up says “BBs” however airsoft uses lightweight plastic pellets, and this setup would fling them with about the same energy as a four-year-old at the weary tail of a tantrum
I was going to say that maybe the plastic pellets are still the same caliber as BBs (“BB” is a designation for birdshot size, they don’t specify material) but airsoft pellets are larger than that.
Most ‘bb guns’ use 4.5 mm / 0.177″ lead, copper, or steel pellets while airsoft uses 6 mm pellets made from plastic or aluminum.
There’s also typically an FPS, joule, and or distance restriction at profesionally managed airsoft fields to reduce serious injury in games.
The Claymore has to be the mine with the biggest fan base. Can’t think of another explosive trap that commands such a following.
Simple, Reliable, Scary, and Effective!
Also easy to be used by your enemy. 1/3 of US losses in Vietnam was to mines (mostly reused Claymores).
Rat trap with a strip of fabric works nicely. Add a hole in the centre and a string connected to the bait lever for the trip wire. Did this a few decades ago.
yeah, that’s why you wear appropirately rated goggles when playing, unless you’re an idiot (or a kid that nobody told a few things…)
Not a canadian one either.
America checking in. Y’all need to lighten up, this is Airsoft stuff on a blog about making interesting things. You can literally buy Airsoft on Amazon, even in your oppressive countries.
“…version of weapons used to mame and kill…”
As can a kitchen knife, or a brick being hurled at a moving vehicle’s windscreen. I assume you exclusively eat with your hands then?…and never take a ride in a car?…(I can go on forever)…
My generation played ‘cowboys and Indians’, ‘army’ and ‘police and robbers’ with toy weapons, and I don’t personally know of any that turned into serial killers. I can tell you one thing…as a child, a toy BB claymore would have been welcome…it would have expanded our make-believe playing by orders of magnitude.
I also then assume you want all FPS shooters banned for everyone? Removing a tool from society will not correct any problems. It is not weapons that kill people, but people who kill people. Teach children from a young age to be responsible and accountable for their actions (which includes treating weapons with respect), and society will correct itself.
P.S. – and yes, I do believe gun ownership is a deterrent to criminals (and no, I am not American).
Not a fair comparison.
A kitchen knife can indeed, but is not specifically designed to kill as is a Claymore.
I think it is just as fair. The object doesn’t make a difference. If someone wants to kill, they will find a way…and yes, that includes militaries as well (in fact, that is the job they are employed for).
The reason why we played ‘cops and robbers’, was not about the object, but rather the activity. We all (normal, common-sense, balanced people in any case) have this built-in urge to protect those around us that are in danger from those that want to harm us…not because we want to shoot, or kill someone. Just look at the ‘cops and robbers’ game we played as youngsters…everyone wanted to be the police….always! As humans we have this natural instinct that hates the bad guys.
Life is not fair, and there will probably always be someone that wants to harm the defenceless or those incapable of defending themselves. Until humanity matures, that will always be the case. Removing weapons from our societies will not change or hasten that moment. Rather, what we should be doing, is to teach the youngsters that weapons are a last resort. We should teach them to respect weapons, and that it is not a God-given right to take a life…and only do so to save other lives, and then be prepared for the consequences.
So, for the majority of us that can differentiate between real life and fantasy, and the ability to teach our children the same, leave us to play with our toy guns and claymores. For once I agree with Zoe…this was a cheap-and-cheerful project.
…and no amount of regulation and banning weapons are going to remove those weapons from criminal’s hands. Are there many whack jobs in the US?…for sure. Taking away the right to bear arms will not change that. Remove the right for citizens to bear arms, and then see how they explode in numbers. If someone can go so far as to kill, do you really think laws will have any influence on them?
I am speaking from experience, and living in a country where we have to deal with this daily. When the government started to clamp down on legal weapon ownership, gun violence, murder (and crime in general), spiked completely out of control (not the UK).
Honestly some people just prefer to be subjects.
” (and no, I am not American).”
— Well I am.
“gun ownership is a deterrent to criminals”
—That has been proven false(no…not going to find links at 5AM)
And I have guns….many.
But we have too many “whack jobs” in the USA with AR-15’s
ok.
Here, I’ll supply the report…but you’re not going to like what it says.
In a 2013 study, titled “PRIORITIES FOR RESEARCH TO REDUCE THE THREAT OF FIREARM-RELATED VIOLENCE” by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies, they found somewhere between 60,000 and 2.5 million (yes million) instances of defensive gun usage in the United States.
Why the large range? Well, it turns out “defensive gun use” is poorly defined, and even more poorly tracked. If someone brandishes a weapon to fend off a mugger, but doesn’t fire a shot, is that defensive gun use? And even if it is, the likelyhood of that attempted crime being reported is next to nil.
So, no, gun ownership being a deterrent to criminals has not “been proven false.” I’d say quite the opposite.
Go ahead, google the report and read it yourself. And remember this was produced in 2013 – peak Obama years, not Trump/MAGA era.
Well, in that case you better give kids more guns, because US kids are apparently insufficiently armed to deter school shooters. /i
Perhaps because Airsoft is a make-believe game, and while war is horrible Airsoft is fun and harmless if done with some precaution.
And Doom and FPS games? The same simulated killing. Why are boxers boxing and hurt themselves? It’s something in human nature what is calling for such behaviour. The pull of survival maybe.
Just ask for a refund and stop visiting the site if you don’t like the content. There are probably plenty of sites that cater to your particular brand of psychosis.
that only 9 of the 23 comments (as this is written) are visible, is a hint as to the hot debate about topics as this. hackaday, please take the hint.
Could you give me a clue about what the hint is? I’m unfortunately clueless
some people find weapons offensive. even if they are defensive. like people in the usa find it offensive to talk about or use words describing the process of making babies. i still dont understand why those words ( i even cannot write them here) are banned, but not the words kill, murder, massacer. taboo is a culturally localized thing.