Whether you call them tacks or push pins, German cyberpunk weapons-maker Patrick Priebe has created a one-off sniper rifle that shoots them as ammo. As can be seen in the video that he sent us, it's surprisingly accurate, too – all the watermelons out there better be on the lookout.
Priebe started with an existing breath-powered blow gun, designed to shoot darts. It now serves as the barrel of the rifle, and is housed within an aluminum body.
The tacks are stored in an "ammo clip" (an enclosed bar of styrofoam that they're stuck into through a series of holes), then loaded into the barrel by hand and pushed into place using a bolt-action lever.
They're fired via a blast of air, supplied by a compressed air canister through a custom-turned steel valve. The canister is loaded into a bicycle tire inflator, which is itself activated by the rifle's trigger. Five tacks can be shot per 12-gram canister, with additional canisters located in a storage area behind the barrel.
Aiming is accomplished using a 1-mW red laser. Although the rifle does have a scope, Priebe tells us that it's not very accurate on its own, and is used mainly just to see the small laser dot on the target. For added accuracy, an aluminum bipod can be folded down from the front of the gun.
The whole build process took approximately 50 hours. You can see the finished product in action, in the video below.
Source: Laser Gadgets by Patrick Priebe
