I still have my two Jivaro blow guns with dart wire and beads . They are vintage now . The wire can be bought at some hobby stores . It's called piano wire . The pipe bore size was 38 caliber . If I remember correctly the wire was .04 inches thick . I sand down 40 caliber cones to fit the 38 caliber bore . I never liked the orange beads . Still have some .
Field and Stream classifieds add for Blowguns ! years ago...
Way back in prehistoric times, I bought my 1st blowgun from magazine classifieds section. Some of you may have seen the ads. The darts were cheap beads (came on a string) and wire or Cones and wire. The wire was in a bulk bundle (3ft long?) and you cut the lengths you wanted. Over the years I had several different models from them. The wire was very thin spring steel. Wonderful stuff but I don't know what their source was. Now I'm getting my son into blowguns and wishing I had one of my old guns from 30ish years ago. Anyone here remember those guns? Anyone know what type of wire they sold? The cones were better than any of the modern ones I've seen. I dunno what size they were, maybe 40 cal ? I remember they were better blowguns than any others that were out at the time. Now I just want to figure out what type of wire that was.
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awesome !! the beads !..... why were they on a string?? i used to use a fork to strip them off. Then heat the wire and put them on. they sucked compared to the cones but they were sooooo cheap that they were hard to resist.
I bought my 1st Jivaro when they were $6.00, around 1980. Now I have 6 of them. Not a very powerful Blowgun, but fun to shoot. the mouthpiece was from an auto bushing, pretty simple design. I created my own cast of them after I obtained one without a mouthpiece. I still have a lot of darts, some still in the bead stringers.
what size/type wire are the darts? I have heard of people refer to "piano wire" but I dont have a piano haha Is that what that is?
I found my magazine with the ad.I bought my 1st Jivaro when they were $6.00, around 1980. Now I have 6 of them. Not a very powerful Blowgun, but fun to shoot. the mouthpiece was from an auto bushing, pretty simple design. I created my own cast of them after I obtained one without a mouthpiece. I still have a lot of darts, some still in the bead stringers.
Bought my first blowgun
From that add
Me too .Bought my first blowgun
From that add
It's typically either 'piano wire' or 'music wire.' Thanks for asking. I don't have a piano either but I have bought the wire. Amazon only offers assortments or coils and I was all set to tell you that you don't want either when I spotted an assortment that jumped out at me. Twenty pieces of 0.8mm through 1.6mm. I told them to send me some one millimeter and 1.2 millimeter. Sadly, it'll be three to six weeks before it arrives. I guess there's not a huge demand right now. They also have some 200mm long that is all 1mm diameter but its just too pricey.
Three weeks it is! Got the wire today and it is straight and suitable for dart construction. If you decide to get some for your dart making needs beware, you shouldn't try to cut this stuff with typical wire cutters. I usually use a Dremel with a cut-off wheel.
I believe Cold Steel offers a .357 cal. blowgun and the darts will work in the old guns.
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