Machete-shooting rifle-slingshot

This handy gentleman has built an (arguably ill-conceived, but nevertheless impressive) rifle-cum-slingshot that fires machetes, should you find yourself with the need to fire machetes. He also has a sideline in selling parts for making your own insane slingshot-like inventions.

Shooting Machetes with the Slingshot (via Geekologie!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • knives

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teleny

Has Axe Cop been notified?
travtastic

Call me when he builds a truck-mounted slingshot that shoots a dozen preloaded machete slingshots.
PeaceNerd

The story of David and Goliath is a lot less impressive when you learn that David’s slingshot was firing machetes at the speed of sound.
travtastic

If I may take this deliciously impractical device and make it a little more practical: take the handle off of the machete.

It’s not doing anything, except reducing impact velocity and flight stability.

Handles are for hands, mister.
imag

If that really is JÃ¶rg:

Nice.
Anonymous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVN_n0PljQ
Commander Crow

Future superhero alert!
PaulR

Defend yourself with one of these:
http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Other/AR-15%20Rifle%20with%20Chainsaw%20Bayonet/AR-15-Rifle-with-Chainsaw-Bayonet.jpg
dagfooyo

The funniest / most bizarre / disturbing part of watching this video for me was the ad that youtube selected to show me along the bottom: “Unplanned pregnancy?”

Little PSA here: If you’re worried you or a loved one is pregnant, a machete slingshot is NOT the answer. The more you know.
david85282

Donâ€™t let Charlie Sheen get his hands on that.
Anonymous

Is no one playing Gun Bros on your iThing? It features a weapons known as “Machete Mayhem” which fires machetes with great speed and accuracy.

The official website doesn’t offer a list of weapons, but I did find this blurry YouTube offering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keAyoXeRohc
ackpht

Make a circular blade and spin it for stability. The Capellans will love it.
lewis stoole

when he mounts it to the hood of his car, then i’ll see the functionality of this.
TheCrawNotTheCraw

This is the most impressive machete-gun I’ve seen all week!

Brought to you by the makers of Crazy Knife Ball.
wmbozarth

All I can think of is the woman who gets hit in the face with a watermelon when the giant slingshot backfired.
You can see that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsOkUr-R5eo
No machete slingshot for me, thanks!
gwailo_joe

I love this! And hey; at least he’s honest. . .’this is useless! I want Youtube hits!’

As to efficacy, not the greatest. . .but nice concept. Those plain old sling shots are way deadlier.

Still, we need more bold thinking like that these days: fully automatic pneumatic shuriken hurlers, Aerobies with razor edges, naginata carbines. . .the mind boggles!

Keep up the good work!
japester

I’d be more impressed if he shot a target that was more than 2m away from the end of his device.
Give me at least 10m of range and we’ll start talking.

And agreed about the hilarity of his ‘gaping wound.’ That’s a light scratch.
angryhippo

“Leave this to the experts”

Is there an established process to become a machete-slingshot expert?
- Mark Crummett
  
  “Is there an established process to become a machete-slingshot expert?”
  
  As in Jedi training, to finally become one, you must build your own machete-slingshot.
Anonymous

A truly medieval weapon of breathtaking elegance and simplicity! Not so long ago people considered something called the crossbow as the pinnacle of weapons technology. The thing was so effective at punching through knights’ armor that the roman catholic church had it banned (I don’t see that happening to todays weapons of mass destruction).
bhtooefr

Not sure how I forgot about this guy’s videos, but I did. (And, I’ll subscribe, this time around.)

(Found them the first time when I was looking for stuff on slingbows.)
ill lich

Well, they got the casting right: Germanic accent (check), shaved head (check), muscular build (check). All he needs is a scar on his face.
Chang

I’m sorry but I won’t believe it until I see him fire that thing at a side of beef from 100 yards.
Anonymous

It’s guys like this that will save us during a zombie apocalypse…Robot uprising, not so much.
emmdeeaych

Now there is a man prepared for the zombie hordes.
Anonymous

Stupid expert …..
wigg1es

In all honesty, I’m far more terrified of the small bonus slingshots than I am that machete monstrosity. Yikes…
Bender

Might I recommend wearing a hockey mask instead?
Anonymous

best machete gun evarrr!!!
EdCS

That has to be the most petrifying thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
Anonymous

can we just agree right now to never use the phrase ‘…cum-slingshot’ again? regardless of context.
W. James Au

Robert Rodriguez, call your casting agent!
Major Variola (ret)

Which is better, his accent, the birds, or the traffic noise?

Or the fact that he’s a slingshot dude, after Dennis the Menace?

all natural organic materials.

useful for drivebys.
- Rick.
  
  The cat.
- Anonymous
  
  The gaping knife cut on his right arm
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    The gaping knife cut on his right arm.
    
    Gaping? I manage to give myself worse injuries than that on a weekly basis.
- kjulig
  
  his accent
  
  Well, he’s German, what kind of accent did you expect? His English is pretty darn good if you ask me.
  - Anonymous
    
    exactly. can you speak German?
- highlyverbal
  
  The best part of the video is his chuckle after every firing.
  
  He hasn’t lost the joy in his art.
  - social_maladroit
    
    Chuckle? More like a giggle. That’s obviously why he makes these slingshots in the first place.
    
    The difference between men and boys is the dangerosity of their toys.
Green Winnebago

This NEEDS to be in Dead Rising 3. No two ways about it.
cinemajay

What, no double barrel?
Methusedalot

The cat at 2:42, its days are numbered.
Anonymous

I wonder if it shoots at all well over distances longer than the 5 or so feet that he shoots it in the video. Seeing that the machette is probably heavier at the handle end, I imagine over longer distances it would fly handle-first.
- Chevan
  
  The second shot he fires has some noticeable tumble just a foot away from the exit. I’m guessing this is why he’s aiming down at a cardboard target three feet from him.
  
  Still completely cool as hell, though.
billster

It’s nice to see Vic Mackey doing something he loves, rather than rotting away at I.C.E.
rrh

I was most curious how he would load the thing, and then twice in a row, he skipped it with the magic of editing.
voiceinthedistance

Call me when he gets the one that shoots rifles with mounted bayonets working. Otherwise . . . yawn! I’ll expect them to be large caliber with hair triggers, of course.
Gawain Lavers

The real question is: would Brock Samson be willing to use it?
- Anonymous
  
  @Gawain I think Brock Samson *is* using it. Or his German clone.
juepucta

When the apocalypse, as predicted by Glenn Beack / Coast To Coast AM / Alex Jones / David Icke, starts this will be veeeeeery useful.

-G.
kpkpkp

This may be what is necessary to push this to the Darwin Award level: The slot carved to accept the ‘rubber’ is effectively a barb, a la fishing hook, so just add a trailing line to the handle of the machete (preferably attached to the belt of the shooter) and then shooter can ‘reel in’ whatever s/he eventually harpoons!
- Anonymous
  
  Good point. The trailing line should also act as a rudder keeping the machete flying point forward as well
NeonCat

Wouldn’t it be better/more stable/accurate if instead of lifting the machete grip over the block you dropped the block down? That way the machete would be stabilized by the beam as it traveled.
irksome

Because nothing bad can happen when you fire spring-loaded razor-sharp objects away from your face.
pinehead

You took one look at a wrist rocket and said, “That’s nothing. Give me that machete.”

So crack open a cold one, Herr Sprave.
i_prefer_yeti

The thing I find most curious is the Esprit tee he’s wearing.

So many questions spring to mind.
- nehpetsE
  
  The Esprit t-shirt compliments his United Colors of Benetton bikini briefs.
- Pixelmatsch
  
  This kind of Esprit shirt is how I recognise fellow Germans abroad. (Apart from the accent…)
  
  JÃ¶rg, ich glaube das mit der Aufmerksamkeit hat geklappt, viel Erfolg noch! :)
Anonymous

What! This is useless! Horde of zombies heading towards you and you have this…no go! You’d be groaning with the rest of them within seconds. Let’s get together and sponsor the guy to take it up a few notches – I vote for a hand cranked machine gun version with flaming machetes. Maybe a blunderbuss version 10, machetes at a time. You’d only need a few bursts of that to keep them away from the fence every morning.

We’ve got to be ready, you never know when it might happen.

Maybe I should stop writing and go back to watching Fox news for the signs…
Anonymous

Me think whole thing hoax. Too much risk of injury to brain. (BRAIIIIIN!)

Signed,
Not A Zombie.
songofsixpence

For those times when I need to shoot something I’m going to continue to rely on actual firearms made by companies that specialize in that sort of thing.

That contraption looks unsafe, underpowered, inaccurate, and awkward to yield in a serious situation.

Lead bullets shot out of precision barrels at speeds exceeding the speed of sound, a much better and practical option.
- nemofazer
  
  All that accurate firepower and you completely missed the point.
- gman
  
  You, sir, have no poetry in your soul. This man didn’t build this for some Most Practical Weapon award, he built it because a machete slingshot is crazy awesome in the Road Warrior / zombie apocalypse / Robert Rodriguez movie sense. Relax guy, take a break!
- geekd
  
  BoingBoing is a directory of *wonderful* things, not *practical* things. :)
  
  Or is it not called that anymore? I don’t see it on the new page header. :(
Anonymous

Hello folks,

thanks for the attention! I enjoyed reading all the comments.

As I said in the video, the weapon isn’t very practical. That’s not the point, I simply accepted a challenge and mastered it. I have made several very effective slingshot crossbows, much more compact and even two different double shooters. But obviously people want to see extreme things, and I try to deliver.

JÃ¶rg

PS: I have a pretty big scar on my right cheek. :-)
jordan

So, he’s aiming to be a real-life Gauntlet character. That is wholly admirable.
Egypt Urnash

Utterly impractical, completely awesome. This man is an Artist.
VagabondAstronomer

I’d be more impressed if it fired squids.
crikster

Not sure which is scarier: The gun or his weird laugh. I’ve heard that laugh in too many horror films.
Marja

I would expect a true rifle-slinghot to impart spin to the machete. But then, I don’t think a true rifle-slingshot would be a good idea…
- Anonymous
  
  i was just thinking that the visuals of a rifled machete gun sounded fantastic… it wouldn’t work outside of hollywood… but what snazzy fx shot!
robcat2075

When salad shooters go bad.
twiddlekins

One step closer to my dream of a rocket propelled chainsaw! Could totally strap a small chainsaw into that thing!
Mark Crummett

Let’s see, it needs to be walnut-stained with brass fittings. Extra springs, gears and gauges. A crank to load it. Loose the brown coat and face mask for a leather jacket and goggles. Add a top hat. What would be better than a machete-shooting rifle-slingshot? A Steampunk machete-shooting rifle-slingshot!
Daemon

Ah, the rubber-band crossbow. I used to make them as a kid. Never occurred to me to fire machetes though.
Flashman

THEY MESSED WITH THE WRONG GERMAN…
Anonymous

Yeah, I’m sure the machete would tumble once it left the sling. There isn’t anything to stabilize it.

If you added fins to the handle, that might keep the handle in back and the point out front but probably not. Hand tools like machetes (well made hand tools) would probably have their center of gravity closer to the but end of the handle than the tip of the blade. Think about the hacking and slashing movement you do with a machete and how tired your arm would get if most of the weight was further down toward the tip.

Would love to see how it works at longer range even if the machete just tumbles and hits the ground 20 feet from the muzzle.

Agree with whatever previous commenter who said someone should call Robert Rodriguez. I’d add Rodger Corman to that list and Quentin Tarrantino.
Jack

Machete shooting slingshot I know, I know, itâ€™s serious.

PS: Has anyone told Mike Judge about this guy yet?
- penguinchris
  
  Wanted to say that I really appreciated your Smiths line too, it fits really well ;)
  
  Also am I the only one who thinks that the blade looks like it’s covered in mostly-washed-away blood? At least, it does in the thumbnail.
- Caroline
  
  First line of your post wins the internet today.
Allesklar

Agreed. That gaping wound looks dangerous. Get that man to a hospital asap. By the way, he’s German so obviously he’s great at engineering stuff :)
Mister44

If this doesn’t say “America! Fuck yeah!”, I don’t know what does. Although it looks like he’s from Germany or Scandinavia somewhere, in which case it would be “Germany! Fuck yeah!”
Anonymous

Probably the most dangerous happy mutant we’ve met yet.
pyster

been watching this guy’s videos for a while. i suggest everyone look at his other videos. they are just pure awesome. (and i hate everything)
flatfive

The barb on the machete doubles as a handy bottle opener! (He is German, after all.)

I have qualms about firing useful weapons at my enemy. Damn well better hit them, since they’re getting more significantly armed with every missed shot.

And oh how my heart sunk when I saw the wedding ring. Sorry, ladies, he’s taken.
Anonymous

I second the motion to ban cum and slingshot in the same sentence. pretty good build quality nearly overkill IMHO.
- travtastic
  
  There’s actually an urban dictionary entry for that. Probably a dedicated porn site, too.