Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities » weapons

Big Sandy Shoot – Shooter Heaven on Earth

Spooky — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:22:05 +0000

Every year, the Big Sandy Shoot draws in hundreds of shooter from all over the world, for what is known as the “largest shoot”.

The Big Sandy Shoot is a bi-annual event, held in the western desert of Arizona, where you can shoot your heart out for three straight days. Featuring a 1500 foot firing line, 1200 yard maximum range, over 1000 reactive targets and aerial targets, this is one shooting exhibition you don’t want to miss, if you’re into this stuff.

Machine-guns, gatling guns, bazookas, and pretty much every other type of weapon ever invented can be found at the Big Sandy Shoot. Shooters have to fork out $230 ($200 if reserved in advance) to participate and spectators just $25. Both have to sign a release waiver stating they enter the shooting range at their own risk.

The average 3.5 million rounds fired at the Big Sandy Shoot certify it as the world’s biggest shooting event. I can’t say that impresses me much and regarding the safety, seeing women and kids handling deadly equipment isn’t very reassuring.

Walton Creel Is Deweaponizing the Gun

Spooky — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:16:02 +0000

American artist Walton Creel found a way of deweaponizing the gun by taking away its destructive power and using it to create art.

Walton Creel is not the first artist in the world to use guns in his art. As he states on his official site, others have taken high resolution photos of bullets piercing a target or melted down guns and shaped them into something completely different. But he knew he wanted to deweaponize guns by taking away their destructive power and using it as a “tool of creation”.

The Alabama-based artist came across the concept of creating art by puncturing holes and though it was just what he had been searching for. Using painted aluminum sheets instead of canvas, he figured out how far apart the shots are to be fired in order to create a nice pattern. The power of the shot knocks off a little paint and “fuses the image together”.

via Cool Hunting

Guns, Ammo, Art and Religion, by Al Farrow

Spooky — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:33:19 +0000

They may look like just elaborate models of Christian, Jewish and Islamic holy places, but Al Farrow’s artworks have a much deeper meaning.

Al Farrow’s Religious Trifecta: A Synagogue, a Cathedral and a Mosque tries to reinterpret three of the world’s major religions according to their political, military and cultural history. As you surely know, religion played a major role in some of the greatest conflicts in history and that’s what the artist is trying to emphasize through his models. Built with used gun components, bullets and steel shots, these unusual holy places reveal the violent side of religion.

Al Farrow’s steel masterpieces are displayed at the de Young Museum, in San Francisco.

[Photo Credits]

World’s Biggest, Coolest DIY Pumpkin Cannon

Spooky — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:52:58 +0000

Looking like an anti-aircaft cannon form World War 2, the enormous pumpkin cannon of Ulster County sends pumpkins flying at speeds around 600 mph.

With Halloween right around the corner, John Gill and Gary Arold figured they needed something really cool for this year’s celebrations. So, using a long metal tube and compressed air, they’ve come up withe coolest, most powerful pumpkin cannon on Earth.

The two 1,000 gallon-monster-tanks build up enough pressure to send the pumpkin 3,500 feet in the air, at a speed of approximately 600mph. The organic projectile travels about a mile before it squashes against the ground (or whatever else it hits).

Seeing it in action is monster cool and I suspect operating it is even more fun, but is it completely safe. I’m sure I don’t think they aim for populated areas, but what if someone just passes through and gets hit by a flying pumpkin? Let’s just say there would be two squashed things.

Take a look at what this monster pumpkin cannon can do, in the video at the bottom.

via Gizmo Watch