Pop Can Thrower

I found this Savage, Model 340 Series E, 22 Hornet rifle here in the workshop, and it looked in a pretty sorry state. In our part of the world, shooting is not really encourage very much, so there are no shops you can go to, to buy things like a hand thrower for clays. Well, that is not really the hard part, as we can make one ourselves, but there is no way of finding a supply of clays.

I remembered those can throwers you could buy in some countries, where they use a blank 22RF round to shoot an empty can up in the air. We thought of making one of those, and then realized that we cannot get any blank 22RF ammo either. So I had an idea of converting this 22 Hornet to a can thrower. 

I cut the barrel just ahead of the of forend, ending up with a 14" barrel. As shown in the photo on the left below.

In the middle you can see the adaptor we made to fit on the muzzle. It is made of delrene and aluminum. We turn the parts from solid round stock. The can fits perfectly over the groove on the adaptor.

Now came the hard part, working up some ammo that will propel the can up, without causing any damage to it. After a few trials, we settled on 2-3.5 grains of various pistol powders, like Green Dot and Unique. We used a piece of tissue paper on top of the powder, and a small plug of modeling clays to close the case mouth. The photo on the right shows some loaded ammo.

Now the kids can practice their shooting with their 410 shotguns.

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