Ideas for biodegradable cannon-balls

[Moonbogg]

I think it would be ideal to make a simple mold and create some biodegradable ammo. Liquid wood or something? Some sort of plaster or clay? Something that won't damage an aluminum barrel that can be fired off into the desert without acting as a high-powered litter delivery device would be cool.

[D_Hall]

Over the long haul plaster of paris is water soluable. That said, it's gonna take a long time for it to disappear in the desert.

[Moonbogg]

I'll just stick to fruits and vegetables when firing off into the distance. I'll consider it a high-powered snack delivery device for desert critters. I still think limes are pretty much an unbeatable choice of ammo. Tough skin that can take a good 2 to 3x shot.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

You'd need to keep it a bit cool so not the best idea for the desert but Pykrete would be an option. Clay is also an interesting idea, you'd cause much furrowing of brows in future archeologists

Alternatively, how about something in the style of a Röchling shell?





They'll bury themselves well out of sight if you're firing at a certain elevation... here they are tested on Fort d’Aubin-Neufchâteau in Belgium:

[Cthulhu]

Seed Bombs! I don't know if they'll grow in the desert, but these little guys can be made quite sturdy and will decompose into flowers or other plants wherever they land

seedbombs.jpg (26.59 KiB) Viewed 34264 times

I used to make these to shoot with my slingshot when I was a little kid and filled my backyard with tons of bluebonnets

[Xamllew]

It sounds kinda weird but slingers (who use slings) make very cheap projectiles from clumping cat litter, just be sure to use clean litter.

[mrfoo]

Surely used cat litter comes with inbuilt "clumps" :)

[Xamllew]

Surely used cat litter comes with inbuilt "clumps"

Highly effective.

[Moonbogg]

I got no problem s##ting right into the barrel myself. Hey JSR, can I borrow your chrony to see how fast it goes?

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

I got no problem s##ting right into the barrel myself. Hey JSR, can I borrow your chrony to see how fast it goes?

I will quote the late Senator Robert A. Taft, commenting on the return of Lend-Lease materials supplied to America's allies during the Second World War:

"Lending war equipment is a good deal like lending chewing gum—you certainly don't want the same gum back."

[Moonbogg]

Hey, I saw a post from a guy here who BAKED ammo out of flour and then dipped it in wax. I would love to bake the perfect biodegradable cannonball. Any idea how the heck you bake ammo out of flour? Mix in some eggs or what? My cannonballs would be huge (same diameter as soda cans) and probably take up all the eggs in the house though. Wife would be pissed.

[mrfoo]

I'd guess a simple flour / water paste would work. Plain flour, though, not self-raising.

[Doc j]

Make molds with gap sealer silicon mixed with cornflour makes a putty B4 it sets.

Maybe this, wat put into Mold.
But it shrinks a bit I think.

[Doc j]

Here's make Mold.

[hectmarr]

I recommend the meatballs my mother-in-law makes. I never consume them and they can be useful for what you are looking for. I always told myself that the woman had the soul of an ammunition manufacturer and not much of a cook