Blow Guns

Blowguns, as their name implies, are projectile-launching devices that are powered by the user's breath. There are countless variations on the standard blowgun design, but at the core, a blowgun is just a single, hollow tube. The primitive blowgun represents a simple, elegant solution to the problem of producing a projectile weapon of great power.

There is no record of when hunters first used blowguns, or where the device originated. The guns themselves, mostly constructed from hollow reeds, bamboo, or other such plants, are long since gone. Since most scholars place human migration to Southeast Asia and the jungles of Africa long before South America, it is ostensibly safe to assume that the blowgun appeared in Africa or Asia before it made its way to the Americas.

Variations on the Design of Blowguns

The various designs of the blowgun represent different needs of hunters. The most straightforward variation, changing the length, can affect both the accuracy and the velocity of the dart. For example, shooting vertically, into the trees, is difficult with a blowgun that may work perfectly at a similar distance horizontally. For vertical shooting, a longer gun is needed.

Blowguns are used all over the world for sport, and are also used as hunting tools in many areas of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Sport blowguns are often manufactured out of aircraft aluminum in a seamless tube. Many of the hunting blowguns still in use are probably crafted from indigenous plants much the same way as they have been for tens of thousands of years.