Shotgun!

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...


It's been about a quarter of a year since our last club launch, and several rockets had flown out of the field to be snagged high in tall trees.

After several months, two of the larger, more colorful chutes have been spotted, but so far, we have not found anyone with a drone to attempt to lift them out of the trees.

Recently, someone suggested using a shotgun.


Now, I have heard of using a bow and arrow with a string to fire into a tree and loop over an offending branch, making an arc to either pull up a stronger rope, or just pull down the limb and free the rocket.

However, the use of a shotgun for this purpose escaped me.

The person who suggested it said he has a shotgun and would be willing to fire AT THE BRANCH, severing it and allowing the rocket to drop down to the ground.




Now, I don't own a gun, so I can't speak to how good one's aim must be...nor how much shotgun shells go for...or what happens to the spent buckshot, once it clear and flies past the tree.  how far do they usually soar?  Do the pellets become a risk?  I would think that the parabola of the arc going up would accelerate the shot coming down, so that it's traveling just as fast when it impacts the ground as when it left the shotgun.










Or do I mis-understand the terminal velocity of shotgun pellets?



I would think anyone with a shotgun might be able to draw a bead on the branch, but the whole idea is not to damage the rocket nor the chute, but severe the branch.  Several shots might be necessary.

Has anyone tried this before?  How effective a recovery technique is this?  Should we do this before the spring growth starts to sprout leaves once again?


The Thrifty Rocketeer wants to know. 

Comments

  1. Not a UFO nutMarch 17, 2022 at 1:13 PM

    Never tried that.You would probably be right about the incoming velocity if you tried this on the moon. :) Air Drag slows them down a lot. I tried a quick google, did not see anything on the actual terminal velocity, but found this:
    https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/24315/how-likely-are-you-to-be-injured-by-falling-shot-from-a-game-shoot

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of the Line

Image
 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... Well, for years, the state of the model rocket industry relied upon plans and patterns that were photocopied or printed out, and then applied to standard sheets of balsa to be cut out. Eventually, the various parts for various sized rockets were packaged in groups or blister packs, and sold at hobby shops across the nation.  The emphasis was on home brew or building a rocket to specifications and plans. Eventually, entire kits were pre-packaged, with all the parts that one would need.  And then, laser cut shapes, fins or parts were already pre-cut, doing away with the need for most of the patterns and tracing. So what happened to all those bags and bister packs of parts of rockets?  That is, a baggie of various nose cones... or connectors... or transitions or more ?   Many of  those packages remain at your local mom and pop hobby store, just waiting for someone to come in and buy some of their pegboard stock....
Read more

sleeping with the enemy

Image
 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... First thing I did when they put in a Hobby Lobby in my smaller metropolitan town, 40 miles away, was to grab an application to work there.  Now I know what you're thinking... "How could you?  Who would want to work for that conservative corporation?".. as my daughter would say.  And you'd be partially right. I saved the application and took note of the mailing address. Within the first month or so, most of the initial buying frenzy was over, having sold out of some things, but not everything.   But it seemed nothing new was getting restocked. So, I got on my word processor and wrote a letter to the store management, THANKING them for bringing the store to our isolated metro area. I pointed out that many of the items had sold through completely, and how much we had appreciated their stocking rockets. Then I also encouraged them to restock and consider expanding the display, pointing to the fact that as rocketeers grow...
Read more

Death of a Hobby

Image
 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... No, this is not a column about how Model Rocketry is a dying hobby.  It's actually about another sister hobby that sometimes overlaps into Rocketry. I'm talking about Amateur Radio. Just this last weekend, our local Ham Radio club held a "swap meet" which is commonly called a Hamfest.  These gatherings to buy and sell used equipment, parts and visit old friends typically happen just once a year and in the absence of the late Radio Shack, is one of the only places to find parts and electronic elements. There is also testing held to advance to higher licenses. The admission varies depending on the club, their overhead, expense of renting the hall or venue, and the number of tables that they can sell to area vendors who will drive across state with their wares to set up for the half day show. It's not uncommon for amateur radio operators to drive across state to attend, pay admission and get a single entry into the door prize ...
Read more