Novelty Gun Ammunition
WARNING! The material here is intended for informational purposes only! Any misuse of this ammo (ie shooting it at something that you shouldn't shoot at) instantly changes the status of your gun from novelty cannon to firearm! Despite what you have loaded, always treat your cannon as if it were a loaded rifle. I won't be held responsible for loss of property or bodily injury. You were warned.
Organic Ammunition:
Apples - slice it up to desired thickness and stab the barrel on the end, then ram the chunk down the barrel. Works well, but leaves apple juice in your gun. If there's enough in there, some may spray out the clean out trap at the end. The juice acts as a lubricant in the barrel and you can get some good shots with it.
Pears - similar to apples.
Potato - there's a reason why these are called "Potato Guns." They work well, somewhat better than apples, but there is still juice/water produced.
Grapes - works well in 3/4" diameter barrels. Be careful ramming it down.
Hot Dogs - not recommended.
Ice - take the same diameter pipe of the barrel being used and create an "ice cube tray." Untested.
Inorganic Ammunition:
there are several methods to shoot practically anything that fits in the barrel. Most of it falls under 2 techniques, either tape wrapped, or wadding.
Tape-wrap method: works best with cylidrical objects. Simply take your object and wrap it with masking tape going around it, keeping each layer of tape as straight with the others as possible.
Wadding method: take some paper towels and crumple them into wads, which are rammed down the barrel. Ammo is then dropped on top. Watch out, as ammo can fall out if the gun barrel is tilted down, especially with spherical kinds.
Tape-wrap suitable ammo:
Masking tape - simply take a piece and roll it up until you have a cylinder that fits in your barrel. Light and works well. Could be substituted instead of wadding for the wadding method, maybe increasing effectiveness.
Glue sticks - fit well in 3/4" barrels. Can take the glue part out to load with a payload or something to increase weight (i'm not giving ideas). Chances are the plastic will shatter upon impact.
Hot Glue sticks - not much weight, Jimmy got shot with one through his jacket from 25 feet away and said it didn't hurt. Still broke cardboard at that range.
Penny-stack - take a stack of pennies and wrap them in tape so it is one solid object. Dented a wooden door 1/4 of an inch from 25 feet away.
Nerf Darts - Will fire without tape, but probably works better with it. Do not ram down too tightly unless you fill the empty hole part. I shot one once and it blew the rubber tip off the dart. Greatest potential for non-lethal ammo yet, especially in lower powered weapons. Will probably be the "i want to fuck around and shoot my friends" ammo of Potato Gun Mark II.
Pencils - similar to glue sticks but breaks a lot easier and more dangerous. Wouldn't recommend these things, especially if they have sharp edges.
Pens - similar to glue sticks and pencils, but these babies carry an ink charge, depending on the type. If it has a compartment where you can actually see the ink from the outside of it, when it hits it will shatter and leave an ink blotch, while splattering ink everywhere. The cheap kind (ballpoint) could have the ink part removed and inside filled with something to add weight.
Screwdriver - once I had a screwdriver that fit in the barrel so I taped up the shaft and shot it. It stuck almost an entire inch in the door. Point blank it penetrated a plastic trash can up to the tape part. Fired backwards, it has a tumble effect, meaning it spins when it hits something. Fired at cardboard, it will usually cut a swath the size of it, and still have the momentum to bury itself in the door, provided the end hits correctly. Definetly a sick idea with devastating potential. I don't know what possessed me to think of it, but I probably shouldn't have. Mine broke in half after being fired about 20 times. The shaft broke in half. Don't recommend this one, due to its extreme nature.
Wadding-type ammo
Pennies - cheap, classic, + destructive, although not quite accurate. works well in a 3/4" barrel. i've seen pennies shot from 20 feet away leave readable impressions of the coin on a metal door. From my experience, usually leaves a perfectly round hole in cardboard, and will completely shatter a beer bottle. Multiple pennies could be used for a shotgun effect.
Paintballs - drop one or a few in, but watch out cause they roll back out if you tilt it wrong.
Nuts - haven't tried this one yet, but is probably effective.
Wet paper towel/toilet paper wads - it sort of works. Tends to fall apart while being shot. Might need a little experimenting but has non-lethal ammo potential. Pain in the ass to clean up.
You've just read nothing. Nothing at all. You didn't just read this page. You didn't get this info from me. But you definetly didn't come up with it yourself. I am not responsible if you do any of this.