I am OddOne of Borg. Resistance is futile.

 

Okay, so I'm not. But I do want to get some opinions on close-range non-lethal weapons for tight quarters situations where a gun is too slow and unwieldly to be as effective as a well-placed fist or foot. After all, a pistol doesn't do an assailant much good if he's grabbed, grounded, and subsequently beaten on by a big (6'1" 250+ lbs.) guy with a bad 'tude before he can draw and aim it.

 

What I have right now is a stungun. One hell of a stungun. Sucker's three and a half feet long. Here comes the technical details for the ETs and EEs out there... Its handle and body are 2-inch diameter (well, I.D.) PVC conduit, which is three times thicker than PVC for water, etc. and UV-stabilized to boot. Its head flares out to four inches across and holds the discharge coil, which is a General Motors HEI coil from a car. The inverter section steps the 12V from 8 'AA' batteries to about 1,000 VAC and rectifies it. The juice (now about 1,200 VDC) is placed onto one or more capacitors. A neon bulb with 470K resistor in series is wired to the capacitor(s) and the base a HV transistor (horizontal control X-istor from a TV set), whichforms a voltage-operated switch which in turn siwtches on a microwave oven triac to short the capacitro(s) across the primary of the HEI coil. Everything is heatsinked to the extent that I can run it 24/7 for an unlimited amount of time on a 120-to-12VDC supply without harming anything. The bright-blue arc is about half an inch long and makes the air immediately around it glow orange, so I know it's packing some serious punch.

 

The firing circuit (triac, HV transistor, neon bulb and series resistor) form a voltage-sensing firing circuit that fires the charge when the voltage across the capacitor(s) exceeds about 400V (when the neon bulb breaks over and starts to conduct, switching the HV transistor on and in turn putting juice to the triac's gate.) Assuming that the unit fires at 400V, on low the output power is about 0.4 joule. On medium it puts out about 0.8 joule. On high, 1.2 joules. This is done by switching into the circuit one of two capacitors to up the charge density, with a low-medium-high switch. (NOTE: According to the OSHA folks and IEEE and ANSI and all the movers and shakers, 10 joules is considered the average fatal electrical discharge level for a human.) When the batteries start to die, it fires less and less frequently but with the same power per pulse, as compared to time-based firing circuits in normal stunguns that pulse at the same rate but with decreasing power levels as the batteries die.

 

I have discussed the stungun with lawyers and police officers (several of whom loved it and thought it was THE most awesome thing they'd seen lately) and according to the laws in my state it is perfectly legal to carry so long as it's not brandished, shown off, played with in a potentially unsafe manner, or used without reasonable cause. (Self defense is a reasonable cause, of course.)

 

(Side note: If anybody wnats the schematic for it I think I have it lying around somewhere. It's pretty straightforward.)

 

Stunguns are pretty potent up-close weapons, especially when it can be used as a really effective club like mine can. But if the batteries go dead or the assailant wears thick enough clothing to block the zap, it's not good for anything except as a club and there often isn't enough room to get a decent swing. Any opinions on personal-protection items that are non-lethal but do the job in a tight quarters fight?

 

OddOne, who has a house that's a real pain to rush in because it's got small enough hallways, etc. ...

 

-- OddOne (mocklamer@geocities.com), March 09, 1999

Answers

how about blinding them with ray gun made from 1000 of your $1.66 white LEDs? :)

-- a (a@a.a), March 09, 1999.

how about blinding them with ray gun made from 1000 of your $1.66 white LEDs? :)

Nah, if I were going to go that route I'd build a 750-watt strobe, muahahaha... ReeeeeEEEE-CLICK! Woo, look at the pretty spots... =8^( ;-D OddOne, who knows how bad a high-power strobe up-close can be to the retinas...

-- OddOne (mocklamer@geocities.com), March 09, 1999.

No need to get fancy and all put out over it. If they come in too close for the shotgun Mace should do the trick. Of course that if theres only one. Looters usually travel in packs of 6 or more!!!!! Maybe a wide angle spray tip might help Oh and did the kids want a dog for XMas? How about a nice Rotweiler, If trained properly they make excellent pets

-- nyc (nycnyc@hotmail.com), March 09, 1999.

Am interested in schematic. Send soonest. Element has gone out in my electric BBQ grill and I think this may be perfect replacement.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), March 09, 1999.

LMAOROTF,,,a 3 1/2 foot stungun,,,,ZAPPPP!!!

How much did that monster run ya?

The police use a 500 lumen tactical light that will double as a club in close quarters,,,last for 5-7 min,,,supposed to blind someone in broad-daylight with their eyes closed,,,don't know if that is hype or not.

Sure that thing ain't a lethal weapon?

-- CT (ct@no.yr), March 09, 1999.

Am interested in schematic. Send soonest. Element has gone out in my electric BBQ grill and I think this may be perfect replacement.

Hahahahaha, yeah, THERE'S a safe use for it. I can see it now... You step up and click the ignitor and wake up several yards away with smoke billowing out your ears...

 

LMAOROTF,,,a 3 1/2 foot stungun,,,,ZAPPPP!!!

How much did that monster run ya?

Only about $ 20 in parts I didn't already have or scavenge. Got the HV transistor from a TV, leftover conduit from an electrician friend, triac from a microwave oven (also got the enameled magnet wire to wind the inverter transformer with from its transformer), heatsink was a 1" wide 1/16" thick aluminum strip about a foot long, HEI coil I had lying around gathering dust in my shed.

Why buy what you can scavenge? ::grin::

Although it is an admittedly extreme example of science for the sake of freaking out the unsuspecting, NOBODY messes with me when I have it visible nearby. Nobody. It looks incredibly intimidating just sitting there in plain view. (Oh, did I mention it was black except for aluminum plates for the master power switch/charger jack on one panel and little red zap button/power setting/power-on indicator on the other panel? Maybe I'll see if I can get a picture taken and scanned of it.)

 

OddOne, who apparently has no problem responding to his own post...

-- OddOne (mocklamer@geocities.com), March 09, 1999.

Possibly for a brief moment tell your attacker "You know their Mother" and she would be Highly P---- off if she knew what they were doing ! By the time they realize what you have said,you could be gone and running very fast to safety. YoMama

-- YoMama (MAMA@home.com), March 09, 1999.

Start saving all of Koskinen's press clippings. As an attacker draws near, whip those babies out. As he starts to read them, first he'll start to giggle, then laugh out loud. In a matter of mere moments, he'll be rotflol - you can now safely use whatever means you find appropriate to dispose of the miscreant.

-- Online2Much (ready_for_y2k@mindspring.com), March 09, 1999.

Perhaps I have developed an immunity.

Running a car repair shop, specializing in diagnostics, we get hit regularly with GM HEI coils. Any more we just dare each other to run our hands over the wires looking for secondary leaks. It's not fun, but it's not disabling to us.

A GM HEI coil will go 50Kv, try using a Ford E-Core. They go to 70K.

-- art welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), March 09, 1999.

I subscribe to the mutually assured destruction principle. In your scenario one fragmentation grenade, minus pin and clutched in fist should do it.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), March 09, 1999.

Hey Art, I worked a repair shop for 10 years. Know exactly what you're talking about. Ya kinda get used to being jolted. Don't recall any ill effects. Could be wrong though.

-- David (David@BankPacman.com), March 09, 1999.

The only problem I see with a stun gun is that someone with a gun (very likely) only has to be 10 feet away to shoot you and the only thing you can do is throw the stunner across the room/yard at the perpetrator. It would not be a good idea for MANY to get so close to an assailant that a scuffle might develope. It would be too easy for 2 or more (even 1) "desperado's" to take the stunn gun away from the defender.

But what do I know? I've never been there.

sdb

-- SDB (sdbays@intplus.com), July 10, 1999.