Firewheel Rubber Band Gun

The Firewheel folks in the land down
under asked Julie if she would like to review their 10 shot fully automatic
rubber band machine gun. Since she is female and a grown up, she was not really
interested. When Julie asked
me if I would like to review this product, I asked my fifteen-year-old son if he
might be interested in a gun that shoots up to ten rubber bands before
reloading. He agonized over this decision. After much soul searching, he agreed
to try out the product.

Or he said yes before anyone changed their mind. I will leave it to you,
gentle reader, to determine which way it really happened. Here is one of the
guns as delivered. Each is comes with an initial supply of rubber bands.

Firewheel initially sent two of their rubber band machine guns. In an effort
to torture the boys (one of my favorite pastimes), I insisted that each boy read
the instruction manual and safety sheet (more on the safety sheet in a moment).
Of course there would be a quiz and no one would be allowed to load their brand
new rubber band gun until they aced the quiz.

   

This was a lot more fun for me than it was for the boys. The safety sheet
that Seth is poring over in the photo above and to the left clearly states that
the rubber band gun is so safe that one could shoot someone else IN THE EYE
without doing any serious harm. I could almost hear the lawyers in this country
moan with ecstasy. They might want to consider rephrasing that — at least for
units distributed in the land of the lawsuit.

Above the boys complete their assigned reading. Each of them passed their
quiz. I find it amazing how much a teenage boy can retain when he is motivated.
A pity neither boy takes the same attitude into the regular classroom.

  
 

Seth stretches the first band from the nose, down through the center channel,
and onto the firewheel — this is the key to the whole mechanism.

The rubber bands are stretched back to the firewheel and into one of the ten
channels. The wheel is gently rotated until it clicks. The bands are released by
depressing the trigger. The trigger on the firewheel automatic rubber band gun
actually operates in reverse. The trigger mechanism extends through the handle
and the bands are released by sliding it forward with your thumb. With a little
practice, you can fire the ten bands one at a time (semi-automatic), one right
after the other (automatic), or all at once (shotgun).

 

These youngsters seem to be enjoying themselves. Note the folding stock is
extended in the upper left photo.

Here is the whole trio. It would be kind of scary to run into this fully
armed crew out in the woods.

 

Methinks he better look out!

Of course the boys had to dig a foxhole.

Here are the specifications for the Firewheel Rubber Band Gun (from the
Firewheel web site):

Magazine Capacity: 10 shot
Ammunition: standard size 16 rubber bands

Maximum band stretch: 14.8"
Action: much like a Gatling gun with the wheel indexing a "barrel" into position
each time it fires – inherently very accurate
Rate of Fire: variable
Length: 16" with folding stock retracted
Total Range: app. 25 ft
Effective Range: app. 6 ft for 1" dia. targets

Construction: Body and Trigger – 1/8" thick ABS, Stock – solid ABS, Wheel and
Front Loading Pin – High Quality Engineering Grade Resin.

The Firewheel Rubber Band Gun comes complete with a generous supply of number
16 rubber bands, a detailed owner’s manual, and a target game that uses a
collection of small pegs.

Price: $25.20 (includes Priority Mail shipping from
Nashville, TN) Volume discounts available
            Available in
numerous colors (Night Commando, Jungle Commando, and Lady Violet pictured)

Pros: 

Inexpensive and unusual toy
Heavy duty construction
Stylish

Cons: 
Could be dangerous if misused