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How to Make a Mechanical Pencil Shooter

Mechanical pencils are useful writing tools because they are refillable. This also means they can be modified for other uses, such as a toy pellet gun. It takes a little work and the pencil won't write again, but you'll have an effective mechanical pencil shooter that will shoot anything that fits into its barrel, including BBs.

Things You'll Need

Inexpensive mechanical pencil
Pliers
Artist's blade or utility knife
2 to 4 elastic bands
.177 BB pellets or other ammunition

Instructions

- 1
  Grasp the conical tip of the mechanical pencil with the pliers and pull it off.
- 2
  Cut the outer shell of the mechanical pencil one inch from the open end. Hold an artist's blade or utility knife tight against the pencil barrel, push your thumb against the opposite side and turn the pencil a few times to create a cut line. Be careful not to cut your thumb. Pull the piece off with the pliers, being careful not to break the spring.
- 3
  Place one elastic band flat against the front part of the pencil, about 1/2 inch from the cut end. Hold one end of the band and wrap the rest of it around the pencil. When you're finished, you'll have the band wrapped tightly around the pencil barrel with two loops sticking out on either side.
- 4
  Thread another plastic band through the loops of the first band. Put one end of the second band through the loop formed by the other and pull tight.
- 5
  Split the eraser in half with your knife. Fit the loop of elastic band into the slit.
- 6
  Pull the elastic band back and put your ammunition (such as a BB pellet) into the open end of the pencil. Release the band and the pellet will fire from the gun.

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