Shooting my Chaplong (Caplong) bamboo pump gun; Final

Wet newspaper is a good alternative to Caplong’s bullets

Wet newspaper makes ideal ammunition for my Caplong bamboo pump gun. Shape the papers into small, compacted pallets, they make good Caplong bullets and can really pack a punch.

The first compact ball of wet newspaper is stuffed in, and the firing shaft is used to push it almost to the end of the barrel.

The 'ball' of wet newspaper stuffed into the barrel

The firing shaft is used to push the wet newspaper pallet to the end of the shooting barrel

Then, the second ‘bullet’ is loaded in. This time, with a quick and forceful push of the shaft into the barrel, the compression created inside the barrel will shoot out the first ‘bullet’. The faster the shaft is pushed into the barrel, the more powerful the shoot will be.

With the second ‘bullet’ in place, I am ready to fire.

The faster the shaft is pushed into the barrel, the further the bullet will shoot.

Well, having had the opportunity to make and fool around with this childhood toy again is really a good feeling. This is perhaps another one of them kampong past time games that will soon be forgotten! Here’s a short video we made on our bamboo Caplong pump gun.

Click here to see Part I of the Chaplong bamboo pump gun