So you're doing a play, making a film, staging a zombie massacre for Halloween or whatever, and you need a special effect to simulate a person being shot. You don't have access to a licensed pyrotechnician, so explosive squibs like they use in the movies are not an option. You're on a limited budget, but you still want a good-looking, energetic effect that doesn't require complicated materials or rigging, leaves your actor free to move around, and doesn't require any big, bulky equipment to hide in your actor's costume. It has to be safe. You need this by tomorrow. WHAT DO YOU DO?

Well, here's one solution: Using inexpensive, readily available off-the-shelf materials, you assemble an actor-operated, CO2 cartridge powered squib that can create a blood spray up to 12 feet away, and you do it for around $30. The project is saved! Here's how you do it.

NEW! Check out this great video from member timlogik showing the effect in use by Amber's Sweets, his Repo! The Genetic Opera live performance cast. Thanks, Tim!

Step 1: You Will Need:

One CO2 bike tire inflator *
One CO2 cartridge that fits your inflator
One Hose Barb air nozzle adaptor **
Three feet of 1/2" vinyl tubing
One push-fit splice connector for 1/2" vinyl tubing (optional) ***
Duct Tape
One small hose clamp (optional, but recommended - not pictured)
Vinyl cement
Blu-tack or low-tack masking tape
a banana (not pictured)
Some fake blood

A hobby knife
A vise, or a set of locking pliers
A marinating needle or large hypodermic needle

* You want an inflator that has a trigger valve as opposed to a push-to-fill valve. Also, you want one that screws into the Schrader valve on the bike tire, and ideally one that can accept multiple sizes of CO2 cartridge with both threaded and non-threaded tops. Mine cost $20.00 at the local bike shop, but they can be found cheaper at places like Walmart, or online.

** Usually found in packages of pneumatic air nozzle accessories - about $3.00 at Lowe's

*** This is just to make loading the banana plugs easier. If you don't mind taking the tube off of the hose barb to reload, you can skip it.
<p>Having trouble finding an air nozzle adapter that fits with the inflator. All the ones I've found so far are too small (mainly Husky-brand at Home Depot). The nozzle fits, but it's not big enough to fit the threads. Would plumber's tape be a valid option? </p>
<p>I'm a filmmaker, and have found everything I need to build it, but having troubles locating any place that sells the hose barb air nozzle adapter. Can someone please help me out, and tell me where they can be bought? Thanks</p>
<p>Harbor Freight</p>
<p>How well does this gunshot produce special effects? I would love to <br>make one so I can make my own home movie. We were wondering how film <br>makers add in the gunshots when they produce the movie. Does it get <br>edited in on the computer? <br>Jayden Eden | http://yourtechservices.com.au/</p>
Okay, I realize I'm replying to a years-old instructable here, so I hope the author reads this... <br> <br>What did you do about the direction of spray problem? I've built one of these rigs for an upcoming production at my company, and I can't get it to spray perpendicular to the body. If I run the tube over the shoulder, it sprays downward over the belly, and if I run the tube up from the bottom, it sprays on the chest and face. Not chest bullet wound behavior. I've found a product that I can buy that basically pushes onto the tube and redirects the spray perpendicularly, but the only company that sells them in the US is closed til January 6. <br> <br>Any advice?
I need to make 4 of these for a theatrical production I am directing, and I'm working with as good as no budget. So when I found this tutorial, I was so happy because it looks easy and cheap, and makes it possible for me to pull off this show. But so far, none of the local bike shops I have called have said &quot;YES! Our tyre inflators are trigger valve!&quot; and most of them have ones with little dials, and I haven't been able to get a look at them yet. Is the issue there just going to make it harder for actors to operate the squib? Also, I live in Australia, where I don't have Lowes or Walmart to turn to; are there any websites you can recommend that sell cheap trigger-valve inflators that might ship to my country?
OR will the 'Planet Bike Air Kiss CO2 Inflator Bike Pump Set' work perfectly ? <br>http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--1215558137_Planet_Bike_Air_Kiss_CO2_Inflator_Bike_Pump_Set
hey, would you mind if I turned this into a video tutorial? I will credit you of course!
im guessimg that you can only use each canister once<br><br>any way it is a great instructable and i cant wait to build it 'cause i love movie making.
You can get 3 or 4 good shots out of a 12 gram CO2 cartridge, easy. It really just depends on how much blood you're pushing and how long you hold down the trigger.
on a scale of 1 to 10, how good of a joke do you think this'd make on april fools day?<br />
Depends on where you pulled your joke. In a controlled, safe environment without police or armed security guards around to blow your brains out or arrest you for waving a gun around, I'd probably give it a 7 or 8. <br /> At a school, the mall, or on the street, I'd have to go with -10. No prank is worth dying or going to jail for.
On the other hand, with&nbsp;a few mostly cosmetic mods, this could be the basis for a truly epic squirting flower.
i mean just doing it on myself without anyone shooting at me, at school-it'd probably make a <em>ton</em> of laughs.<br />
That'd be awesome! Maybe you could rig an electronic detonator with a firecracker in the room to go off at the same time as the squib!
Dead comment. Learn how nettiquite works.
I&nbsp;dunno, maybe I'm just overcautious but a suddenly appearing bullet wound from nowhere might still cause people to think &quot;sniper&quot; even if there's no gun visible, and cause you a lot of trouble.<br /> Now if you loaded it with yellow goo, placed&nbsp;the effect tube&nbsp;as close to your face as possible and faked a sneeze...
I was thinking more &quot;neon green goo&quot; than &quot;realistic blood explosion&quot;.<br />
I&nbsp;think neon green goo is&nbsp;a great idea. If you have any left around Halloween, you can use it in a &quot;radioactive alien zombie massacre&quot; scene or something.
i'm actually thinking about making goo bombs and the squib thing so i can scare the crap out of the little kids on halloween.&nbsp; i mean, a huge blast of goo coming from nowhere'll scare anyone.<br />
&nbsp;Actually bad idea. My friend pulled a prank like that with fake blood but he acted like he stabbed himself. He got suspended for five days, and almost expelled for causing a panic and false emergency, and then vandalism for &quot;staining&quot; the tile floor.
i mean just a huge burst of fake blood, minus the stabbing and with water-soluble stuff. i go to a school where for a senior prank they wrote &quot;2009&quot; in stacks of library books last school year.<br />
&nbsp;Well yeah the stabbing was a bad idea, but the blood was water soluble. Do you mean like an anime blood burst where it seems like your whole chest explodes? Because that would be epic. But as long as you don't damage anything then i don't see a problem.&nbsp;
something like that... just with a fountain of blood from my chest... also, do the office depot cleaner canisters work well for this? they're just CO2 cartridges(I think) that are really cheap(about $2.50 each) and include the nozzle and a tube that you could just epoxy the hose around. does the pressure have to be greater than that of a weak fart initially, or can it start off weak then explosively increase? i think that if it worked right that way it would be awesome. i actually have a jacket that seems to be designed for this; it has a pocket with a pre-installed hole in the top for a flashlight that should hold it just fine. also, i think ive found a better way to do this. cheaper, too. if it works ill pos tan ible on a grenade-style fake blood-bomb.<br />
<p>Those are not CO2, but they would probably still generate enough pressure to fire the squib. The tradeoff would be that the canister is bigger and harder to conceal, but if that's not an issue for you, go for it.</p>
i'm the guy who always has random canisters, tools and stuff at school anyway, so its not a problem for me.<br />
If you notified any security, police etc, I'd give it a 10
Dude. You replied to a dead comment.
This looks great. I do a Halloween play every year (Make-up and Effects) and have one question - what sort of insurance do I need? I already have the usual - public liability and standard make-up artist insurance that covers the creation and application of prosthetics. I live in the UK, so that may make a difference. I desperately want gun-shot wounds in next year's play!
You don't need any extra, As this is not explosive.
Sorry, I have no idea whether you would need any additional coverage or not, especially in the UK. I would assume that your regular liability insurance would be sufficient, but if you have concerns, definitely consult a lawyer.
Hi You should always give credit where credit is due. I have given seminars on this technique for the past 4 years and came up with the system originally in 2002 for a music video for the Bronx, the same system was used on Resident Evil 3, you do have a major safety flaw and that is your push-fit connector. That connector is not safe for the 700 PSI I can shatter and really hurt someone Please also amend your post that this technique was invented by me, Ralis Kahn
Dude, people have been spraying stage blood through tubes since well before 2002. I've done variations on the effect for years using Hudson sprayers, Super Soakers, paintball markers, fountain pumps, compressed air, squeeze bulbs, and my own lungs as propellant, and so have thousands of other people. Using an CO2 bike tire inflator is just a variation on the theme, which I came up with on my own, without attending any seminars or ever watching a Resident Evil movie. It's a simple enough hack that I'd be very surprised if you and I were the only ones who ever thought of it.<br> So, to summarize: I didn't steal your idea, and I won't be crediting you in my post. If you can do it better, write your own Instructable.
The Professionals in the industry do credit properly. I have been a professional in the industry for 19 years and used many systems for blood delivery as a professional You most likely saw the demos on You tube: http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7tdV6DgsY http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=d9CibOpWZCs or heard about it, is not a secret and it is fine that you use my techniques. I am very open about how I do things. It is just good etiquette to credit properly, although that may not be the case here.
<em>You most likely saw the demos on You tube (blah blah blah) or heard about it....</em><br> <br> Wow... Seriously? Because no one in the world besides you could possibly have thought of swapping one pressure source for another in a commonly used blood effect? And silly me, I thought that your <em>original</em> post was condescending and arrogant..... Congrats on raising the bar.<br> <br> I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Substituting a CO2 inflator for a Hudson sprayer is not world-shaking innovation, it's a minor tweak. It just happens to be a useful minor tweak that increases the portability and concealability of a widely used effect technique. You didn't &quot;invent&quot; the effect, you just came up with a workable substitution for the pressure source, same as I did, same as Yokozuna apparently did in 1999, same as who knows how many others have done. Your refusal to accept the possibility that others may have had the same simple idea independently of you is both irritating and kind of sad.<br> <br> I will say this one more time, as simply as I can. I have never heard of you, seen your work, or watched your YouTube video prior to this exchange. I did watch your video this evening, and I don't recall you crediting anyone for any of the other pressure sources you use in your demonstrations. I will assume that the credits for those ideas were lost in the edits, and not that you are also claiming to have invented fire extinguishers and Hudson sprayers.<br> As a professional in the field since 1989, I fully appreciate the etiquette of giving credit where credit is due, and do so whenever credit is actually due. I didn't credit you because you and your work played absolutely no part in the development of my device. If you want to believe that I'm lying, I can't stop you. I am, however, done arguing about it. Best of luck in your future endeavors.
I wish i could like ur comment to that ralis guy
LOL! This is pure comedy! xD
If that's the case, I'm sure that all of your seminars give proper credit to a student film I produced with two other guys in 1999 using this technique. Because I know someone like yourself who is so concerned with giving due credit would have checked every single movie and youtube video before taking any small amount of credit it for it. Did we come up with the idea ourselves? As I recall, we read about it in a special effects on the cheap book whose names escapes me and really doesn't matter over a decade later. Great explanation of the technique, and nice accompanying photos, five stars.
<p> My point exactly. Thanks for illustrating&nbsp;it&nbsp;so well. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go claim to have invented wind resistance and paper so Kiteman has to credit me on&nbsp;a bunch of&nbsp;his Instructables.</p>
Whoa, I was going to call dibs on inventing the internet.
OK, but you might have to wrestle Al Gore for that one. Besides, I invented electricity.
<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Pneumatic-Squib-Tutorial/" rel="nofollow">http://www.instructables.com/id/Pneumatic-Squib-Tutorial/<br> <br> I</a>f you read the comments in that instructable, you will see the development of the idea based on the instructable that he does credit. &nbsp;You may want to direct your claim to the other author and question where he got the idea.
I agree with RavingMadStudios for the same reasons he is stating!
Hey, I'm a little confused about the banana plug. Do I need it for this squib to function?
Not really. It just helps to keep blood out of the valve so that it doesn't get stuck or clogged, and gives the gas something solid to push on. The squib still works without it, you just get frothier blood. Since I was using a detergent-based blood, it was helpful in reducing foam.
aaaaaagghhhhhhhh! you beat me to it! haha i came up with the exact same idea! great minds think alike i guess
Seems like a bunch of us have come up with this independently, which doesn't surprise me at all. I just have the honor of being the first one to post it here.
plans for a good shooting prank.<br /> 1 do it in front of girl friend or someone who cares about you<br /> 2 strap this dohickey on.<br /> 3 have a friend shoot at you with a starter pistol with blanks in it<br /> 4 engage CO2 device.&nbsp;<br /> 5 fall on floor.<br /> 6 laugh.<br />
Not a good idea, blanks are known for causing fatal injuries from debris in the barrel or even just gas injection under pressure.&nbsp; (so are oxyacetylene welders *without* ignition)&nbsp; Better to use an electrical trigger in the pistol to fire a safely enclosed blank in a vented box near the &quot;shooter&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you are near a building the echo will distort the location enough the effect will still play out even if the squib/blank is a few feet away.<br />
Most starters pistols have solid barrels, that is no bore. Gases are usually vented out the side, not in the direction it's pointed.<br /> The &quot;joke&quot; as described by <a class="entryListTitle" href="../../../../member/Vulcanator/" rel="nofollow" style="line-height: 16.0px;padding-right: 4.0px;padding-left: 0.0px;">Vulcanator</a>is still a very bad idea. A girlfriend dead of a heart-attack or injured trying to get away is decidedly un-funny. Also, being shot by responding police would also put a damper on the hilarity.<br />

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