Firewheel - the rubber band machinegun

Recognising that boys will be boys, clear plastic glasses were added to the kit from that point forth, to ensure no short range "accidents" occurred. Other than that, Graham and mum Maryanne were comfortable with the guns being used inside the house - there's just not enough momentum in a rubber band to tip over a vase or do any damage to the household finery.

How accurate is the gun?

The Firewheel web site claims the gun is so accurate that you can shoot flies out of the air. Both boys said they thought that would be very hard to do at any distance more than a metre (flies are very small and very fast), though we got the distinct impression the concept was challenging and would be attempted repeatedly from that point forth.

The Firewheel is relatively accurate to around four metres though the velocity of the rubber bands drops a lot from three metres onwards. When shooting at each other, both boys reported that the can't-dodge-the-bullet-distance was "about the length of a car" - around three metres - and the sting had gone out of the shot by that time.

Once the user is accustomed to the firing mechanism, it's possible to squeeze off single or multiple shots at will - it's a clever firing mechanism and works well.

Now human ingenuity is universal, and Firewheel are not the first to produce a great rubber band gun, though they appear to be the first to produce a cost-effective solution. We were able to find several other rubber band machine guns on the market, the most remarkable being a 144-band gatling-gun-lookalike that sells for US$395.

By comparison, the most remarkable thing about the Firewheel is the price - AUD$30 (US$22) - and the fact the gun comes with a lifetime warranty.

The only running costs are likely to be buying new bands. After two weeks of continuous use, there's still plenty of ammuniaion left from the original bag of bands that came with each gun, and jumbo-sized bags are available from your local newsagent for around $2.

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