It's all too easy to think about survival weapons in terms of commercially-made items you can buy at a local gun store or hunting gear retailer. However, there may come a day when what you can buy is less important than what you can make. If you're able to use some ingenuity to build a tool for small-game hunting or even self-defense in your garage, you won't be dependent on store-bought consumables. German YouTuber Joerg Sprave is famous for creating many such weapons, especially DIY slingshots and bows.

We've previously written about some of Sprave's grin-inducing inventions, such as the full-auto crossbow he built based on a power drill. In his most recent video, he shows off a magazine-fed, pump-action slingshot he named the Instant Rufus after famed slingshot marksman Rufus Hussey. The Instant Rufus slingshot is an extremely cool device, and is designed to fire 12mm steel ball bearings in quick succession.

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Clever touches like the magnetic feed mechanism, thumb trigger, and metal barrel appear to make this into a reliable and accurate weapon. Sprave says it also avoids legal issues because it's not classified as a firearm under Germany's weapon laws, but is instead part of the same category as blowguns. Although it's not as powerful as it could be given its short pump length, he says with a smile that it's “powerful enough” — after watching it in action, we'd definitely agree with this assessment. We want one.

Written by Patrick McCarthy