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is the broadhead for blowguns a new innovation?

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DC:
We used to make blowguns at work(when we weren't slaving feverously ;) ;)). We used 3/4" electrical conduit about 8' long. We made the darts out old artist paint brushes with the ferrule forward and a paper cone for fletching. Anyway, I was always amazed at the distance and power that these things had. For some reason I could shoot them farther than anyone else(full of hot air, I guess) and could reach close to 200 feet on a good day. A 10" long brush would almost go though a heavy re-inforced cardboard box. I have no doubt that they would do extreme damage to a rabbit. All that said, the ancients didn't have conduit and they used fluff instead of paper. I'm amazed that they could get the inside of a cane or whatever smooth enough so the fluff wouldn't snag on the way through. I'm sure that if I was to try and make one using ancient stuff that I wouldn't even be able to blow a dart though it. Whenever I try to imagine doing something the old way I always seem to run into something that stymies me. I'm rambling.

Dakota Kid:
Longer thinner broadheads will greatly improve your penetration. The ones that worked best for me were 3/8" wide and 1" long shot from a 1/2" diameter blowgun. I think the effectiveness of the razor/lithic dart is better if pass through is not achieved. The internal damage done from the animal's movement after the shot is sometime greater than the damage from the shot itself.  I'm betting a long wire dart where the front half is somewhat flattened and sharpened would just about cut the rabbit in half when it tried to run away. Plus longer darts catch on the surrounding brush slowing the animal down, sometimes to the point where you may be able to finish it off by hand/club.   

I've seen shots to the chest cavity, the head, and even through the eyes with normal wire darts that weren't lethal. A cutting head or poison would be the only way I see the blowgun as a worth while hunting weapon. On a small enough animal/bird I could see a wire dart causing immobility either by the length of the dart or by "pinning" it to a tree. I finishing blow would still be required though.

ekalavya:
@Dakota.

You made a good point there "The internal damage done from the animal's movement after the shot is sometime greater than the damage from the shot itself."
This seems to be trick ... the animals does the lethal damage itself through its instinct like the
boar who is running into the spear ...
For the broadhead ... you gave me the plans and it is up to me to try it out ... as for anyone who
did not do it yet

@DC

at the measure given by you I wonder how you managed to blow through that ....
usual if the blowgun is over your optimum volume it is less efficient and also if it is bending
by gravity ....
i myself have a 106cm ( around 42") and 18 mm ( little less than 3/4") tube and yes, it works
fine with paper cones .... but i doubt it would do so with a fluff or more traditional "fletching"

a wool string (picture in last post) simply coiled around and securely fixed works fine
for 1/2" diameter ... wool string length around from left to right hand both at maxium
distance (~ 6')

DC:
It may have worked better if it was shorter, we just used what was leaning against the wall.

ekalavya:
@Dakota

concerning a possible dart poison for the northern hemisphere .... two possible candidates
came to my eye ... the first is nicotine extracted by hot or cooking water from ordinary dry tobacco
leaves and the second is aconitine which is around ten times more poisonous

however the extraction or concentration of almost pure aconitine seems to be more difficult
but not impossible .... aconitine is a poison found in various plants of the species aconitium
and known by quite a couple of english names like wolfsbane, monkshood and so on ...

aconitine was used as a dart poison , but for a rabbit size animal probably tobacco would
two ... according to wiki the nicotine content of one cigarette is around 12 mg which definitly
would be over LD50 for a dog , so i guess 24 mg or two cigarettes would do

it would be around a third of a grain of weight or not much for a 25 or 30 grain dart ...

although it would be theoretically possible i heard of no reports of nicotine being used
as a dart poison

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