13 Homemade Survival Weapons You Can Complete In A Weekend
You need to be ready to handle a bad situation even if it happens when you’re unarmed, unprepared, and unaware.
Because otherwise, you’re dead.
That is why I put together a guide of 13 of our best homemade survival weapon ideas.
Even if you don’t have your main resources, you can still find some scraps and use your noggin to create something useful, and life-saving.
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Before You Begin
Tools and building materials are more abundant than you first realize. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.
And if a situation arises such as:
- an atom bomb goes off while you’re at the office
- your family is kidnapped while on vacation
- the government turns on its own citizens
- or a revolution begins and blood runs in the streets
While everyone else is running around frantic and unarmed, you will be coolly putting together your homemade survival items.
Survival weapons that will help get you through whatever catastrophe you face.
Heck, even a non lethal weapon is better than nothing.
Thinking Creatively
This is the biggest takeaway from this article. The number of useful resources you have in any situation depends solely on your capacity for innovation.
If two people are locked in a room, with the same materials laid out before them, one might have no hope, while the other has an entire toolbox at their disposal.
Don’t be the first person, be the one who can invent their way out of any tight spot.
So don’t forget some general rules:
- Everything can be a tool
- Tape (especially Duct Tape) is your friend
- If you need a tool to build something else, make that tool first
- Always start from the ground up
- Time and efficiency are extremely valuable
- The simplest solution is almost always the best one
- Think outside of the box
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13 Of Our Favorite Homemade Survival Weapons
1. Flamethrowers
I wanted to come right out of the gate with my very favorite homemade survival weapon. It’s badass, relatively easy to make, and highly effective when the SHTF.
However, before you build this one, just know, this homemade survival weapon is inherently dangerous for both the user and the target. Using the wrong type of fuel or pointing it into a strong wind and you’ll set yourself on fire with a homemade flamethrower.
That being said, here’s a video on how to turn a fire extinguisher into a legit flamethrower.
Oh, and this dude is nuts, which makes this video entertaining to watch.
How to Build the Cheapest & Laziest Flamethrower
2. Homemade Pepper Spray
If you’d rather not spend a few dollars on a high-powered pepper spray, then you can make your own pepper spray at home. Get your hands on a spray bottle or can.
Clean out the container and combine the hottest dried chili peppers you can get your hands on. You’ll also need some water.
Mix the chili peppers in a bowl. Add water, you’ll only need enough water so the chili flakes are floating. Next, use a spoon to crush the dried peppers so that the seeds are completely exposed.
Add black pepper and stir.
Add a bit more water and then heat the mixture up using a microwave, over a fire, or in an oven. Heat to the point of boiling. Let it cool and then add it to the spray container.
Now you’ve got a very potent homemade survival weapon.
Here’s the basic concept and this “how-to” video:
How to Make 10X Powerful Pepper Spray
3. DIY Survival Bow
When confronting the prospect of constructing a bow, one is faced with a lot of questions.
Time is an essential resource for making a bow. If you’ve got a lot of time on your hands and access to a variety of tools, I’d recommend crafting yourself a legit hunting longbow.
On the other hand, if you don’t have time (or a significant amount of tools and resources) you can decide to build yourself a makeshift, cheap PVC bow.
So here are two ways to make a bow on a budget:
PVC Bow (this is just one of many methods for creating a PVC bow)
- Cut a piece of 1”- 1 ½” PVC piping into a 4’ segment.
- Cut grooves into each end of the PVC segment to hold the string.
- Take string (ideally mason wire) and tie loops around each end with two long sections of string, and bend the PVC pipe gently to create a bend.
- When you have achieved desired curvature (a shallow bend is better as it generates more force when fired than a deep bend will), tie the two pieces of string together in the middle and cut off the excess string.
Xtreme PVC Bow!
Plywood bow
- Similar to the PVC bow, you just need to find yourself a 2” – 3” section of plywood about 4’ long and some string. It strengthens the bow if you have time to glue another identical segment of plywood to the first, doubling up the power essentially.
- Trim the section down to the desired width for the handle and tapering on the ends.
- Carve notches for the string on each end.
- Attach the string to one end and bend the plywood to the desired curvature and tie it off.
4. DIY Arrows
Arrows are important if you decide to build a bow. But luckily, they are easier to build than the bow itself.
Find or make something barbed for the arrowhead (a nail, a screw, or a bent piece of scrap metal) and something straight for the shaft. Feathers obviously work great for fletching, but in a pinch, cardboard, cut plastic, or folded paper can work as well.
You just need a straight rod with a sharp point and fletching to make a homemade arrow.
Make Arrows For Less Than $2 – 5 Simple Steps
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5. Survival Slingshot
The classic neighborhood hooligan’s weapon. It really doesn’t get as much survival credit as it should. It’s small, simple, packable, and easy to find ammo.
The bottom line is survival slingshots are a very useful homemade survival weapon.
And they’re fairly easy to make. Here is a guide that tells you everything you need to know about slingshot building, and slingshot hunting.
However, if you’re serious about using a slingshot for self-defense or hunting then you may want to consider buying a professional one before SHTF. The accuracy and power will typically be better than a homemade slingshot.
Homemade Slingshot with Household Materials
6. Bullwhip
Indiana Jones made the bullwhip an iconic weapon.
Indiana jones Bullwhip compilation
But beyond Hollywood’s world of “make-believe”, these can be useful in a survival situation.
They were invented to control animals (as well as punish human beings).
So buy yourself some survival paracord, and cut it to 6’ – 8’. Pick which side you want the handle on and tape it up for a grip, and tightly tie a short string to the other end.
Using small strings is important because it’s what creates that famous CRACK when someone uses a whip it. That sound is the end of the whip breaking the sound barrier or a mini sonic BOOM. It still works to harm things without the string … but it’s less dramatic.
And here’s a long video showing you step-by-step how to make a paracord bullwhip.
How to Make a Paracord Bullwhip
And if that seems like too much time and hassle, you can always snag one for about $25 bucks.
7. Throwing Spikes and Stars
Bend some scrap metal to resemble the weight and shape of a throwing star. To do these right, you’ll need a few shop tools and some scrap metal.
You can also bind shards of glass together, but this is somewhat dangerous, and typically only good for one use.
How To Make a Ninja-Throwing Star
8. Caltrops
These are great for stopping pursuing vehicles.
Welding or some other method of fastening the blunt ends of nails together so that they form a road spike that always has a sharp end pointing up.
These are homemade survival weapons you can toss across a road, to stop almost any vehicle in its tracks.
How to make Caltrops
9. Blunt Force Weapons
Blunt force weapons are easy to find and you can upgrade them without a lot of guidance. Lots of random things can be used for clubs: table legs, broom handles, pots and pans, instruments, etc.
Just add a few nails to any club for a massive survival weapon upgrade.
Quote from the next video “they can never take away the junk you got laying around in your shop”.
Spiked club, improvised melee weapon
10. Homemade Survival Weapon: The Taser
A small taser can be made without too much difficulty. All you need is a barbecue lighter, scissors, a pen, and some duct tape.
Remove all the screws, then open up the lighter to access the inside, and cut the cables close to the end that sparked the flame.
Next, strip the plastic off about a half-inch.
Dismantle the pen and use the empty body tube to hold the wires. Attach the pen’s tube with duct tape so the wires are exposed at the end. Pressing the button should create a spark between the two wire ends.
Needless to say, this is a fire hazard, so don’t go starting an accidental fire.
The following video shows how to make this work. However, a lighter won’t provide a constant electrical pulse. In order to make it a real taser, you’ll need to change the trigger from a single zap to a constant one.
Otherwise, it’s more of a toy than a real self-defense weapon.
Or you could always buy the real deal instead…
How to Make a TASER from a Lighter – Easy
11. Knife or Shiv
Many objects can be turned into knives.
Here’s a good video showing you how to turn a file into a razor-sharp knife.
Turning a Rusty FILE into Shiny but razor Sharp KNIFE
12. Homemade Survival Weapon: The War Hammer
By fastening something heavy and elongating it to the end of a pole, you can craft yourself a weapon for the likes of heroes.
Attach a brick or rock, or piece of metal to the end of a pipe or pole and that’s it! The more creative you get with the fastening part, the better off you’ll be.
Check out this tactical survival hammer for a bit of inspiration.
How to build a Ware Hammer
13. Pocket Dart Guns and Blowguns
These are easy enough to construct, you just need a long tube and some pointed projectiles (like nails or pencils, or carved wooden darts).
Make sure that the dart fits snugly into the blowgun so that pressure builds up before the object releases.
This can be achieved by wrapping tape around the blunt end of the dart shaft until it sits lightly in place inside the blowgun.
Here’s how to make a laser-guided blowgun for under $3. Or again here’s a professional one for about $30.
How To Make A Laser Assisted Blowgun
14. DIY Sheet Metal Self Loading Pistol
This homemade survival weapon was shared with me by one of our readers in the comments (thanks, David).
It takes some serious metal-working skill but it goes to show that with skills and patience, you can build damn near anything yourself.
DIY Sheet Metal Self-Loading Pistol
And here’s a video of the final product working as designed.
Krikit 25 success… just the fire sequence
Prepare, Adapt, and Overcome – A Different Way Of Thinking
I have said it before and I will say it again: this article does not even come close to listing every possible DIY survival weapon or tool that one could dream up.
The possibilities are literally limitless.
The power of creation lies with the creator, and that is you; The Survivor.
But creative thinking does not always come naturally to everyone. It takes practice.
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Homemade Survival Weapon Lessons From McGyver
The crazy 80’s character could think on his feet so fast and with such success that his name became a verb.
To “MacGyver” something, is to create it quickly, and with skill out of only a few random resources at your disposal.
While many of the MacGyver improvisations were a bit far-fetched (or ludicrous) the basic idea is still valid: be like MacGyver – think like MacGyver.
Sadly, no matter how much you train your brain to be creative on the fly, there’s only so much you can do when it comes to factors out of your control.
It would be nice to get stranded in the end times with your whole family, alone in a hardware store where you have several weeks of food and can create whatever supplies you could ever imagine.
But that probably won’t happen.
On a final note: there are no wrong answers when it comes to homemade survival weapons. Anything can be used to accomplish your goals, anything can be a tool, and anything can be a weapon.
In a survival scenario, labels and categories tend to fall away. For more inspiration check out this list of real weapons found in prisons.
So what’s your favorite homemade survival weapon? Which ones did we forget to add? Which one do you think will help keep your family safe? Let us know in the comments below.
Will Brendza
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