Independent AMSOIL Dealer Thomas Frazier, in his own words.
“My pumpkin chunker is ‘Chunk’n-ology.’ It’s where pumpkins learn to fly,” said Frazier. “Chunk’n-ology ammunition consists of pumpkins, cantaloupe and watermelons. Other cannons have shot out Christmas trees, frozen turkeys, alternators and starters.
“The three things that it takes to launch any type of produce? You need compressed air, you need produce and you need a butterfly valve in a barrel. When you get ready to shoot it, you take the butterfly valve and open it up as fast as you can. It lets all the air out against the produce and sends it out the barrel. And that’s what it takes to launch a piece of produce.”
Brace for impact
“The impact craters are all over the place. They’re anywhere from one to two feet in diameter. They’re at least 30 feet long in spots. My air compressor is [named] ‘Chunk’n-air for Chunk’n-ology.’ This is where I get my air from. When I’m shooting for distance at a competition, I will take this up to 80 psi. The highest I can get is 80-90 psi. And I have bottles of compressed air, and I have to buy three bottles per shot. That will get me up to about 225-230 psi.”
“My personal best is 3,027 feet, and that was about 225 psi. The cannon itself is in the 4,000-Foot Club. It went 4,042 feet.”
“[When] shooting pumpkins, people have reached over three quarters of a mile, but nobody has actually hit the mythical mile. So it would be great if I went over 5,000 feet.”
How it all started
“The way that this actually became my hobby was about 20 years ago a friend of mine came to me and he said he was going to build a pumpkin chunker. I had no idea what that was. And we built his. My boss had a pumpkin patch at the same time, so we built him a small one. The first time we shot both of them, they made pie. Pie is when they come out and it just sprays everywhere. And I was completely disappointed in all the time and effort that was wasted in doing this.
“But then we reloaded both of them and they both took off. It was history. I’ve been in love with it ever sent.
“The one thing I guess I love most about doing what I do with this is putting a smile on people’s faces because it’s a different type of smile. They can’t get it anywhere but shooting a pumpkin. And once you achieve that, then that’s something that they’ll never forget.
“I mean, what is there that you can’t love about shooting pumpkins? It’s a different kind of hobby. It takes a nut to do it.”