Customer Rating: 
Summary: Newer 5' breakdown Version is very nice too...
Comment: I purchased this blowgun in the breakdown version and want to toss in my 2 cents...
The tubing breakdown join has a super fine thread and is a perfect and solid fit for the two pipes. You cannot slip a sheet of paper between the barrel and the joint pipe. It overlaps the join by several inches and results in an interior seam so tight that it is nearly invisible to the eye while looking down the bore. This is an amazing piece of precision crafting and engineering...
The assortment of included darts warrant some explanation:
The "stun darts" should perhaps be renamed "skull crushers" The impact of these ball ended plastic beauties smashed a one inch hole in a sheet of drywall from 50' and will cause an unopened soda can to explode. Any animal struck by one of these darts would likely not survive, much less be conscious to be "stunned".
Included broad-head darts are equally lethal and do significant damage to targets regardless of the unsharpened edges. They are about 1/2" long and 1/4" wide seated in a stun dart similar plastic ball which prevents deep penetration while knocking the target as stiffly as the aforementioned stun dart.
A 12 pack of "mini broad-head darts are essentially large gauge wire target darts with an arrowhead like tip machine formed from the last 1/4". I have had a couple of these tips break off while firing at 0.5" pine; primarily while trying to remove them. These darts will sink to the cone when firing at four inches of 6lb target foam from 50'. (No small feat.)
The bamboo shaft darts I find are the most useful of the lot. The length and light weight allows them to fly straight and true with little adjustment necessary for distance. Coating the tips in a light layer of model glue and allowing them to dry overnight preserves the tips and allowed an additional half inch of penetration into the 6lb target foam. They do not penetrate as deeply as the mini broad heads but seem far more accurate. Great for hunting or situations where re-using the dart is a disgusting prospect.
If you are a target shooter or hunter you will appreciate every detail of this blowgun package. They are powerful, accurate, silent, discrete and reasonably priced. Darts are inexpensive to purchase and / or easy to make. An ideal setup for eliminating rodents in an urban or suburban setting where a rifle is impractical.
Calibers use decimals of the inch. Thusly the bore of the .625 blowgun is six and a quarter tenths of an inch... (An inch being 1.0) An earlier reviewer is a tad misleading calling this a 6.15 calibre blowgun. An elephant might be able to propel a six and a quarter inch dart cone, but I can't think of many other mammals with that kind of lung capacity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What can really be said?
Comment: It's a big bore blowgun. To be honest it is a lot of fun. The first night I had it I was skewering stuffed animals from various places in the house. Be warned though, use indoors may result in dents and small holes in furniture and walls.
Things you might need to now. Common diameters for paintballs are in the .65 - .68 range and thus can't be used in this blowgun. You can get paintballs in .50 and .40, which can be fired through this, but flight may not be as expected due to the lose fit in the blowgun.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect...
Comment: I absolutly love it. It is sturdy and powerful. The only drawbacks are that the paint scuffs easy and the flare ends of the narrow broadhead darts come off easy if shot at something with a low density.
The brodhead darts shoot strait and hard, but the blade can bend if your not careful.
Once again, this is a great blowgun, but, as with any weapon, you have to take care not to scuff it up.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A True Primitive Weapon - Highly Recommended
Comment: I have owned and played with blowguns for at least the past 20+ years. These blowguns up until a couple years ago were either commercial .40 caliber blowguns or similar sized homemade blowguns. While these smaller caliber blowguns are lots of fun for target practice and even have some limited hunting potential, they really lack the power needed for a serious `primitive hunting or survival weapon'.
Now the Cold Steel .625 caliber Big Bore Blowgun is a different story all together. The .625 caliber blowgun shoots a heavier dart, hitting with much greater force than the smaller .40 caliber blowguns. A variety of darts are available for the Big Bore Blowgun, to include mini-broad-heads, bamboo darts, broad-heads, and stun darts (with a plastic ball in place of the point). The mini-broad-head darts will easily penetrate half-inch plywood. The bamboo darts are light weight, extremely fast and flat shooting. I found the broad-head darts a bit light weight for distance, but they cut a deep wound channel when they hit. The stun darts at first did not impress me, but after putting a small flathead screw into the end of these darts I found that I now had a dart that had a bit of weight and hit with some force, while still maintaining a blunt tip.
If you are used to shooting the smaller .40 caliber blowguns, you will find that the bigger .625 caliber model takes quite a bit more lung-power to launch the dart. You'll need to master strong, explosive exhalation to use the bigger blowgun, but this shouldn't take more than a few minutes of practice to accomplish (especially if you are already familiar with other blowgun models).
The blowgun tube is made from heavy gage aluminum and comes with an end-cap allowing the blowgun to be used as a light-weight walking stick.
For the experienced blowgun user, the .625 caliber Big Bore Blowgun is really the way to go. Like most Cold Steel products, the Big Bore Blowgun is very sturdily made. I have really enjoyed my Big Bore Blowgun over the past couple of years, and recommend this type of blowgun to anyone who wants a true `primitive weapon'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The 62.5 caliber blowgun-highly recommended
Comment: Summary: well made blowgun, and worth the price despite apparent lack of serious competition.
A word about measurement systems and usage: caliber is an old measurement system that describes hundredths of an inch. Thus, a "fifty caliber" is 50/100 inches, 0.500" or half an inch. Modern writers unfamiliar with this system often (incorrectly) place a decimal before the caliber. While correct for decimal measurement, it's incorrect for caliber. For instance, this blowgun is often advertised as ".625 caliber" or worse, "625 caliber". Both are incorrect, as the bore diameter *caliber* is 62.5. I have no illusions about cleaning up our journalism pool (in serious need of bleaching), rather this is to give the reader an understanding of the terms and numbers in this review.
The first feature I noticed was the yoke-like mouthpiece. It seals well, and could almost be passed off as a walking staff. It also included a slip-on end cap, which effectively protects the muzzle from damage. I have no intention of actually using it as a walking staff since I'm concerned about bending the tube.
It's very well made, fitted well and tight. The tube is thicker than I anticipated and is quite rigid. It does not have slip joints, so it does not break down into a smaller package. This also means the bore interior is smooth and diameter-consistent along its entire length. I would like to see a slightly longer version that breaks down into 3 equal length sections for travel convenience. All parts (mouthpiece, quiver, end cap) can slide off the main tube, making modifications easy. A curious feature is the dart quiver - it will only hold the mini broad head darts. The bamboo, stun and large broad head darts require another means of storage & transport.
I have an older 1980-era 40 caliber blowgun I used for comparison. After firing, a few details emerged. The 62.5 caliber dart flies a little slower than the 40 caliber, and penetrates differently. My old 40 caliber blowgun came with enough materials to make hundreds of darts, about 5 times what I would have required for a lifetime of shooting. The 40 caliber darts are mostly sharpened wire, and because they are extremely small diameter they also have an extremely high sectional density. This results in very deep penetrating darts that leave pin-sized holes. If a 40 caliber wire dart hits wood, pliers are often required for dart retrieval. Wire darts also deeply penetrate just about anything softer than metal, and are well suited for soft target bales. The thin wire easily slips between the weave of stuffed toy animals, hiding the evidence of a "hit" (hint for homebound hunters). The 40 caliber broad heads resemble streamlined Phillips screwdriver tips and penetrate poorly if at all, so I no longer use them. The 62.5 caliber broad head darts work very well, as a broad head should.
The 62.5 caliber darts require more effort to fire than a 40 caliber wire dart, but do damage a significantly larger area. The 62.5 caliber broad heads penetrate very well, and easily stick in wood targets. The mini broad heads can be described as flying nails that are driven about a quart inch deep in wood on impact. Nasty. I did notice the 62.5 caliber blowgun requires more effort to fire than the 40 caliber, but with effort it will do the job. I don't recommend the big bore for children or smaller persons, as lung capacity and pressure potential are more important with a blowgun like this. Another observation with the 62.5 caliber bore - the bamboo darts need about 5-7 feet after the muzzle for pitch dampening. The bamboo darts pitch & yaw ("wobble") immediately after exiting the muzzle, and will almost strike the target broadside if fired at extreme close range. After 7-10 feet, the dart stabilizes and always hits point first. Full stability seems to occur after about 15 feet, as the deepest penetration occurred at targets beyond 20 feet or so. Mini broad head darts routinely stripped the fletch cone off as they passed completely through cardboard targets, and went on to hit objects further downrange. The fletch/driving cone easily slips back on, and could potentially be used for many other designs with a similar base diameter.
There is no doubt the 62.5 caliber has more power, but it does not completely replace the 40 caliber blowgun. It makes an excellent companion, as the 40 caliber is very well suited to recreation and smaller shooters. I can shoot the 40 caliber blowgun much more accurately, I haven't fired the 62.5 caliber enough to determine why. I suspect this is due to the flatter shooting 40 caliber dart, and apparently less dart velocity variation than the 62.5. The 40 caliber darts are still available for 40 caliber blowguns, I just found a few vendors still selling the wire darts on eBay. Another observation is a very slight bend in my 62.5 caliber blowgun tube, possibly the result of sloppy handling during transit. The bend is just barely visible when sighting down the tube in bright light. The fix for this is shipping the blowguns in stiff cardboard tubes rather than kluged boxes taped together. For now I have moved the mouthpiece to the other end.
I highly recommend the 62.5 caliber big bore 5 foot model if you're considering a big bore, as a major component of blowgun power is the long power impulse from longer tubes. Short tubes mean low dart velocity, thus short range and dismal performance. Since human lungs can only develop about 2 PSI maximum, the only variable left is the bore length. Despite the good performance of the 62.5 caliber by 5 foot long blowgun, I'm still considering the 2 foot extension for yet more range. I don't recommend blowguns under 36 inches long. The hunters that fire at targets in treetops (i.e., Amazon hunters) use blowguns about 8 - 10 feet long. So, always select the longest blowgun you can use.
The big bore blowgun comes with several different types of darts, a very nice and thoughtful selection. I'm the type of person that retrieves every dart, so the included darts are probably adequate for my lifetime. I ordered an extra pack of bamboo darts after reading another review. Before we digress any further about bamboo darts, make certain you coat the point with THIN film of a cyanoacrylate-based glue before firing them for the first time. An example of cyanoacrylate glue is "Krazy Glue", "Zap Gap", "Loctite 415", "CA glue", etc. although the slower-drying stuff sold in RC airplane shops is much better. Also epoxy may work. Treating the bamboo dart tips in glue greatly extends the tip life, after dipping in slow-drying ACC glue my bamboo darts easily stick in wood! A short metal field-type tip would be a major improvement, and reduce the need for a lot of extra bamboo shafts to offset attrition. The bamboo darts fly very well, and I recommend them. They are limited to soft targets and eventually wear out, but the shafts are cheap & easy to replace. I discovered they are 4.5mm bamboo skewers bought at a supermarket ($2 per bag of 100). This is convenient, since the bamboo shafts dull quickly and splinter if resharpened in a pencil sharpener. The best way to reshape them is either with a pen knife or a sanding/emery board. They can be sharpened hundreds of times each, since they are so long. I don't bother resharpening anymore, they're cheaper to replace. The real value of the extra bamboo darts is the extra driving cones, as they are the hardest dart component to copy or replace. There are thousands of internet articles on homebrew darts, see the end of this article for a suggested starting point.
The stun darts are simply a ball on the end of a short plastic shaft, with a driving cone at the base. Despite the total lack of a point, they will pass through a cardboard box. Do not underestimate the punch these can deliver.
The large broad head darts make a larger gash, and the cast-in ball hilt limits the depth they will penetrate. This makes retrieval easy from cardboard and softer targets, if used with moderation. With force, they easily pass through cardboard and will consistently stick in wood. Both broad head dart types leave conspicuous marks in wood, so be certain of your backstop.
Like other blowguns, it will not bring down big game as they all lack power for anything bigger than small animal hunting. Do keep in mind that although not likely a fatal threat to humans, they can pose a hazard to unprotected eyes. For larger quarry, it will require some type of chemical supplement. I understand some veterinarians use syringe darts to treat (vaccinate) animals they can't access. I'm not sure if syringe darts are made for 62.5 caliber, and since I don't hunt, this isn't a factor for me. I do like the almost non-existent noise level, so I can use it anytime undetected in my neighborhood. Blowguns are a great form of recreation, and I highly recommend this one in particular.
I have only found one commercial manufacturer of the 62.5 caliber big bore blow gun, and the four major 62.5 caliber dart variants. I have run across a few web pages that have extensive do-it-yourself blowguns & dart manufacture, so it's easy to make darts yourself. For more information, do a google search on "making blowgun darts".
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