Within about 90 days, X Products will begin shipping the new X-1 Stand Alone Launcher. This bad boy isn’t a firearm, so just like buying a stapler or any other random thing online, it will ship directly to your door.

See the video above for a rundown on the new X-1 from its developer, plus a little footage of me firing the standard Can Cannon at a clay pigeon. Thankfully I missed on purpose so y’all can see just how far a can of Big Red will fly.

The break-open, single-shot X-1 “can cannon” has an entirely unique, self-contained fire control unit and a chamber that only accepts blank ammo. Additionally, the barrel design is unique to the X-1 so no ability to swap for a live ammo-firing barrel exists.

As a blank ammo firing device, the X-1 is not a firearm or an otherwise regulated item and can ship through the mail directly to consumers.

But what to do with an X-1 Stand Alone Launcher, you ask? How about fire soda cans 100 yards or golf balls 800 yards? The X-1 also launches all sorts of other cans of the same or similar diameter of a soda can, which includes shaving cream, whipped cream, and a whole lot more. Plus tennis balls, racquet balls and a growing line of X Products accessories such as grappling hooks, arrows, and even self-inflating life rings for maritime use, and more.

The fire control unit slides into the front of the 3D-printed “receiver,” and can be easily moved into different receivers as X Products and, most likely, the aftermarket release all sorts of different designs. Again, because the X-1 isn’t a firearm, there are no rules around shoulder stocks or anything like that, so the portion of the X-1 behind the barrel can take effectively any form desired.

MSRP is $399.99. We expect to see the X-1 at Brownells as soon as they begin shipping and, of course, at the X Products website.

EDIT by Jeremy S.: three years ago, one of the owners and then-CEO of X Products, James Malarkey, posted some extremely anti-Second Amendment ideas and opinions on his social media. TTAG covered that news HERE. My recollection was that the company swiftly fired him and took a very clear “those comments are 100% not in line with our company, which staunchly supports gun rights and, therefore, we fired him” etc etc stance. Well, it turns out Mr. Malarkey is still an owner of the company. According to public records (scroll down to the Corporation Search section and enter UBI 603484828) he’s one of four owners and one of three company “Governors,” and according to his own LinkedIn account he owns precisely half of X Products. From a “journalistic” perspective I’ll continue to cover X Products’ products when it makes sense to do so, and will cover them fairly and honestly, but I will include a “just so you know” blurb like this one and I will not personally patronize X Products.

 

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67 COMMENTS

  1. In my little burg and county, anything that can launch/expel a projectile is a firearm, including slingshots (we are uncertain about spoons and mashed potatoes ) . Even throwing a beanbag at a wild animal is a violation of some regulation, or other (save the animals, donchano).

    This little beauty looks like it could be fun, though.

    • Does your berg include plastic straws which we used (as children) to launch popcorn kernels and spitwads?

      And how about AirSoft which shoots plastic BBs?

      • “Does your berg include plastic straws which we used (as children) to launch popcorn kernels and spitwads?”

        We are still pondering the spoon and mashed potatoes. Don’t want “them” looking at peashooters just yet.

        “And how about AirSoft which shoots plastic BBs?”

        AirSoft implements actually launch a projectile. If AirSoft launched spitballs, it would still be a firearm.

          • “It sounds like you live in the wrong berg and county.”

            I dunno. We totally disregard the idea that spoons flinging mashed potatoes are actual firearms.

          • “Have you figured out if you are citizens or subjects yet?”

            Well, according to what I read here, owning a gun differentiates between citizen and subject; I own one handgun. My innate sense of puffery leads me to conclude I qualify as a citizen.

            The regulations I describe are designed to find some way to charge a person with a violation of a gun law, so as to get a guilty plea when otherwise the main charge could not be proved. Or, to up the case closure rate.

    • I believe CA already has a ban on this type of device. I don’t have the Penal Code reference in front of me, but I recall reading something to that effect in the recent past.

      The X-1 may be legal to ship to your door per Federal law, but CA has so many restrictions it’s tough to get anything here.

      (hence the trips to nearby NV and AZ I know so many Californians take…)

  3. X products is the company that supports gun control. The fellow that owns and operates X products, and his wife are big Financial supporters of the left. I believe you guys have wrote about this in the past. I also found that their drum magazines were total crap. Multiple failures flat feeds, just a weak product made by weak-minded people that’s oppress the Second Amendment while making a living off of it.

    • Was going to say the same thing. The can cannon is actually manufactured by f5 and rebranded as x products. Buy directly from f5 and cut out x products. I don’t know if f5 is making this new one.

        • FWIW the corporation fired him as CEO within a couple days and came out with various strong statements that his opinions on the subject are the opposite of those of the company’s and its other leadership and employees, etc.

          Of course, a lot of gun owners still won’t buy S&W or Ruger even though those companies have changed ownership and/or leadership multiple times and no longer have anything to do with the person who said the bad thing or the company that compromised back in the 90s or whatever. I don’t know if the X Products CEO was a founder or if the company hired him to be CEO at some point (like many corporations, including in the gun industry, CEOs are employees who come and go and the company remains) then fired him when he made his crazy gun control statements or what, but they did excise him quite quickly. There have definitely been instances in the industry of bringing in a CEO from outside the firearm industry to improve business practices or handle a merger, etc, and then they either leave or stay depending on how it’s going. Again, I don’t know the background of this instance but I have met and spent some time with a handful of X Products’ current top-level folks and they’re legit Pro2A gun guys from every indication.

        • Reports at the time of the controversy identified Malarkey as the company owner *and* the CEO. If that was inaccurate, or if he’s subsequently given up his ownership of the company, fine; please let us know and I for one will reconsider.

          OTOH, if he still owns the company, then I prefer not to do business with it.

        • Just checked the Washington Secretary of State database. Per their most recent filings (within the last few months) Malarkey is still a “governor” of X Products LLC. (For LLC’s, Washington state law uses the term “governor” to mean the same thing that other states call “managing member” — essentially, an owner of the LLC).

          Ergo, notwithstanding X-Products’ “severing relations” with him after it all hit the fan, per the official public records Malarkey still has an interest in the company and is still involved.

          I for one have zero interest in giving money to a company where profits will trickle down to Malarkey and his Shannon Watts-supporting wife.

        • For the record, Malarkey’s current (Jan 25, 2021) LinkedIn profile says he is a 50% owner of X Products.

          So the whole “they fired him and he’s got nothing to do with the company anymore” meme appears to have been just so much PR damage control BS. Bill Ruger is long gone from Ruger, as are the S&W management that sold us out, but per Malarkey’s own profile he remains the largest owner of X Products.

  4. Not exactly rolling in 5.56 blanks… or any blanks of any kind. Any other propellant options?

    Golf ball launcher sounds like fun, no shortage on those projectiles.

    • Make your own out of PVC and Aqua Net hairspray. Do so at your own risk and start with small amounts until you figure it out. We used to shoot golf balls across the Mississippi River out of the back door on my buddies basement. He lived on the bluff over the river. Shot them so far we had to paint them bright orange to see them fly. We later upgraded to steel pipe to handle a larger charge of hair spray. It would shoot them well over a quarter of a mile and thru 6 layers of 1/2 inch plywood.

      • Ahh yes, Aqua Net … the Varget-in-a-can for spud launchers. You would be amazed at how far and accurate that shaped 1″ diameter potatoes can be shot out of a large plenum potato gun. Took a number of tries, but knocked down 100 yard Rams during a slow period of one of our last silhouette shoots.

      • Darkman,

        Hah! I was thinking about a tennis-ball launcher in the last few days. Now I have a better idea how to proceed.

        Serious question about Aqua-Net hairspray as propellant: does it build up in the combustion chamber over time? I figure some of it invariably sticks to the walls, fails to burn, and dries on.

        I was wondering if something like Lysol spray would be a better option. Are there any other spray products that are aerosolized alcohol or petroleum-based products that would be superior?

        I just looked up the ingredients of Lysol and it looks promising: the relevant ingredients include ethanol, butane, and propane.

        • Tried starting fluid with cylinder lube, but it caused cracking in the schedule 80 pvc…. would like to try duplicating with high pressure stainless hydraulic pipe some day when I get caught up with “recently retired” honeydew list.

        • Never had a issue with build up in chamber, Just be sure to not over spray amount and if you’re unsure try lighting the chamber without projectile in tube. We never tried Lysol. Caution begin with small amounts of propellant and work up to larger loads. Overloading can cause a over pressure explosion. We also made a homemade detonator with electrical wire and a battery which allowed for being some distance away when setting off the propellant. Be Safe Out There

        • Aquanet makes for a great propellant. Short answer on cleaning, Dip the threads and cap in a bucket of warm water when you finish shooting for the day. Wipe them dry with a paper towel and don’t worry about the barrel or chamber.

        • Pb_fan59 we made homemade beer cannons. You used the can opener on the first one to make the chamber and removed the top and bottem from 4 more and taped them together. Would shoot a orange hard enough to hurt if it hit you. Normally we would pour a little gas in and shake it then hold a match to the opening towards the bottom made and boom. We used starting fluid once. The cannon blew up and my hand throbbed for days after that.
          Just stupid kids doing stupid kid things I guess.

          Did you ever make Nitrogen triiodide? Amazing what you used to be able to buy from the local drug stores at one time.

        • Ken, I think that was what we made
          in Chem Lab way back in the day… iodine and smelling salts dissolved in alcohol, right? If I recall, it damn near sets itself off by itself and makes stinky smoke when it goes off… aah, the good old days!!

        • Potato guns are illegal “zip guns” in Texas– a felony to possess.

          …’cuz they are smooth bore. Rifle the bore somehow, and they’re legal.

      • Also had a buddy with a small auto repair shop… experimented with a tennis ball, straight exhaust tubing, and the hose from the bead seater air surge tank on the tire changer machine. Stuck the end of the tubing out the door exhaust port, third shot hit the county sheriff’s car door as he drove by… I nearly shit myself laughing, he drove back and forth past the shop about four times!

    • Probable ATF analogy: it looks like a gun(shotgun), it has gun features, it launches all sorts of projectiles, then it must be a gun. When they see that it will launch “grappling hooks, arrows”, their mind will be set on classifying it as a firearm.

      • It’s not fixed ammunition, so not a firearm for BATFE unless it can be readily modified to fire fixed ammunition.

        • “It’s not fixed ammunition, so not a firearm for BATFE unless it can be readily modified to fire fixed ammunition.”

          Overlooking how fluid ATF definitions can be?

          On a case-by-case basis.

    • Atlantic wall blanks. Just got some can launching blanks I ordered about a month ago today. About $37 per 100 I think.

      I did try putting a cmmg conversion bolt in their upper but it won’t chamber without modification. Was going to try nail gun blanks as the can launching blanks are pretty weak. (Any stronger they explode the can)

      • Ooooo…Cliffie.

        I like that. I’m thinking about trying to get one of these, if nothing else as a “less-than-lethal” option with the available rubber balls, and now you’ve provided a drone-stopping idea to make it even better.

  5. Jeremy, its sacrilege to shoot Big Red! You could have used some generic soda! All kidding aside, I’d love to pull that out of my bag on a long par 5 with the golf ball attachment! And I bet there are so many n.v other uses for this baby

    • It would be healthier to get hit by a can of Big Red than to drink it 😉. That said, I didn’t choose the ammo. I’m cheap and probably would have just gotten store brand carbonated water haha

  8. I’ll be getting one most likely. Looks like it has lots of potential for hilarity launching things into an antifa protest. I bet a golf ball to the teeth would leave a mark! Lmfao!!!

    • It’s a break action single shot muzzle loader. I’m not too worried unless I get clocked in the head first shot. Anyone shooting at me is going to get lit up, ammo shortage be damned.

    • This is too complicated a device for antifa. They’re a bunch of mouth breathing cellar dwellers. They only have numbers on they’re side. For now. Until they start getting dropped. Another funny thing would be launching arrows into an antifa crowd. Nobody hears nothing and eventually someone gets impaled. It’s just to have a bit of fun with them before the funs over and they get mowed down.

    • ANTIFA? You mean “the idea”

      Where are they now? Where were they when the democrats deployed the troops?

      What a fucking joke. People just lapped it up too. Same with COVID, and they STILL are on COVID.

      .003% people.

      • The antifa “just an idea” hasn’t gone anywhere. In Portland the “idea” has taken to burning Biden for President banners and vandalizing Democrat campaign offices, but the DNC and their media catamites aren’t so enthusiastic about that idea for some reason.

  10. for that cost I’d rather just load up my tac-14 with concussion shells and dragon’s breath for some evening entertainment. If I were inclined to own an AR I might get the can cannon but can’t see myself going this direction for such a specialized piece of 3D printed plastic.

  11. Nice….I’d like to put that in my golf bag for the “jackwads of extreme slow play” that won’t and don’t have the curtesy let you play through, just fire over the top of them on their par 4 green, to the next par 4 green….. lying one…..love it!

  12. I can not (get it, CAN) imagine that there is not a law on the books, that makes this illegal on a Federal level. You are using a Federally regulated explosive charge to power it, you are expelling projectiles using said charge. Kind if sounds like a CANNON, or Rocket launcher to me ? ? ? Not anti 2A in any regard, but I am PRO intelligence. And it would seem quite apparent, that putting this into the hands of just anyone, would be a huge mistake. I mean seriously, look at the number of people we allow the privilege of driving that shouldn’t! Some people shouldn’t even be allowed to operate a bicycle, or a shopping cart.

    • Daniel S., this is a toy. You can buy real cannons and mortars and shoot them to your hearts content in the US of A! Heck, you can even buy a tank and drive it thru the drive thru at McDs! It really should be less expensive as it is just the equivalent of a single shot shotgun.

    • “Not anti 2A in any regard, but” is a big warning that you’re about to hear some anti 2A brain drippings.

      • Fucking idiot even tried calling his dumbness “pro-intelligence”

        You are either with us, or against us.

    • You can walk into a Home Depot right now and buy a nail driver that operates on .22 blanks. Exact same concept. Explosive charge expels projectile out of barrel.

  13. My old man made cannons in the 60sthat shot cans filled with cement, balls made from lead pipe and hammers, anything else that fit the bore. Used black powder. He turned them on a long lathe and used solid stock.
    A muzzle loading cannon about 2.5 inch diameter with several ounces of black powder would launch a cement filled soda can about 200 yards or more.
    Today he would end up on a watch list and no fly status.

  16. What possesses people to presume that other people want to watch a YouTube video in which they spend almost all of the time stammering and blathering incoherently in an attempt to explain something rather than just show us video of the product in action?

  17. Glad I read all the comments. check out F5. I was about to buy from X and found the same item on F5 for much less. Don’t have the adapter mentioned above but I wanted it for my AR anyways. Think I will call it my “AR Wedge”

  18. Man, someone should make a giant pepper-ball round for that launcher…so ANTIFA can get “peacefully” dissuaded from rioting and arson.

  19. Neat Idea, but I picked up a screw on golf ball launcher that I’ve been using for a 22 rifle using masonry blanks. It works well enough for my giggle needs…..

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