I've always wanted my own bazooka, but my neighbors might not look upon that too favorably. So instead, I satisfied my craving with a bazookalike contraption capable of launching plastic bottles clear across my backyard. While it might not be quite on the level of a U.S. Army M72 rocket launcher, my beverage-bottle bazooka sure does shoot with authority.

The original bazooka was developed to stop tanks during the early stages of World War II. In late 1940, the military had created a new type of grenade that focused its blast into a narrow point of energy capable of penetrating tank armor. But it had a relatively short range. So 2nd Lt. Edward Uhl decided to build a device to keep foot soldiers away from the tanks they were targeting.