The gun that shot through the earth?

[far-trader]

I think this was just a short story, maybe part of a collection. The basic plot as far as I can remember has a backyard tinkerer building a small energy pistol powered by a tiny battery. It goes off and shoots a small hole through his workbench, and on through the wall, and through a tree and maybe more, the hole a little bigger each time. He ponders and goes to make a snack or something and hears about a mysterious beam on the other side of the world, now meters in diameter. It might even shoot the moon but I'm not sure. The implication of the story being the beam keeps expanding and going, totally disintegrating everything in it's path. If I recall the inventor then goes and destroys the gun and the plans.

Any help on the title, author and source oh great hive mind?

Thanks in advance

[Metryq]

For a moment there it sounded like Murray Leinster's THE WAILING ASTEROID, which begins with a small company engineer building a gun from a dream. The projected force then becomes the basis for a new space drive.

[PaulMmn]

Sounds like part of the plot from one of the "Skylark of Space" series by Edward E "Doc" Smith.
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--Paul E Musselman