Mythbusters - How deep under water to be safe from bullets. Video Download.

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Thanks for posting the video. Interesting.

While there are errors and terrors in there ("...armor piercing...", "...fearsome 2800fps..."), give the guys major credit for trying all this out, and doing so intelligently and responsibly - way better than nearly anything on TV. Their conclusions were quite interesting.

Big question is: what's up with the bullets shredding themselves so badly?
As the penetration was fairly shallow, someone just needs to lay out a big tarp underwater in a lake and gather up the pieces, reporting the results to THR.

'scuze me, I think I hear my underwater-capable Glock 17 calling me to go swimming...
 
Watch the shotgun test in frame by frame. Teh tank was shattered due to the way the shot gun was fired. Take a 2'x2'x10' tank, fill with water, put lid on top, insert bussiness end of shotgun in small hole in lid.:what: Now think about this, rigid surfaces are now surrounding the muzzle blast. :eek: When Jamie pulls the trigger the water starts spraying from a crack in the top instantly. Hmmm these guys aren't so smart for "experts". Darn good entertainment though!
 
I found the video interesting. Thanks for the download. I wonder about the ammo used for the M1. I know they said FMJ. During WWII, wasn't almost all issue ammo actually Steel Jacketed? I wonder if they would get different results with old surplus .30-06 or something other than copper jacketed FMJ.

Anyone?


--meathammer
 
Man, thanks for that download. I'm surprised Jamie didn't double up on ears while shooting a .50 BMG indoors.
 
meathammer

During WWII, wasn't almost all issue ammo actually Steel Jacketed?

I have some Korean Surplus 30-06. The bullet jacket is copper with a fair amount of steel mixed in. (A magnet will pick it up.) I orininaly thought they where steel core, but when I found the core was lead I figured that the jacket had steel in it. Properly made, rounds with steel/copper jackets do not harm the bore.
 
I had some concerns regarding the ballistic gel. That stuff has to be made just right and chilled to the correct temperature to give any usefull data. Leaving it submerged in a tank / pool of water is going to change the penetration characteristics quite a bit.
 
On the bullet disintigration issue. That was smack out of the muzzle, back the rifle / machine gun off a couple hundred yards, let the MV drop a bit and you'd have 165 gr. .30 cals that I assume would do as well as the 145 gr. 9mm. There's probably a magic number for an FMJ for disintegration.

That'd give us our through and through's 6-7 feet under.
 
Properly made, rounds with steel/copper jackets do not harm the bore.
Click to expand...

Hi Crosshair,

I have some older Danish surplus that is steel jacketed (color of bullet is silver, actually kind of neat), what I was trying to get at is if a steel jacketed bullet (although MILD steel) will hold together better than newer copper jacketed bullets. Just wondering. I was assuming they are similar toughness, but don't know.

--meathammer
 
meathammer

Ah, say a few of those once, kind of neat. From what I understand they are very soft iorn/steel. Again, no real risk to the bore. Armies wouldn't want to spend the money to rebarrel their weapons every 6 months so they made sure that they worked.
 
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