.38 magnum?

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While watching an 1940's crime movie last night, the crime lab techician said the powder used to make a car bomb came from a .38 magnum cartridge.

I've never heard that before. Was there ever such a thing, or was it a slang term for something else? Or just a script writer's mistake, maybe he meant .357 magnum.
 
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Movie crapola.

In the 1940's there was the .38/44 or Hi-Speed .38 Spl load, which came close to .357 Magnum in performance. And there was the .357 Magnum.

However, you couldn't make a car bomb out of smokeless pistol powder if you had 10 pounds of it, let alone one or two cartridges.
It simply won't detonate and cause an explosion.
All it would do is burn and make a real hot fire.

That is why smokeless powder used by reloaders is not strictly regulated by the ATF the same as all other explosives.

rc
 
maybe the writer meant 38 super
Click to expand...

That, or .357 magnum. Remember, the .357 Magnum was only developed 10-ish years earlier, in the mid-30s, so by the 40s, it may not have yet gotten the widespread name recognition and popularity it eventually would.

edit: oops - didn't see the "car bomb" reference. What RC said, then.
 
It's just a dumb movie, believe or not, Batman and Robin are not alive and living in Holloywood either.
 
Was this a movie made in the 40's, or a newer movie set in the 40's? No matter.

I any event, smokeless powder can not be used for a bomb. Black powder can, but in the amounts found in a few cartridges, it would be a very small bomb, certainly not enough to blow up any car, much less the all steel land barges typical of the 40's.
 
Why couldn't you use smokeless powder, all you'd need is something that would allow it to build up some pressure like a piece of pipe and threaded caps.
 
It's a movie. Accuracy isn't their strong point.

I like when the bad guy thumb cocks his 1911.
 
I like where they cock the hammer on a glock to show they mean business. Then do it again 5 minutes later. Nothing kills my suspension of disbelief faster than a moment of foley failure or a clearly airsoft "weapon" being used.
 
Smokeless powder can be used to make a bomb, there was a psychotic individual who terrorized NYC back in the 1940s-1950s with homemade bombs filled with powder from 22 RF ammo that he purchased and carefully emptied to build up a supply of explosive.
 
The VERY FIRST thing I told my wife when she started shooting: "Forget everything you ever saw in the movies or on TV about guns, including the news. It's all wrong." She had no trouble learning after she flushed her mental toilet.

Now common question when watching a crime show on TV: "That's BS, huh?"
 
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