Because we would put him in a position to have to defend something that isn't defensible IMO. I'm no explosives expert but I've seen enough to know that an explosion that large would blow things back if it hadn't been for the fact that the explosion went almost entirely straight up and had very little explosion affect to the sides. My knowledge of explosives comes from M-80's as a kid (quarter stick of dynamite) and other explosions I've seen over the years including one about the same size as that explosion that was inside a dog food processing plant (a small place designed just to process meat to send to the factory). There were animal parts spread in every direction for 50 yards or more and I'm talking large animal parts like half a pony here, a big chunk of a cow there, etc.. I have photos of that somewhere. I've seen the results of very large explosions too that were directed at dirt because they occured underground. It was a pipeline explosion in fact and it blew boulders the size of cars for half a mile. It blew out a hole 30 foot wide and 30 foot deep (essentially the area that was dug up to bury the pipeline) up the entire side of a hill (about a quarter mile long) and shot debris for miles in some cases. The flash was seen 125 miles away. Explosions can be VERY powerful. That explosion in the video was powerful. I'll point out one other explosion I saw just for reference. It was at a dance with a live band playing. They liked to end their show with a small pyrotechnic event. They had pots where they loaded flash powder which was loud, bright but not particularly powerful in other ways. But on this particular night one band member loaded the pots and then another band member loaded the pots. The explosion came as the drummer was doing a drum solo at the end of the last song they played. The rest of the band had left the stage already. It's a good thing too. The drummer was blown backwards about 8 feet into a wall and his drum kit and half the mic stands on the stage were blown out onto the dance floor. That's a very good representation of how an explosion can react IMO and just for the record that could well have been me on that stage since I was the drummer for that band for a while. And that was a MUCH smaller explosion than the one in the video. Something was very, very fishy about that rifle laying that close to the explosion site with the post lying right beside it. You might notice that the base of that stand/post was mangled/knocked loose from the post. Yet the gun which wasn't attached except by a sling was lying right beside the post. The sling was also broke in two which would require a substantial amount of pressure exerted on the post and rifle in different directions. If the explosion was strong enough to break that sling it was certainly strong enough to separate the rifle from the post it hung on (by the sling).
None of that makes any sense. I have seen enough of explosions to know how they react. A contained quarter stick of dynamite explosion can launch a trash can a long way for example and that explosion in the video was far more than a quarter stick of dynamite.
I don't doubt the quality of the rifle btw. It might well do quite well under severe conditions. But I've seen other gun tests that far exceeded the level of that gun test. I saw a Sig P220 with an explosion roughly equivalent to a hand grenade placed directly under that pistol. It launched that pistol a long way into the air and it survived. There were no cut away shots in that video either. I certainly don't doubt the ability of that gun to survive abuse. I saw a Toyota truck fall from the top of an 18 story (I think it was) building that had been demolished and the truck drove away from that spot even though the frame was broke in half. Steel is not something that is easily destroyed. But that big of an explosion should have done a lot more to that gun and post than just knock it over. But it didn't.
I don't care that they did this. I am certainly not going to start something with Vickers over it. I've done far worse at an earlier time in my life even though I wouldn't do it now. If he can make a living testing products more power to him. I just don't believe everything I see especially when there are glaring examples of things a person would do if they were intentionally rigging a test. It's like NBC putting a flare in the back of that pickup so it would burn on impact. This stuff happens a lot and if a guy who gave his country as much service as Vickers did wants to cash in a little on that experience I'm not going to confront him about it. He's earned the right IMO. Yes in a perfect world things wouldn't happen that way but this is far from a perfect world. Almost every job on earth requires you to sacrifice your integrity at least a little. It's the lesser of two evils thing again. You either let your family starve or you do what it takes because that's not as bad.
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