Did anyone see Mythbusters this week?

[LibShooter]

I remember seeing old police footage of a man holding a gun on himself and threatening suicide if the police diddn't leave the scene. A sharpshooter shot the pistol out of his hand with a high powered rifle without harming the individual.

When I was a news photographer in Knoxville many years ago, I covered a similar story. A guy who had held his family hostage all day ended up lying on his back on the front porch pointing a .45 at his own chest. An officer snuck up very close and fired. (At the time it was probably a 9mm.) The gun flew and the guy sustained some wounds to his hand, but survived to sober up.

 

[KJS]

my favorite was the bullet drop.... I understand the physics.....but its really fun to watch it pan out.

Their biggest problem was getting their mechanism to drop a bullet at exactly the moment of fire.

You'll note they used a .45 Auto at 3 feet above the ground (certainly lower than a shot fired by one of average height holding the gun at eye level). I gather they wanted a bullet that would drop within the confines of a large building, thus a low height + a bullet that I saw someone describe as having the "ballistics of a bowling ball." Well, it did drop the 3 feet after only 360 feet, but then it's made for close range self-defense where drop doesn't matter.

 

[atomd]

I've seen 2 cases where a gun was shot out of someone's hand. One was the famous "crazy guy in the lawn chair" video. I believe it was a .308 and it permanently disabled the revolver, breaking it into 2 pieces. The police kept the big chunk of the gun and the chief has it on display in his office. The other one I saw was a hostage situation where a man had a pistol shot out of his hand by a leo using his handgun at very close range. Maybe a few feet.

 

[zootsuit002]

Physics?

I saw this episode and like many others that I have seen, I have to question some issues that stick out to me in my limited knowledge of science.

1. Spreading work over even a very short amount of time can dramatically change the force imparted. ie powder burning vs powder exploding.
1a. Therefore merely changing the hand grip location on a firing pistol will not simulate a bullet strike.
1b. Does the cartrige function as a shaped charge?

2 If the oversimplified version of every action has an equal and opposite reaction were nullifieing application then every time you fired a .50 BMG you would have a big hole in your shoulder?

3. I am no physicist but many things here do not add up but looked really good on paper (kind of like global warming)

 

[Dr.Rob]

Using those old Colts for target practice made me wince, but proves the firearms are tougher than I thought.

 

[Tom488]

look at the remote triggers they build for the guns, I don't think that's really legally,

Ever seen the Ransom or Caldwell Hammr pistol rests? They have remote triggers, and are perfectly legal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0E7qUT-k_M

 

[bobmcd]

I remember seeing old police footage of a man holding a gun on himself and threatning suicide if the police diddn't leave the scene.

Yep. Saw that too. Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles.

 

[Internet Protocol Freely]

I remember seeing old police footage of a man holding a gun on himself and threatning suicide if the police diddn't leave the scene. A sharpshooter shot the pistol out of his hand with a high powered rifle without harming the individual. So I know the myth was 'plausible' and diddnt even watch the episode.

I was actually just about to post the same thing. I saw that episode too.