Gun Mythbusters...

[Carl N. Brown]

So your saying that leaving 30 round clips fully loaded for periods of time won't harm them?

there are reports of magazines being left fully loaded for fifty years with no ill effect

I bought a M1 carbine pouch with two fully loaded magazines that had
been a WWII souvenir sold at an estate auction. The ammo was dated
1944 and corroded. These magazines were left loaded about forty five
years. I cleaned the magazines up and use them in vintage military
matches when shooting M1 carbine.

I don't know about leaving 30 rounders loaded for long periods of time
but I have had experience with two fifteen rounders

 

[Jeff]

MYTH: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

TRUTH: Self-serving Socialists we call legislators and judges have decided there really is no such right, as evidenced by the frequent laws and decisions which have rendered the 2nd Amendment's full meaning a mere illusion.

 

[tellner]

Myth: Jeff is using his forebrain when he talks about politics

Fact: He would be better off with some actual knowledge of political science or history rather than the stuff from the John Birch Society and really shouldn't have lowered the tone of this thread.

 

[nadeem]

The military has spent millions of dollars in research over the years trying to find the best ammunition, loads, rifling, etc. for killing as quickly and surely as possible. There has never been a Request For Proposal by the military in seeking to buy firearms which has specified "wounding ability" as a preference. The last thing in the world they want is for a soldier to get "repaired" so they can return to fight some more.

a dead man takes one man off the battlefield. an injured man takes 3 off it.

 

[Kevlarman]

Funny that this thread is entitled "Gun Mythbusters," since this episode of Mythbusters will be dealing with bullets shot straight up into the air.

I saw a Garand in one of the promo clips!

 

[Kevlarman]

Actually, while I'm in this thread:

 

[k_dawg]

one issue, concerning bore-axis and "bullet rise" is, they neglect the fact that the barrel [ usually ] moves upward, while the bullet is still in the barrel. They measure the angle of the gun at rest, but ignore the movement aspect.

this is one reason why a 185gr .45acp will often impact lower than a 230gr slug. The 230 is in the barrel for a longer period of time, and as more "barrel rise".

 

[Gun Wielding Maniac]

one issue, concerning bore-axis and "bullet rise" is, they neglect the fact that the barrel [ usually ] moves upward, while the bullet is still in the barrel. They measure the angle of the gun at rest, but ignore the movement aspect.

this is one reason why a 185gr .45acp will often impact lower than a 230gr slug. The 230 is in the barrel for a longer period of time, and as more "barrel rise".

Recoil does not effect the analogy. If the gun rises with recoil, raising the axis of the bore, then so also rises the front and rear sights, changing the line of sight. Besides, proper follow through should mitigate the muzzle rise quite a bit.

 

[rudolf]

Emptying the magazine to keep the spring from wearing out makes about as much sense as jacking up your car on all 4 weels each night to keep your suspension from wearing out.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I am very sure that some of the critters that I shot were acrobats and "mythically" spun around or got knocked down on their own accord when I shot them. The bullet absolutely had nothing to do with it at all.:banghead: You can believe whatever you want to believe and that's your perogative, after all these myths keep coming up time and time again.

 

[JoseM]

MYTH: If you shoot an intruder inside your house and he falls dead outside your house, drag him back inside before you call the police.

TRUTH: If you shoot an intruder inside your house it's very likely he will fall dead outside your house unless you happen to get a perfect shot that immediately debilitates his nervous system. Affecting ANY change in the physical evidence is more likely to convict you of a crime than it will exhonerate you.

In NC, this is definately false. NC has a law that you can legally shoot/kill someone for attempting to break into your home. But once inside, you have the legal obligation to let him leave if he so wishes. So if someone is banging on the door, you can legally shoot through the door and kill him. But once he breaks the door open and takes a step inside, you have to point the gun at him and give him the chance to flee (unless you feel like you are in immediate danger, which you probably are).

 

[LHB1]

The first place where the bullet crosses the line of sight is called the zero.

Actually I have always seen and heard the second crossing being the sight in or zero distance. Ex: a typical scoped rifle bullet can first cross line of sight (upwards) somewhere around 10-15 yds and then cross the line of sight again (downwards) at about 200 yds depending on caliber, velocity, bullet, height of scope above barrel, etc. The second crossing at 200 yds has always been referred to as the "sight in" or "zero" distance in my experience.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[Str8Shooter]

Well, this was educational for me. I'd been wondering whether keeping a magazine loaded would weaken the spring over time. Time to load up those spare mags!

 

[lesjones]

"I am very sure that some of the critters that I shot were acrobats and "mythically" spun around or got knocked down on their own accord when I shot them."

Depends. Were these man-sized critters? If so, then a gun powerful enough to spin them around purely from physics effects would be powerful enough to spin you around in recoil (equal force in the opposite direction). Newton's third law hasn't been repealed.

 

[fletcher]

In NC, this is definately false. NC has a law that you can legally shoot/kill someone for attempting to break into your home. But once inside, you have the legal obligation to let him leave if he so wishes. So if someone is banging on the door, you can legally shoot through the door and kill him. But once he breaks the door open and takes a step inside, you have to point the gun at him and give him the chance to flee (unless you feel like you are in immediate danger, which you probably are).

You can shoot someone attempting to break into your house at night *technically* because it is a felony. However, you are not obligated to give anyone a chance to flee if you point a firearm at someone inside your home. If you are allowed under NC law to point a firearm at someone, you are allowed to shoot.

 

[shermacman]

Behold the miracle of tensile steel: your car's valve springs are opened and closed dozens of times a second, for a hundred thousand miles, in heat and cold.

When was the last time you replaced your car's valve springs?

Don't worry about your magazine springs.

 

[R.W.Dale]

OK I got one for yns.

two rifles are rigidly set up on a rest perfectlly aligned to the horizon. One a 22 short the other a 50bmg both rifles are fired at the same time. Wich bullet will strike the ground first?

 

[Kevlarman]

two rifles are rigidly set up on a rest perfectlly aligned to the horizon. One a 22 short the other a 50bmg both rifles are fired at the same time. Wich bullet will strike the ground first?

In a vacuum, both will hit the ground at exactly the same time.

(This is assuming that the .50 doesn't travel over a cliff or something and then
takes a lot longer to hit the bottom)

 

[R.W.Dale]

In a vacuum, both will hit the ground at exactly the same time.

(This is assuming that the .50 doesn't travel over a cliff or something and then
takes a lot longer to hit the bottom)

Well that was fast! Here is a cookie

 

[R.W.Dale]

OK seriously one that makes me laugh. I've heared this from more than one person

MYTH: "You wanna shoot those 180grain 30-06 shells" WHY? "Cause they shoot harder because they have more grains of powder than those 150's"

REALITY: If you've ever said this you're ignert

 

[JohnKSa]

Compressing a spring and leaving it compressed can weaken it under certain conditions.

If it is "over compressed" by design when the magazine is full, or if the quality of the spring is not top-notch, it can weaken without being cycled.

Car suspension springs and valve springs are far stiffer than magazine springs--you have to be able to easily compress a magazine spring with your thumb. It's possible to make a magazine spring that's as relatively strong as a suspension spring, but you'd have to have a hydraulic fixture to load the magazine.

You run into the same problem with spring-piston airguns. Every spring manufacturer, airgunsmith and airgun maker will advise you not to leave the airgun cocked for any longer than is necessary as it weakens the springs. For those who doubt this is true, it is quite easily tested, and I can provide links to a independent test showing conclusively that leaving a spring-piston airgun cocked will weaken the spring and the longer you leave it cocked, the weaker the spring becomes. You COULD make the spring strong enough so that this wouldn't happen, but then the user wouldn't be able to cock the airgun. OR, you could redesign the gun to prevent the spring from being over-compressed---but then you'd need a much larger airgun and a more complicated cocking linkage to get the same power level.

Most magazines are not affected by being left fully loaded, but some, primarily double-column pistol magazines, can weaken noticeably from this sort of treatment.

 

[DRZinn]

If you've ever said this you're ignert

Ignint. Ig. Nint. Ignint.

 

[Jeff]

Please tell me this is a myth: slamming an open slide into full battery with an empty chamber is harmful to a pistol.

I've done it a few times. Is the general consensus is that it is harmful?

 

[JohnKSa]

In a very few guns it can cause problems right away. In most guns it's not a matter of it causing damage so much as it is an issue of possibly causing a bit more wear than necessary.

The slide is usually slowed by the process of feeding and chambering a round. Without that impediment, it slams home faster and harder than normal. I think you could do it a lot on most guns and never be able to tell the difference, but (at least in the general case), it's far more of a "Why do it?" than a "You'll be sorry if you ever let it happen even once!" sort of thing.

 

[Cosmoline]

Re. Hague. it was ratified by the US as of 09.04.1902

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebSign?ReadForm&id=150&ps=P

In any case, the doctrine prohibiting the use of expanding or exploding bullets has essentially become part of that weird and semi-mythical creature, international common law. It's simply become an accepted norm and everybody follows it. It makes absolutely no sense at this point, given the enormous advances in ballistic technology for the past 110 years. It's as if our military forces decided not to use semiautomatic and automatic firearms. And it's resulted in the hamstringing of troops on the ground who use advanced firearms firing bullets only slightly less archaic than a Minnie ball. There is enormous stiff-necked pressure never to change the practice, however, and the military itself has created a mass of myths and outright lies to justify the absurd practice.

Many other aspects of the first Hague have gone by the wayside, and an amendment allowing modern projectiles to be used would be perfectly reasonable. But nobody is going to make the first move because nobody wants to be accused of being bloodthirsty. And really, nobody cares enough to bother. So what if soldiers get killed for lack of a SP bullet any hunter would take as granted?