Heads up: Discovery Channel tonight, 6/15/05

[Preacherman]

On the Discovery Channel program "Mythbusters" tonight, there's discussion of the alleged decompression effects of firing a bullet through a pressurized aircraft fuselage, the use of a .22 round as a car fuse (based on the famous incident where it went off and "shot" the driver), etc. Program starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time. This was originally broadcast in early 2004, but if you missed it, it's worth catching.

 

[KriegHund]

Saw that one...fuse turned out interesting....

 

[mattw]

I'll be at work, tell me what happens!

 

[joab]

So are you saying that you can't substitute a .22 round for a fuse

 

[scubie02]

many years ago my brother had a 22 round fall down in the dash, where it apparently got whacked around by the fan numerous times and did go off. Didn't hit anyone though. He's careful not to place them on the dash now though I imagine

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Sheer idiocy using a .22 for a car fuse. Too much amperage for that little round to handle. I'd go with a .22WMR minimum, more likely a .38 Spcl just to be on the safe side.

 

[SLCDave]

SPOILER:















They found the .22 worked as a fuse, but only got the round to cook off when they beefed up the wiring and ran the current directly from the battery. A normal short fried the wiring before igniting the round. Even when the rounds cooked off, it's not like they shot out of a barrel. IIRC, there was SOME damage to the dummy "Buster", but it was more like shrapnel, etc.

 

[Daedalus]

Um, didnt they just technically create a machine gun when they made that electrically operated trigger actuator.

 

[Third_Rail]

No. The ATF would consider such a thing a single shot firearm.

 

[joab]

In my younger days this thread would have forced me to pull at least 2 fuses and replace them with .22s

 

[Daedalus]

The way I see it it is a continuously actuating device, as long as you hold down the trigger (electrical switch) it will fire if there is ammo in the gun. This would be the same as using a power drill to actuate one of the crankfire devices which the ATF has said is a big no-no.

 

[Preacherman]

It was an interesting program. It's repeated at 12 a.m. Eastern tonight (9 p.m. Pacific) if you missed the first showing.

 

[mfree]

Daedalus,

But there's no *gun*... anyways, it's still a single shot loader, which preempts machine gun use.