Mythbusters and guns :-)

[OregonJohnny]

Hope I'm not repeating someone else here, but didn't Mythbusters also do, "Will shooting through a window from inside a plane release all the pressure?"

 

[harbingerm]

OregonJohnny, yes, they did that very thing testing "explosive decompression". Then they revisited it again because they didn't take into account the venturi effect of high velocity airflow over the hole caused from shooting.

Another firearm related one no one's mentioned was in one of their pirate myth episodes. They wanted to see what caused the most damage out of a cannon. They used chains, silverware and some other stuff I can't remember on pig carcasses. I think the chains did the most damage.

 

[ny32182]

Their experiments may not always be 100% perfect as presented on TV, but it sure beats the hell out of 99% of everything else on TV today.

 

[PhoenixRookie]

There was also an episode they reference but I've never seen, and I watch all the time. From the first or second season Adam and Jamie tried to blow a car up by shooting the gas tank. They talked when they did the special that was just on guns, like shooting the guys hat off is head, etc. Did anybody see if the tank actually exploded?

 

[harbingerm]

No, the tank didn't explode in the first episode. They did a re-visit on it later and got it to catch fire with tracer rounds. Finally figured out they had to move farther away to give the rounds time to ignite from air friction.

One thing that gets a little out of hand with MB is sometimes they WAY over do things just to get a result after it's obviously BUSTED and end up with stuff that's nothing like the original myth. One I saw recently was them trying to see if an airline raft filled with helium would lift a person. Well, it didn't and they kept getting bigger and bigger and ended up with some huge plastic monstrosity just to lift Adam a few feet off the floor and deemed it plausible that a helium filled vessel could indeed lift a human. Uh, guys? Ever heard of a freakin' BLIMP?!? One episode I liked was the one dealing with an airplane taking off from a moving treadmill. Hooo boy, you should have seen the thread going on over at Glocktalk about that one!

 

[jackstinson]

One thing that gets a little out of hand with MB is sometimes they WAY over do things just to get a result after it's obviously BUSTED and end up with stuff that's nothing like the original myth.

I like that myself. They know it's busted, so they see what it WILL take to get the results. Like shooting the gas tank with tracers.
Did anyone mention the shooting of a Minie-Ball into the bore of another musket?
I personally dug the sausage propelled rocket.
Jack

 

[harbingerm]

Shooting the tank with tracers wasn't overkill as that's totally doable and they aren't illegal in a lot of states. Sometimes they just get silly about getting a result, any result and, to me, it gets boring at that point. Like putting a lighter in a hot car and seeing if it will blow up. It won't, but they go on and on adding lamps, heaters, about a billion lighters to FINALLY get one to pop off. Same thing with trying to get a cell phone to cause an explosion at the gas station. Boring... Use the time to cover something else.

 

[ny32182]

I've never seen an episode about a lighter popping in a hot car...

That has happened to me personally. I didn't know it was up for debate?



I'll be in the camp that says I like it when they pursue results even after the original myth was "busted". If you can see the extremes of circumstances that *do* have to occur to produce the result, it just goes that much further toward proving their case.

 

[blondebombshell]

i think you guys missed the myth about the magnet reflecting bullet from james bond. that myth made me mad cuz they didnt see if the bullet itself was attracted or repelled by the magnets. if they did they would have busted the myth right then and there.

 

[Ash]

Well, the making the shotgun daisy wasn't a good episode because the shotgun had a removable choke. The choke protected the barrel, while the barrel provided support for the choke. Layered it won't daisy. They tried to do it on a rifle, but chose a Carcano cavalry carbine with folding bayonet. It had a massive band of steel around the muzzle. There was no way it would daisy (and of course, if memory serves, it bulged behind the bayonet mount).

Ash