Shooting through liquid with a .308 (Ballistics question)

[tag160]

Does anybody have experience on how far one can reasonably expect a full metal jacketed .308 round to be effective shooting through water?

We tried to shoot through a series of 2-liter soda bottles and never could get the .308 round to go through more than four or five bottles. Granted ... the day was hot, and the soda bottles would explode when hit, but the bullet likely passed through the liquid before being disturbed by the resulting explosion.

I'm sure some of you have taken the time to shoot a .308 into a large body of water where you could recover the bullets and get a feeling as to how far they travel once in the water.

We assume that after 10 to 20 feet, the .308 round slows to nothing, but we don't know.

We've heard that some rifle bullets actually break apart after traveling 5-10 feet through water. We doubt that is true for full metal jacketed rounds, based on shooting through the 2-liter bottles. One of the bullets ended up in one of the bottles, smashed but still intact.

To see the video of us trying to shoot through soda bottles, please go to:
http://youtu.be/gir_RBveJXA

There are a lot of smart people who contribute to this forum.
Thanks for your help.

 

[rcmodel]

Any hi-velocity rifle bullet will either mushroom or disintegrate on water.

Or go unstable and begin tumbling off course before it goes very far in a straight line.

Mythbusters shot a .50 BMG chambered Barret rifle into a swimming pool a while back.

Even that relatively huge FMJ-BT bullet did not make it to the bottom of the pool before it disintegrated into small harmless pieces.

A diver 8-10 feet under the water would be perfectly safe from a 30-06, or any other small-arms caliber, unless they dropped a pallet load of ammo on him.

rc

 

[tag160]

Thanks for the information and the quick reply. From your response, it sounds like this is a well-hashed out topic.

 

[Tim the student]

Yeah, not too far at all.

There was a show I just watched about D-Day on some network that I can't recall. (Discovery/Military/National Geographic etc)

On that show, a guy took an MG42, and shot it into a tank. It didn't make it very far at all - maybe only 4or so feet, IIRC.

If you are diligent, and patient, I'm sure you can find that show, and check it out for yourself.

ETA: I realize it isn't a .308, but it should give you a good approximation as to what will happen to a .308.

 

[rcmodel]

it sounds like this is a well-hashed out topic.

Well, not recently that I know of.

But I did try to shoot a snapping turtle in my dads pond with my .22 when I was 10 years old or so.

That was in 1954.

Lets just say there have been many other forays involving all kinds of bullets and various liquid mediums over the ensuing 57 years!

rc

 

[Carl N. Brown]

In the WWII it was recommended that diving about 3 feet under water was protection against incoming machinegun (rifle caliber) fire.

 

[rcmodel]

Yep!

But they very likely weren't shooting straight down at you at a 90 degree angle.

Shooting at a shallow angle into water makes the safe depth much less, because the bullet has to travel through much more water distance to get three feet deep.

rc

 

[Owen Sparks]

On the Mythbusters episode the only bullet they had any sucess with was a 9MM FMJ fired straight down. Faster or softer bullets just disintigrated. Anyone who has jumped off the high dive knows that the faster you hit water the harder it gets.

 

[LKB3rd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UhQ-Zmo31Q
That's a link to (part one of) the "bulletproof water" episode of Mythbusters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvXGnkz-DbU&feature=related
What the heck, there's part two.
Best quote of the episode is Jamie (of course): "Worst case scenario is that someone dies from a bullet wound."
30.06 out of a Garand disintegrated pretty much as soon as it got in the water. I bet .308 would too. (ETA I just realized it may have been 30 carbine).

 

[jon_in_wv]

From what I've seen and they also concluded on Mythbusters (if I remember correctly) higher velocity bullets like the 308 are impacted much more strongly by the pressure wave created by the bullet pushing through the water. Slower, heavier bullets like the 45acp will be deadlier for a longer distance under water than extremely fast lighter bullets. I would suspect than a heavier, pointier, 308 bullet at a lower velocity would travel further than a lighter faster bullet.

 

[Owen Sparks]

The best thing for shooting into water is an arrow.

 

[hammerklavier]

A harpoon is even better.

 

[Owen Sparks]

You are right. Some harpoons are shot from a deck mounted cannon.

 

[jonmerritt]

that is why we have torpedoes.

 

[MICHAEL T]

I shot my 15' above ground pool in side about 1/2 way down (2') from about 50' with a 30/30 150gr SP . Bullet came to rest about 9' from point of entry had flattened out but was still togather. . I was told by my 3 girls I couldn't test bullets in their pool any more. I didn't see problem I patched pool and had refilled before their party.

 

[tag160]

Hey, LKB3rd:
Thanks for the mythbusters links. I watched them both. Their experiments seem to clearly show that bullets traveling as fast as the .308 break apart after going through only a few feet of water. I hope to try it in person someday.
Be safe and have fun !!