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by charlie
Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:31 am
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: finger in barrel- mythbusters on tv
Replies: 14
Views: 1294

I missed those.

It always seemed to me that if you shot a bullet straight up, it would reach its peak and fall at a speed somewhat below (due to drag) terminal velocity, which I think is around 180 mph.

I calculate that to be somewhat below 264 ft/second, which would hurt if it hit you, but I don't see it being fatal. A slow 38 spl is over 600 ft/sec.

What did they say?

Also, how far under water do you have to be? Guess it depends on the caliber and barrel length.
by charlie
Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:57 am
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: finger in barrel- mythbusters on tv
Replies: 14
Views: 1294

finger in barrel- mythbusters on tv

The cable show Mythbusters had an intresting segment the other night.

What happens when one plugs the end of a gun barrel with his finger and pulls the trigger? Does the gun blow up leaving the hand unharmed like in the cartoons?

They fashinoned a fake hand out of ballistic gel and fake bones and pushed the index finger into a shotgun barrel. They fired the shotgun remotely. The hand was destroyed. The shotgun was unaffected.

They tried seveal variations of this. They plugged a rifle barrel at the muzzle and a shotgun as well. In both cases, the muzzle blew off and the barrel slighly bulged. In one case the shotgun barrel blew a hole behind the obstruction. What was impressive was that they were unable to get a barrel to spit into ribbons.

Seems to say a lot about modern firearms barrel strength, although they didn't try a double or triple charged round, the barrels seemed to hold up well.

They had a moulded gel human shaped figure against the shotgun butt and it appeared undamaged, implying that a shooter would be unhurt.

I still wouldn't want to have a barrel failure.

Has anyone on the forum had a barrel failure? What happened?


They also tested whether driving a pickup truck with the tailgate down saves gas. Suprisingly, it doesn't. They got better gas milage with the tailgate up.

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