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Bullet-shaped ice molds

Cory Doctorow at 10:50 am Wed, Nov 9, 2011

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GeekStuff4U's bullet ice-molds produce ten rounds at a time. I've had pretty mixed results from two-part ice-molds (and it's not clear from the illustrations how the two halves of this mold fit together and how you fill them), but the finished product shot is pretty sweet. The $47 price-tag is awfully steep, however.

Bullet Ice Cube Tray (via Red Ferret)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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  • Lobster

    Now you can order your shots by the millimeter.

    • flyguy

      Hey guys….Don’t be GULLIBLE, or RIPPED OFF….This is on Amazon for $6.99  – $47?  JESUS!  I have one and GOOD LUCK getting the bullets to come out CLEAR…..serious.

      http://www.amazon.com/Bullet-AK47-Ice-Cube-Tray/dp/B001J8RWWQ

  • ChicagoD

    These’ll be in Oakland before you know it. Less lethal and self-destructing. Perfect combination.

  • semiotix

    Every few years someone makes ice-bullets the twist in their potboiler murder mystery. (“That’s why we called you in, Inspector. We know he died from these bullet wounds… but where are the bullets?“) 

    I’m glad they’re finally available as a consumer product. Committing the perfect needlessly complicated locked-room murder is hard enough as it is without having to set aside time to sculpt your own ice-bullets.

    • http://www.arkansawyer.com/wordpress/ John A Arkansawyer

      Every few years someone makes ice-bullets the twist in their potboiler murder mystery.

      Or their literary classic.

      • Doug Black

        Not quite.  Ben Reich commits his murder with “a gelatin capsule filled with water” [Wikipedia].  I’m not sure that’s any more feasible than a bullet made of ice, to be honest. 

        • http://www.arkansawyer.com/wordpress/ John A Arkansawyer

          Doug, I just wanted an excuse to call The Demolished Man a literary classic.

  • kartwaffles

    The photo is pretty cool looking, but the ice is shaped like loaded cartridges, not just bullets. The bullets are only the pointy parts at the end.

  • http://twitter.com/adamundefined Adam Cox

    My roommate has that same tray. I don’t think he paid anywhere near $47 for it though. It works not too bad. The first photo is definitely not representative of how well they look. You overfill the bottom tray with water and when the top tray goes on there are small holes over each bullet for the water to escape. I’ve been meaning to try using distilled water to avoid the air bubbles but I haven’t yet gotten around to it. 

    • miek jonez

      Distilled water won’t avoid the air bubbles
      To remove any air bubbles you must remove any dissolved oxygen in the water.  To do this you should boil / heat up the water before making ice from it.

  • http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis

    That’s how Encyclopedia Brown died.

  • Stonewalker

    Looks similar to .308 maybe?

    Mythbusters did the Ice-bullet-as-a-murder-weapon myth and came up busted, I think.  Although, I would think with a large-enough projectile, and low enough pressure that you could get a small chunk of ice to deadly velocity without melting it.  shrug, I’m no physicist though…. *yet*

    • GawainLavers

      Didn’t they get it to sort-of work with frozen beef?

  • http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

    That’s a round, not a bullet.

    Like describing a human shaped object as a foot shaped object.  The bullet is the bit at the end that leaves the gun when the round is fired.

    • http://jamiesueaustin.com jamiesueaustin

      Never knew.  Got a diagram? 

  • DevinC

    Let me get this straight: there are people who will pay $47 for ammunition-shaped ice cube molds?  

    • Peter James

      I think the more accurate statement is that there are people willing to sell that tray for $47…

  • JoshP

    the brass too long for 7.62??

    • Lobster

      Not long or wide enough.  The 7.62mm casing is much wider than the projectile, and the rim looks too long as well.

      See, I can be a gun nerd too! :D

      • Stonewalker

        Ah but which 7.62 cartridge are you referring to? 
        7.62×51 
        7.62x54R
        7.62×39?

        There are quite a few others.  It looks to me like it could be a 7.62×51 or a 7.62×39 or a .308.  Or it could just be an ice mold :p

  • Lobster

    Wait, wait, hang on, losing focus here.  I’m too distracted by all the magnificent weapons experts here who have presented the highly technical and impressive distinction between a bullet and a round, or cartridge, or shell.  Truly, paragons of knowledge, to whom we should all be thankful for making our worlds slightly more accurate and informed.

    • http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

      Any time :)

  • Peter James

    I bought this mold for my brother a year or two ago when he got his first rifle.  $7 (+ship) on Amazon, I’m sure you can find them elsewhere:

    http://www.amazon.com/Bullet-AK47-Ice-Cube-Tray/dp/B001J8RWWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320868157&sr=8-1

  • hadlockk

    Supposedly to get clear ice you need to double boil it, or something. I’ve tried it a few times over the years to no luck.

    • Peter James

      This person used filtered water, and then double boiled it.  I have a skull and crossbones ice tray I might try it with this weekend, although the cloudy white ice looks pretty decent:

      http://www.instructables.com/id/make-crystal-clear-ice!/

  • Chris Overbeek

    This was actually featured on Boing Boing Gadgets a couple years ago.
    http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/09/banana-clip-tray-mak.html 

  • Matt Lew

    Thinkgeek has what appears to be the exact same product. It’s currently out of stock, but the price is substantially cheaper at $7.99.

  • http://twitter.com/GTGalbraith G. Trent Galbraith

    The only way I’ve ever gotten clear ice of any size is by gradually adding water and freezing in thin layers.

  • EH

    Is there a term for the grammar-nazi thing that weapons nuts do?

    • scaramanga

      Grammo-nazis. Hey-O!

  • TheHowl

    “Is there a term for the grammar-nazi thing that weapons nuts do?”

    Yup. It’s called accuracy in thought and speech. It frequently helps convey correct meaning! ;)

    • EH

      It’s called accuracy in thought and speech. It frequently helps convey correct meaning! ;)

      Weird that someone so concerned with correct communications wouldn’t click the “reply” button, ensuring that the flow of comments is properly structured and attributed.

  • CSBD

    The bullets look like belted 7mm Magnums to me.

    Water Ice bullets would not work… but you could probably find a stronger “Ice” to use for bullets.

    Frozen nitrogen, methane, or another “gas” would probably work better and would do damage just by being really cold and or poisonous.

    What if you gassified wood and then froze that gas into an Ice.  I bet that would be pretty messy under the skin.

    • http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

      Actually, gasses frozen into liquids would just melt faster as their melting points would be lower. Just because water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius doesn’t mean it can’t be brought to a temperature as low as frozen nitrogen, and once you’ve got it to a similar temperature you’ve got a much higher temperature difference before melting point.

  • Glippiglop

    Two part mold huh?  They missed a trick here – these could, and should, be cast with a simple food-grade silicon mold.  You’d get perfect bullets every time and removing them from the mold would be a cinch.

  • Rebecca Gregg

    Actually, this is only $7.99 on ThinkGeek. https://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/e7b4/

  • Tribune

    I seem to recall someone using some sort of  gentle vibration during freezing to help achieve clear bubble free ice.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      I seem to recall someone using some sort of gentle vibration during freezing…

      Me, too, but it was at Bondage-A-Go-Go.

  • robdobbs

    47$! May I introduce you to my little friend: Think Geek? He’ll only set you back 7$: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/e7b4/?srp=1

  • jimkirk

    According to the folks who do ice sculptures, very slow freezing is the way to get crystal clear ice.

  • 0llie

    i bought them for around 7 euros here in germany. i never got a single good  looking bullet out of it, i think its crap…

  • Chie Fujioka

    My guess is that the “sweet product shot” is rendered.

  • baronkarza

    How about a round of Vodka Jell-o Bullets?
    Vodka Shots, indeed!

  • benher

    Ok, well I’m just going to say it. Self-pleasure toy a-hoy!

  • http://twitter.com/duguk Dug

    You can find these a lot cheaper online; especially from these guys: http://www.justmustard.com/product-19/ak-ice-tray/

  • penguinchris

    I just thought I’d come in to the comments late to let you all know that you can find these cheaper elsewhere.

    I’m sure that no one else has mentioned this yet, right? There are way too many comments for me to even give a quick perusal to see if anyone else has mentioned this!