Comments on: Firing a pistol underwater

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:02:00 +0000

That matches up with the second book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, in which a number of bullets were rendered useless by getting wet. (They were hand-loaded anyway, and probably by relatively old-fashioned equipment.)

By: BillV

BillV — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Nah. What are you basing that statement on? A decent quality firearm, properly maintained, can suffer through a wide variety of indignities, including submersion. I’ve gotten MANY guns very wet, and I still have them, and they still function just fine. I *did* strip, clean and oil them when I was done, though, to prevent corrosion from retained water and the removal of lubricants.

By: benenglish

benenglish — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:56:00 +0000

Testing suppressors underwater? You’re kidding, right? They work by containing and slowing gas ejecta. If you fill up the expansion chambers with water, the pressure inside the suppressor will be the same as inside the barrel. Thin-walled suppressors aren’t built for that.

If you’re going to test this, I strongly suggest you use one of those oil-filter adapter plate suppressors. Then when you blow it up, you’ll only be out the cost of an oil filter. Standard suppressors are too expensive to waste with such tests.

By: Alejandro_the_Great

Alejandro_the_Great — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Not to mention they ruined those guns by getting them wet and then exposing them to air.

By: mpb

mpb — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Bruce Ragsdale of The Pathology Insitute did a series of tests of rifles/muskets and their impact on the body. The famous gelatin block was used, with a femur inserted, to simulate living flesh. http://archive.org/details/TerminalEffectsOfProjectilesFromAntiqueAndModernFirearmsInOrdnance

By: ackpht

ackpht — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:59:00 +0000

If the slide didn’t function normally I’d guess it was because it had to push against water in its rearward travel, which absorbed enough energy to prevent the slide from reaching the locking point. This is a mechanically-resonant system designed to work in air, after all.

This would be an interesting way to demonstrate/compare suppressors, assuming they can be had legally in your state, of course.

By: soithascometothis

soithascometothis — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:31:00 +0000

The magazine’s floor plate is visible at about 2:58 before they fire. I’m not sure if the KP95D has the magazine “safety” where the magazine must be inserted in order for the action to work. I’ve never needed to shoot mine without the magazine in place.

By: LoneStar

LoneStar — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:48:00 +0000

The slide will only lock back on an empty magazine, and it looks like they didn’t insert a magazine for these tests.

By: Florian Bösch

Florian Bösch — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Oh that’s alright then.

By: Fef

Fef — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:18:00 +0000

(That was based on the still photo, not the video. I’ll think before i shoot next time.)

By: Fef

Fef — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:14:00 +0000

And who’s gonna pay for the pool repairs?

By: Fef

Fef — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Wasn’t a New York bagel.

By: benenglish

benenglish — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:15:00 +0000

There are even better choices. Glock actually makes a “sub-aqua” variation specifically for use underwater. And no, there’s no use looking for it on the Glock website. Distribution is rather…limited. :-)

By: benenglish

benenglish — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:11:00 +0000

Yes, it does crop up with surprising frequency. The lengths people go to in an attempt to excuse the technical screwup in that episode (i.e. Jayne putting the rifle inside a spacesuit for no intelligible reason) are amazing and amusing.

Note to Browncoats – It. Was. A. Mistake. They screwed up. Accept it and let it go, OK?

By: social_maladroit

social_maladroit — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:45:00 +0000

He obviously had a blast (no pun intended) making this video. Perhaps causing you, dear watcher, to become Smarter Every Day is not his primary motivation, although that’s how he’s rationalizing it.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

By: cellocgw

cellocgw — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:27:00 +0000

What’s with that comment at the end about not paying for college?

By: Florian Bösch

Florian Bösch — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 11:15:00 +0000

He destroyed a bagel with a felt tip marker. Blasphemy.

By: imag

imag — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:06:00 +0000

It’s nice to see youtube done right: good editing, music used clearly marked in the video, access to the complete slow motion clips after the video. Nicely done.

And I liked the bagel. I know what a torus is, but I thought it was a great illustration for those who don’t.

By: rob_cornelius

rob_cornelius — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:07:00 +0000

That bit at the end when he was trying to say it was a toroidal blast wave and used a bagel to explain it…. Why didn’t he just say it was like blowing a smoke ring? I saw a demonstration of musket fire once where a beautiful smoke ring that lasted for over a minute and drifted for about 100 yards whilst expanding to around 10 feet across was created.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:54:00 +0000

It’s probably best that you used a Ruger (among the most rugged if inelegant of guns) and not a Kel-Tech!

By: Doctor 13enster

Doctor 13enster — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:47:00 +0000

Kids, don’t try this at home. Especially if the handgun is loaded with JHP’s.

By: soithascometothis

soithascometothis — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:08:00 +0000

That’s how a proper pistol rest is designed to work. If it didn’t move at all, something would break, and then there would be real danger. By the time the rest is going through the effects of recoil, the bullet is long gone.

By: kmoser

kmoser — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:01:00 +0000

“We’re gonna need a bigger fish tank.”

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 04:31:00 +0000

Handgun bullets with no shoulders operate at much lower pressures than rifle bullets and would probably me much less water proof. The crimp on a rifle bullet is pretty elaborate in comparison.

By: GlyphGryph

GlyphGryph — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 04:26:00 +0000

Aren’t most modern bullets already sealed?

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:51:00 +0000

I remember that. for once Loyd didn’t have to wrestle, he stunned them with a revolver bullet.

In those situations, you must seal the bullet and primer with laqcer to keep out water.

All together now “By then my lungs were aching for air!”

By: fuzzyfuzzyfungus

fuzzyfuzzyfungus — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:24:00 +0000

Does that argument actually crop up?

I would have thought that a quick trip to any of wikipedia’s bullet-related articles that have pictures and pointing out the quite visible lack of air holes in the cartridge would have been enough…

By: Robert Holmén

Robert Holmén — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:18:00 +0000

What do I do with this knowledge?

I recall an episode of “Sea Hunt” (with Lloyd Bridges) where someone fires a gun underwater. I guess it really was possible.

By: soithascometothis

soithascometothis — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:11:00 +0000

The Ruger KP95D slide lock is very firm when it’s engaged but is sometimes stubborn getting there. Usually caused by “limp-wristing” or some other form of inadequate support. They showed the “rest” that they fabricated working fine, though, so lack of support wasn’t the cause. The small lanyard could have been just enough to not let it get to the lock-back point, due to it being in an odd configuration when it was in the water tank.

By: Anthony I

Anthony I — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 02:57:00 +0000

I think it was somewhat unsafe. First the block on which the gun was tested on was too small, it kicked back when the gun fired, meaning that there is no positive control over the weapon while it discharged. Bad, very bad!