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50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:37 am
by Rip Van Winkle

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:47 am
by Holland&Holland
Waste of a round. Look at all the unburnt powder.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:51 am
by xd ED
No hose clamps were damaged in filming this event.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:23 am
by Ghost
I guess if there’s nothing better to do.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:32 am
by Lumpy
But then the .50 round needs to trigger an artillery shell, and so on...

ETA: except the case split and the powder didn't detonate; what's up with that?

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:57 pm
by LarryFlew
Probably better if shot with something like a BB gun that doesn't penetrate the primer. Been there with 30-06

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:17 pm
by linksep
Not what I expected would happen.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:37 pm
by Holland&Holland
linksep wrote:Not what I expected would happen.

Exactly what should be expected. Remember powder burns it doesn't explode. Need to contain it to build pressure and get a full burn.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:41 pm
by grimbeaver
Lumpy wrote:But then the .50 round needs to trigger an artillery shell, and so on...

Where's my damn Rube Goldberg machine?

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:54 pm
by Holland&Holland
grimbeaver wrote:
Lumpy wrote:But then the .50 round needs to trigger an artillery shell, and so on...

Where's my damn Rube Goldberg machine?

It blew up.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:47 am
by smurfman
As mentioned, smokeless powder is a propellant, not an explosive. Smokeless powder needs pressure to burn correctly so if the cartridge is not in a chamber, nothing much will happen. The idea a cartridge will "blow up" or "explode" is nothing more than a Hollywood myth.

The video will not play for me but I can pretty much guess what happened and why. The primer was set off by the bullet impact, the powder was ignited until pressures climbed enough to rupture the case which then dumped the unburned and incompletely burned powder onto the ground. The powder was not consumed as pressures never reached a high enough point to burn properly.

This is similar to what happens with most civilian/commercial ammunition too. The differences are civilian ammo does not have as robust crimps of the bullet and primer which tends to cause the pressure to escape out one of the ends rather than the sides. Not to say cases never rupture but it is not as common.

When gas escapes by pushing out the bullet, the bullet tends to go a couple inches at most. Velocity never reaches a point in which it becomes dangerous. The primer being pushed out is common and it can travel a couple feet in best/worst case. The primer is light enough that it poses lttle risk of injury due to rapid loss of velocity. If close and unlucky enough one might suffer an eye injury due to the primer but little else.

50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:55 am
by Ironbear
The incoming bullet impacted the primer and base and appear to have torn things apart before any pressure built.

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:22 am
by xd ED
On the topic of myth-busting with regards to ammunition, this is a long (25 min), but topical video, which was produced as a firefighting training aid.


Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:06 am
by linksep
Holland&Holland wrote:
linksep wrote:Not what I expected would happen.

Exactly what should be expected. Remember powder burns it doesn't explode. Need to contain it to build pressure and get a full burn.


I know all that, I just didn't expect the case to split like that and I expected the hose clamp was to make the case and projectile have the same mass so they would be blown apart (weakly because of the unburned powder).

Re: 50 Cal unleashed!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:49 am
by Holland&Holland
smurfman wrote:As mentioned, smokeless powder is a propellant, not an explosive. Smokeless powder needs pressure to burn correctly so if the cartridge is not in a chamber, nothing much will happen. The idea a cartridge will "blow up" or "explode" is nothing more than a Hollywood myth.

The video will not play for me but I can pretty much guess what happened and why. The primer was set off by the bullet impact, the powder was ignited until pressures climbed enough to rupture the case which then dumped the unburned and incompletely burned powder onto the ground. The powder was not consumed as pressures never reached a high enough point to burn properly.

This is similar to what happens with most civilian/commercial ammunition too. The differences are civilian ammo does not have as robust crimps of the bullet and primer which tends to cause the pressure to escape out one of the ends rather than the sides. Not to say cases never rupture but it is not as common.

When gas escapes by pushing out the bullet, the bullet tends to go a couple inches at most. Velocity never reaches a point in which it becomes dangerous. The primer being pushed out is common and it can travel a couple feet in best/worst case. The primer is light enough that it poses lttle risk of injury due to rapid loss of velocity. If close and unlucky enough one might suffer an eye injury due to the primer but little else.


Yup