Underwater Shooting

[hqbmw]

Originally posted by Hugh
There is a TV show (I can't remember the name) where the hosts set up to prove or disprove various theories, "old wives tales" and "urban legends". Several months ago they did a show on how far bullets would penetrate in water. They fired at a distance of 4' from the surface of a swimming pool at a plywood backstop submerged in the pool. All of the high velocity bullets used were full metal jacket; 223, 30-06 & 50 cal. All bullets recovered only traveled a few feet and broke up, none was recovered whole.

They also tested a couple of muzzle loaders with round and conical lead balls. The round balls actually made it to the back stop and dented it, the conical balls almost made it to the backstop.

Their conclusion was that if you are submerged more than 12 inches underwater, you are safe unless you are being shot at with a muzzle loader!

The show Hugh is referring to is called Mythbusters and is usually quite interesting. Tonight the show ran a kind of update on various shows from the past only utilizing some more methods submitted by viewers to dispell their findings.

The results, in this case, were not questioned by the viewers, but instead the audience wanted additional imformation to wit: The original tests were taken shooting INTO water, but the new questions concerned the ability to shoot the firearms UNDERWATER and compare the results.

It is replaying again right now (10:00 P-yem) on the Discovery channel on my Dish network. Very interesting!.

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ