Comments on: Episode 137: Boomerang Bullet

By: tom b.

tom b. — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:56:43 +0000

Brandon: A quick google search determines that the Mythbusters covered vertically fired bullets. News reports suggest that falling bullets “may” be deadly – there are confirmed cases of falling bullets killing, however, studies suggest non-lethal velocities. I suspect that the scenario you are referring to is veritably impossible because of the precision calculations necessary. For one, the wind would need to be consistent and secondly, primer and weapon deposit buildups would make the specific feat relatively inaccurate. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a human could fire a weapon with enough precision to reliably hit a specific target in your scenario.

By: Cayle

Cayle — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:24:31 +0000

UYGdly Very true! Makes a change to see somoene spell it out like that. :)

By: colinrodale

colinrodale — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:02:01 +0000

Regarding the tree myth, with the amount of work and know-how required by a medieval army to make this work, they could have just cut the tree down and built a catapult.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:02:21 +0000

the myth is that three ricochets would produce the same effect. …. … good job paying attention

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:00:55 +0000

use a heatgun and it’ll work!!

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 20:10:07 +0000

Guns and cheese… I like your thinking my friend! I second this, I also would like some cheese melting gunshot goodness!

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:21:16 +0000

on the subject of bullets making unusual flight paths, I have always wondered if that scene in Sukiyaki Western Django, where Yoshitsune fires his gun up into the wind and the bullet arcs down and hits his target without revealing where he really was, had any merit.
I know it would take immense planning and many tries to pull it off, but my question is can it be done and would the bullet hit with enough force to do any damage?

By: Logak

Logak — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:45:28 +0000

Guys, the myth was about the tree itself being used as a catapult. Not a slingshot in the trees.

Again, my only quibble with that myth is rigidity in the numerical values. I doubt anyone was making any official measurements of how far away the tree was from the castle – they could be off by five feet too far away and that might be enough to get Buster over the edge. But that’s their decision to make, and if they want to stick to the estimated numbers, then that’s their call.

By: Sammy

Sammy — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:30:19 +0000

Way back in 1965, when I was on the shooting team of my R.O.T.C. unit, we used .22 shorts. The targets were 25 feet away. One day some idiot who had no business on the range, he did not even know how to use the safety, fired off a round that hit in the corner, bouncing off two walls and hit the instructer in the chest. He did not even get a bruise.

By: GWB

GWB — Thu, 06 May 2010 08:28:47 +0000

It is premature to call the tree catapult, “busted”.

In medieval trebuchets, the missile was loaded into a sling attached by a rope to the end of the firing arm. On release, the sling followed a curved trajectory, developing significantly more speed than the end of the rigid firing arm. (Effectively, the sling greatly improves conversion of potential to kinetic energy).

The experiment should be repeated placing Buster in a sling attached by a rope close to the top of the tree. The difficulty will be in designing the sling both to hold buster and to release him at the right moment. It may help to tie Buster into a ball, also improving his aerodynamic efficiency. Alternatively one could fire Buster’s head only, although further investigation would be required as to how effectively a head will transmit disease!