50BMG against a 55 gallon plastic drum filled with water than frozen

Taking the water filled drum out to the range this weekend to freeze and than will use API on it. Any ideas and guesses as to what will happen? I will be taking video and posting later. I'm really curious as to if the round will penetrate all the way thru.

Blow a hole right thru it.

1. Shot

Gna take a while to freeze it solid...

How long u gna let it sit? Whats the average temp outside?

No shit, I don't think anywhere in the 48 is cold enough right now to freeze 55 gallons solid over night. I could be wrong.

BUT, if the center is liquid and the round is still moving pretty fast when it gets to the liquid center, it could be awesome. Or it could suck.

TAG...

This is the kind of mad science/dangerous fun that makes America great.

I've got some 7/8 inch thick steel gongs that are not AS500 steel but I've been shooting them with my 45/70 without any dents. I finally a while back decided to try it out on the steel gong with the 647 gr API. Smoked a .40 caliber hole right through it without stopping. It included a bright flash. My son-in-law also shot it with the same results. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the frozen barrel. I bet it does not blow up though, just poking a nice hole and swell the barrel some. At least that is my guess. Good luck.

probably will just punch through...
Here's some AP cores that didn't quite make it through our steel gong at 1000yds.
Notice how little deformation there is to the cores...

This is an AWESOME photo.


I can't wait to see the video of the ice. My guess is that the first round will not completely penetrate the barrel but it will break up the ice enough for the next shot to get on through.

It's going to take a week to freeze solid

Wow!

How thick was that metal?

Placeholder for some video!

I'm so in.... Let's see it!

I'm in

This is not a tag.

I'm going to let it set for a week and check it out, might have to wait two weeks. Over night temps here are in the single digits. I will post a video and some closeups of the barrel.

You should put a white cover on top of it so the sun doesn't melt it during the day

It should have a glitter/tannerite core.....

I did shoot an empty barrel with a bottle of tannerite suspended inside. Took three shots before I connected. I will be using the same type of barrel for the 50BMG/ice challenge.

Tannerite hung inside the barrel and shot with a .308 Win


Top of the barrel almost ripped off.

If you fill the drum full, it may burst from freezing on its own. Just something to think about. We shoot at 2 liter coke bottles frozen solid. They stretch the plastic quite a bit.
We take them to our shooting spot in a cooler. Let them sit a bit and cut the outside plastic off with our knives. Throw the plastic in the truck bed so there is no mess to clean up later and shoot at the ice block with our mil surp rifles at 100-200 yds. Makes for quite a challenge.
We usually die the water some funky color like purple or blue. Makes a pretty spectacular ice explosion when hit.

Yes, I know about the expansion of water when it freezes. It is the only substance that expands the colder it gets. Everything else contracts.

Taking the barrel to the range today. Plan to use a long drill bit to drill thru the top and into the ice to make sure it is completly frozen.

I don't know that the core will go all the way through, depends on range. At 1050yd with 2400fps mv (plinker loads), I shot some api into a rock face. Recovered 1 core about 8" into the rock (a piece of the face had fallen away, exposing the core)... so at 100-200 with full loads and a longer bbl, it may punch through. Will be interesting. Maybe shoot it long ways?

May have to freeze more than one. I have access to over 20 barrels.

YUP

Better yet, drain the liquid center, replace with flammable/combustible liquid/tannerite, then shoot with API

I likes this mans thinking.

Tag for video

I have a core with ZERO deformation after impacting a giant boulder at about 200 yards. Walked down to inspect the damage, which was about a head sized chunk out of the boulder, and about 2 feet in front of the boulder I found the deflected AP core. STILL SHARP, not deformed in any way, only slightly scraped up from the abrasions from the rock it impacted with.

You can actually see a bit of a spiral from where the round was still semi-rotating about it's axis imparted by the rifling before it stopped and was deflected down into the dirt.

That is the most impressive thing I've seen a 50BMG do. I'd love to see what the AP projectiles would do against some 8 inch to 12 inch thick concrete.

I've got a 1 1/4 inch thick mild steel plate that they go through at 100-200 yards no problem. Not really impressed by that as they are supposed to go through that kind of material.

I have subscribed for the test.

Op - one more request.

I did some testing of a bucket filled will sand. Standard 5 gal with lid.

We shot it with .308, .556, 00 buck, etc. Link here.

I was impressed by the results. The bucket only failed towards the end of the shooting.

I don't have a .50. I'd love to see what it does to a bucket with tamped sand.

Keib

FWIW, I'm betting you'll want a bigger gun after your first shot at the frozen barrel.

tag for photos/story that should have happened last week.

Weather is not cooperating. It should be snow and cold but we have rain and 40"s. Drums are full of water and sitting on the range, it just isn't getting cold. Forecast for the rest of the month here is 32 and above during the day and midteens during the night. Patience, patience, it will happen.

When it does get cold, I wonder if you put 5lbs of dry ice in each would speed up the freezing process

Shot some sand filled drums today. Distance was 20 yards. A 50 BMG API did not go all the way thru, It stopped short of going thru the other side by 1 inch. Sand was loose pack and some was frozen. The jacket was completely torn off and of course the core was undamaged. I have pictures, I usually use Hunt101 as my host for the photos but I'm having troubles getting to the website. Always getting error messages. Anybody else have a reliable host for pictures?

I am guessing the ice will not be as much as a barrier as the sand but this is really just a OST

photobucket, or imageshack

OK, trying to load a video from Image shack

?


post the link for your video, and I'll try to help you with it.

I want to see this

No luck with the video so far, but here are some pics. Distance was 20 yards, nothing awesome happened, I was kinda disappointed. Drums are taking their time freezing. We decided to cut the plastic drums off and just shoot a giant block of ice.

Target barrels are in front. Barrels in back are for stopping the projectiles. Standard 55 gallon barrel filled with creek sand.


AP core next to entry hole


Barrels at 20 yards

Takes abouy 24" of dry sand or 36" of wet sand to stop a .50BMG AP projectile at 100 yards. If you have some dirt mixed in the sand it will take a little more to stop. Takes about 77" of TAMPED snow to stop one also.
The ice with the barrel removed should be pretty awsome to watch.
Ed

A fmj core that I dug out of my berm about 2 feet in.

Any updates?

It hasn't been cold enough to freeze soild.

I am currently out of the state but have been checking the temps. Like the above post stated, too darn warm. I have the barrels in the shade behind the barn hoping they won't melt during the day.

Fired 3 AP at my local range and the 2 I found were right on the surface. I couldn't find the third. I thought they would penetrate at least a foot into the backstop.

I use 4 large tractor tires filled with broken concrete and clay as a 100 yard back stop. It's with stood thousands of rounds and hundreds of 50 BMG API bullets without any penetration. When the tires get too shot up it's time to pick up some new ones.

I use tires as well, I ended up using semi truck tires with sand. Works really well and lasts forever!!!

The neatest thing I have ever shot besides tannerite is 5 gallon buckets of mud(sheet rock mud). It absorbs all that
rounds energy even at 100 yards. Messy, but definitely worth a trying!!!!!!!

doc

Temps were low today, if it holds the buckets should be ready to shoot by middle of next week. Weather has been odd here, several 40+ degree days in the last month.No snow on the ground, and the few dustings we've had have been gone in a day or so.

I don't understand this winter. Been checking the barrels and they aren't freezing up the way the should be. They started to buldge abit but the center is still liquid. I'll give it another 2 weeks than I'm cutting them open.

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