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Written by river95
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
Myths Redux!
Original Air Date: 3/21/07
Episode # 75
The Myth: Could a trombone player have put enough explosive in his instrument to shoot his slide at the conductor, and knock him over?
The Problem: Fans say that the results would have been different if the trombonist had been there to seal off the end of the instrument with his lips. Adam also suggests that, if that doesn’t work, they should be prepared to weld the mouthpiece shut.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Rob Lee: Trust Adam to turn a trombone into an instrument of torture!
The Action/ Results:
They take Buster and the trombone out to the Alameda County Bomb Range. They put the ballistics gel model of Grant behind the trombone, and they lube up the trombone slide. The first shot doesn’t have the slide moving- just the mute, as before. They try it again, with more black powder. The slide didn’t move, and the mute shot out. Then, Jamie plugs up the mouthpiece, and they solder it all together. The slide finally moves! It is shot 70 feet away. However, the myth is still BUSTED.
The Myth: Could a person actually put their finger in a barrel, as we have seen in the cartoons, and have the barrel blow up in a banana peel shape, the shooter be damaged, and the person who is plugging the barrel be unharmed?
The Problem: Fans have suggested several other ways to get the elusive “banana peel” configuration. First is the “Damascus barrel”, which is a way of making a gun barrel with strips of iron and steel. Then, they try a bore sighter, which has been left in the barrel.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Tory: (while holding the gun with the Damascus barrel) Boy, you’d better marry my daughter.
The Science: A bullet is forced out of a gun by a small explosion. If you block that barrel, the explosion has nowhere to go, and so the gun will rupture.
The Action/Results: Kari makes some more ballistics gel hands, and Grant remakes the remote control firing mechanism. Then, with Sergeant Normandy on hand to ensure safety, they fire the plugged up Damascus barrel. The barrel is ruined, but not banana peeled. Tory then sculpts a steel finger and welds it into the unruined side of the Damascus barrel. The end of the barrel erupts, but it is still not a banana peel.
The bore sighter is stuck in the barrel of the 30.06. The barrel does split, but it doesn’t banana. However, as Grant suggests, the gun could have been old, not new, and in poor condition. In the end, this myth is ruled to be PLAUSIBLE.
The Myth: Could a sniper shoot straight through the scope of another sniper’s gun and kill the sniper?
The Problem: Some viewers say that the guys used the wrong scope or the wrong rifle, or both. The guys know that this did happen in Vietnam to Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, but they couldn’t replicate it.
The Expert:
Sergeant Alan Normandy is the resident gun expert.
The Action/ Results:
They use the same model of gun that Sergeant Hathcock’s enemy would have used. They use the period scopes. They use the same kind of rifle that Sergeant Hathcock used, and the same kind of ammunition. The first shot does not go through the scope. The second shot goes through the scope, but the bullet stopped before it hit the bust. Then they use armor piercing ammunition. The guys take the head back to the shop, dissect it, and find the bullet inside. This myth is now PLAUSIBLE.
The Myth: If you hit two hammers together, could they explode?
The Problem: Modern hammers are too soft, fans said, and the temperature that they heated the hammers to wasn’t high enough. Also, they didn’t use a real anvil to bang the hammers on.
The Expert: Herb Upham (President of the California Blacksmith Association) explains the metallic part of this myth to the team.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: Herb, that’s like the Easy Bake Oven from hell!
Herb: Yes, it will toast your waffles to almost 3000 degrees.
The Action/Results:
Herb heats two hammers to their transition temperature, where the metal is no longer attracted to a magnet. Then the hammers are cooled quickly, or quenched. These hammers are now considered to be very prone to shattering. The first test breaks the handles, but not the hammerheads. Then they test older hammers, sent by a blacksmith named Dorothy. One of the hammerheads does crack and chip. When they hit it again, nothing more happens. Then they bring in a real anvil. Tory re-engineers the sword-swinging machine to swing the hammer. They swing the old hammer at human speed and get a faint crack. Then they do it harder than any human could. The crack is opened wider, but there is no explosion. This myth is still BUSTED – the hammers will not explode.
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Episode Descriptions 
