Anyone seen…
the Mythbusters episode where they test the myth of a person being shot and killed with a bullet made of ice? They were using what looked like a .223, but the heat from the gunpowder was melting the ice bullet before it even came out of the barrel, and so the myth was busted. However, they never tested an air rifle to see if that would work. If you made an ice bullet, say for the condor, would the condor be able to shoot one, and would the ice melt from the friction of the barrel?
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If someone is looking to do the perfect crime they arent gonna use an ice bullet to do it. You can just drop the firearm you used and walk away. Its not that hard to get a gun that cant be traced back to you. If someone was bent on using an ice bullet to kill someone Im sure it could be done easily enough. I doubt they would start out with a firearm as the platform to deliver the projectile though. Why not built a large caliber airgun? One that uses a large chunk of ice moving at slower speeds. It would still be all about ft lbs of energy on the target.
The shooting into water myth. When I try to think of a scenario where you would be shooting at someone in the water its not from a long distance and it wouldnt be from directly above so I dont think their testing was to far off. Shooting at an angle into the water creates a huge distance to the target very fast. You wouldnt have to be very deep. Unless you happen to be firing from a helicopter, bridge or over hanging dock and you are able to fire on the target seconds after they have jumped in.
You cant really count the shotgun slug penetrating the gelatin as the entire test rig exploded from the blast. They could have used some steel core rounds to avoid the high speed bullet breaking up but I doubt they could get approval for that into a public swimming pool. Dont underestimate the stopping power of a large body of water. If feels so soft until you jump off a bridge then it kills you dead from the impact.

Right, and what about the episode where they showed that you could shoot a gun in a plane ‘pressurized’ and it wouldn’t really do much, but put a lilttle bullet hole in the window or the air frame. What they failed to do was put a neg pressure outside the plane @ the same time they pressurized the inside of the plane. You see, @ 35,000 feet, the pressure outside the plane is only 4psi and inside the plane it is pressurized about 14 PSI, the pressure inside the plane is considerably higher than the outside which is what causes the plane to ‘explode’ open @ the site of penetration, as well as the neg pressure effect of the 500 MPH air rushing past the hole and ‘sucking’ the plane open.

I agree completely,, But there are some that don’t relate to being a menace…for example the diving under water to escape a bullet..in thier test they compared a 50 bmg to a 30-06…the first test was firing straight down into about a 8ft deep tank (that was sealed and no place to vent the escaping gases)and a 12 gauge slug did penetrate ballistic gell. Since they busted the tank the next test was conducted in a swimming pool…I could go on here but the main idea is that there are alot of variables to take into account. To say that you can dive under water a few feet and escape a 30-06 or a 50 bmg round is exagerated…A 750 grain bullet moving at the same speed as a 180 grain bullet does not have the same penetration. But when you fire them point blank at a 30 degree angle, Hell yeh thier both gonna fragment…Now lets get 30 feet up in the air and fire down at 50-60 degrees and see what happens…. a person would have to be fairly deep under the water for the projectile to no longer be dangerous… add more distance to that and the disruption on the bullet is less and penetraion more up to a given point…

their are some things they just can’t let the menacing youth of today catch on to.
That reminds me – Lama, take off the thinking cap and leave it alone ❗
I don’t see any issues with it not working out of an AG except for eventually rusting the barrel…
I agree with your second part of your question, with an AG would one get the penetration sufficient enough at say 20 yards to kill, hurt or mame is as good as leaving the weapon with prints and the casing at the scene… 😕
That may bust the myth with an AG…
The reason from the movie was so that the round could not be traced back to the rifle since the ice would melt. We should get everyone on here to e-mail mythbusters and see if they would test this myth with the condor.
So, back to the original question, would a condor be able to shoot an ice bullet accurately, and deadly, at distances under 50 yards? Sounds like an experiment for Mr. Lama to test… 😉
Tis why i watch so little TV. The movies i tend to indulge in are bad enough 😆

Yeh, if i remember correctly they did use liquid nitro to do the job… They were trying to bust a movie myth…Can’t remember which one but it showed a guy using a 338 or 50 bmg with a ice bullet. yeh the only purpose would be to have is disapear…. But I’m sure the crew at CSI Miami could trace the water sample back to a small specific area or find traces of the rifling on a bone fragment and catch the bad guy …..roflmao….
Gotta ask yourself whats the point of a frozen projectile? As many of those myths explored could be adapted for sinister exploitations if one is so inclined.
No round is left after melting so it can’t be traced back to a given rifle/pistol barrel, correct? Any other reason why a frozen projectile would be used.
Didn’t catch the episode, but if such a thing was viable wouldn’t you use liquid nitrogen to freeze the projectile? Its sounds as if they were pulling icecubes out of the freezer. Without seeing the episode they may well have done this, or answered my question above. Gunpowder doesn’t sound viable, but the liquid nitro might be able to freeze a liquid object hard/cold enough to withstand the heat. An Air powered frozen projectile sounds much more viable, would have been interesting to see the show.
Did you send them a pic of a really nice AF rig, maybe one of Tony’s? Just seeing the gun should get those 2 worked up. Buster might have a bad day with a .25 condor. Then again do we want the general public to know that our backyard AGs have half/third the power of a .22lr 😕 Not to mention near silent on top of it all. Then theirs CygsX’s monster 😈
I bet your right J3, I wouldn’t want the public knowing it is possible either…

I saw that episode….The final cartridge they were using looked like a 7 or 8 mm mauser round….the frozen jello idea was about right on target but I don’t think they were smart enough to pay attention to the weight of the projectile as compared to an actual copper/lead bullet. They were using a standard bullet mold. A jello bullet might be around 55 gr while a regular 7 or 8mm bullet is around 150 or 160 gr.. The frozen projectile would have to be very long to retain enough weight. Then you come into the problem of case capacity and powder. A very long projectile would require a reduced charge and this info is hard to come by for alot of cartridges…Another option would have been to add lead or tungsten dust to the mixture.Personally I think the network did’nt want them to prove it.. Of course I get i’ll every time they do a firearm myth. Not bragging but I could prove them wrong on a number of cases as I am sure alot of others here could do as well….Ohhh Yeh Tron like your idea but how about a magnetic rail gun with ice bullet made from high iron content water…hmmmmm….
So the CSI meat bullet episode is your typical Jerry Bruckhiemer fantasy land crap…
Boy that guy is like the old CHiPs show where every car overturns and catches fire instantly, when in reality it is 1 in 12 rollovers that actually catch fire…
Ice Sabot, I like the sound of that… 😆
Have you seen the one where a fire is started by an ice magnifying lens… Pretty cool!!!

I think that a crossbow bolt made out of ice would be much more effective.

I sent them an email. Maybe they will use a condor and re-test the myth.
email address:
mythbusters@m5industries.com
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I agree but the point I am trying to make is say the 7.62×39 would have more penetration in water at say 15 feet than a 30-06 beacuse of the velocity and the bullet erruption as it hits water…In most case as seen in the movies one would be shot at jumping off a large boat…Which was part of the reason for this myth…. 9mm,7.62 and several other round can have enough energy to do bodily harm under water…Not to mention the concusion caused by a 750 gr projectile smacking the water above your head. water transfer that energy straight to you if your close enough… Anyways I’m not trying to argue hear…But simply say alot of time they say busted and I could prove it at least plausible…