Remember that part of the story in the book Unintended Consequences where Henry Bowman shoots a .22 that has a lighter flint burried in the projectile? Well I was waiting around for two rib racks to slow cook so I had a little time to kill. I had purchased a six pack of flints earlier in the day just for this project. With a 3/32" drill bit, I slowly remover enough lead in 6 yellow jackets to the depth that would allow a flint to set just below flush in the cavity. After placing the flint into the cavity, I squeezed the lead around the flint with thumbnail pressure to hold it snug. In broad daylight there is no doubt when you hit on steel. In the dark it is a brilliant display of sparks. Now for the final test. In the near future I plan to shoot a small propane cylinder, such as is used on a lead solder torch. Then on to a BBQ pit size!

Anybody else tried this? Can you share your stories without incriminating yourself? Enquiring minds need to know!

IBTL..

^

WTF? Is you crazy?

[size=6][b]WAY COOOOOOL!!![/b][/size=6]

Who held your beer?

yep, it dous work!!!

now, will that lead projectile reliably penetrate any larger propaine cylindars?


it would be too cool though.

how was the trajectory? did you notice any significant accuracy problems?

Dude, I was having such a fungasm, I never even bothered with looking at the point of impact! It was a 25 yard shot on an approx 4" wide Ibeam. When I get set up to build my next batch I will work on perfecting the formula. These were drilled by holding a bit in my right hand and the cartridge in my left hand. Not exactly the aerospace specs I'm used to!

And NO, I DIDN'T GET PICS! For those who will ask.

[red][size=5] DO NOT SHOOT PROPANE TANKS!!!![/size=5][/red]Even those little ones can take out an entire house.  All you'll do is make one gigantor hole in your yard and blow up a few unintended targets including yourself.  Stay safe, I don't want to hear about a fellow firearm enthusiast getting killed.  So please for your own safety do not attempt to do this.  
Trust me on this, I personally was in a gas explosion from a leaking cylinder.  Believe me its quite interesting when that blast wave hits and throws you backwards.  And no I did not do this intentionally, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and am wiser because of it.
Sorry if I came across as a little harsh.  Just don't want to see anybody get hurt from something that could be avoided.

You are either a serious bad ass or you didn't think that one through very far.


JzeMarksman - you have just made everyone on the board think that it would be that much cooler to shoot a propane tank. I am thinking one of those that feeds a house with a .270 or something. [}:D]

This is going downhill fast. Conversations regarding propane tanks? Tricks learned in a book called "U.C."?

desert"post count hooker"moon, here...just checking in with an...


[red][size=6]IBTL!!![/size=6][/red]

LMAO, you think he'd pull that stunt in the living room or back yard?  Give him some credit, dude.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this post. I was running through the house with scissors and forgot to check in and my rifle quit working while I was shooting so I was looking down the barrel thingy and yanking on the trigger to try to fix it.

Lighten up podna! What kind of Maynard Q. Fucktard would stand close enough to a propane tank to catch schrapnel? You better stay your fragile ass away from The Great Southern Freedom Shoot if your that delicate! There all kind of icky explosion things out there.

Rickyj, I don't understand what you are talking about with the "cartridge in my left hand" quote. The drill bit was powered by my right hand with less pressure than the shell would encounter in a tube magazine under recoil. It was about as safe as toting shells in your pocket. IMHO

hahaha

JZEmarksman, I highly recommend you don't attend the next 10 or 50 hun farm shoots!!!!


TXL


BTW, Pangea, I don't know if what you are doing is legal, and until I found out, I would probably delete my post.

Anyone with info on the legality of this.  Making 'exploding' bullets?

TXL

BTW, .45 HP and a primer.......

[lol]

a saw a website once (can't find the link now) where a guy was putting worn out drill bit hunks into shotgun slugs and claiming they would punch through vests

We seized some weapons and ammo in a drug raid a few years ago. In the lot were some .357 ammo called "Devastators" They were just simple .357 HP's with a small magnum pistol primer inverted and inserted into the tip of the HP slug. We shot a couple of them on the police range, one into an old textbook (poor man's ballistic gelatin) and another into a hard target. I couldn't tell the difference between them and a regular 357 mag HP. Go figure...

edited to add:
I
B
T
L
!

Looky here people, them there little coleman propane tanks are the first thing to get capped when I get to my special campsite, deep in the heart of the Picayune Strand State Forest. The cans are empty (they wont ignite in my bbq grill) and I surround it in slabs of styrofoam on three sides. I tried this with a full propane can from 75 yards and it was still too close. The styrofoam was shredded with schrapnel and one tree was killed. It was really neat, however it would have been neater if I had been further away.

The proper method here is to chuck said .22 into a lathe, then center drill to the appropriate depth and diameter (make sure the lathe is set on the highest speed).  Then, if you have a lever operated tailstock, you can just position the flint and press it in.  Oooor, even better, you could put the aforementioned .22 into a bearing press to fit the flint.

The power of a primer is negligible compared to the impact energy of the bullet you press it into,  so that's nothing but maybe a spark maker.  "Devastator", my ass!

The drill rod section in a shotgun slug would work very well indeed, especially if it was a solid CARBIDE bit and you'd first pointed the penetrator end, which you can do by chucking the bit stub into a drill and then grinding the bit at an angle (maybe 60 degree point) against a grinder with a green wheel.   But if the penetrator upsets during firing (contacting the bore surface), it's going to totally wreck the barrel and may even exit through the side of the barrel.   Carbide penetrators are especially bad in this respect.  

And rather than stick the penetrator in a rifled slug,  make a sabot out of a piece of nylon, or better yet, several pieces of nylon, making a discarding sabot.  The sabot should lock to the penetrator's shape but should separate easily in the airstream.

A solid carbide, optimally pointed piece of half inch drill rod shaft,  weighing what a heavy magnum shot charge does and moving at magnum velocity,  should be able to penetrate a good inch or two of steel if not more.   It's more than a match for any man worn armor you'll ever see.





CJ

I apologize if the post earlier came across as a little intense.  Just didn't know if you were messing around with propane tanks at close range.  From what it sounds like Pangea will be at quite some distance away and well protected.  I've seen people do this stuff while they stood 6 inches away from it and they couldn't figure out why I was running like hell for cover.  I wasn't saying Pangea was one of those types.  I figured it would be best to warn against doing it in case he was one of those types but I was proved wrong and now know that he isn't.  I only posted that as to advise someone that doing such a thing is highly dangerous and avoid a needless death.  I just didn't want to see someone get killed by testing out a theory.   Again Sorry if I came across as uptight and rude in my earlier post.  Hope this clears things up.

BTW I'd love to be able to try some of this stuff out, but I don't know of a location that would be secure or safe enough to do so.