All language subtitles for Mythbusters S01 E26

This episode of Mythbusters might best
be described as high impact.

It'll be like blood now.

Adam and Jamie are hell -bent on busting
three of the biggest real -life gun

myths of all time.

Slugs down sniper scopes. It's either
him or me.

I think that was the money shot.

Backwards bullets.

And a Civil War legend that's never been
proved.

Like this.

And it's hammer time for Tori, Grant,
and Carrie.

Could the simplest of all tools really
explode in your hand?

It'll be like couple ammo.

With danger at every turn.

This test becomes a battle for survival.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage.

And Jamie Heineman. This is going to
kill you.

Between them, more than 30 years of
special effects experience.

That's what I'm talking about!

Joining them, Tori Bellacci.

Very excited about this.

Cary Byron. Look, he crashed into his
skull.

And Grant Imahara.

Don't say anything.

They don't just tell the myth.

They put them to the test.

After all the gun myths that we've
tested, what could be left?

Well, actually, there are a number of
myths, and they all involve making a

nearly impossible shot.

Nearly impossible shot. All right,
what's first?

I call this one the mystery of the
backwards bullet.

Oh, I think I heard about this one.

Supposedly, there was a shootout in
Seattle between some cops and a

and the perpetrator's bullet was later
found...

lodged backwards in the policeman's gun
barrel? And that justified the shooting

because it proved that the perpetrator
was pointing his gun directly at the

Well, close.

Actually, it was in the cylinder.

It was a revolver. But that's what the
myth is, and I think we should test it.

All right.

Their best shot at success is to test
this myth indoors with an old friend.

We're here to have a shootout.

Alan Normandy is one of South Frisco's
finest. One round 9mm pistol fired from

an MP5.

And he's already guided the team through
a dozen gunshot tests.

Some of those gun myths came from the
movies, but this one's from real life.

It's something like firing a bullet down
the barrel of another gun, which is why

it ends up facing backwards.

But in this case, a bullet fired by a
criminal in Seattle is said to have

a direct hit on the empty chamber of a
police revolver. You've heard of it,

then? Yeah, I have, actually. Just
recently, we were doing some research on

that. I'm actually very excited about
this particular experiment.

They're firing the same types of guns
used in the Seattle shootout.

The suspect pulled a pistol on two
officers.

Then they drew their .38 Colt revolver.

Of course, we'd love to reenact this
shootout by Adam and I facing off and

seeing what happens.

That'd be kind of stupid because one of
us would get badly hurt.

So what we've done is we've set up a
rig. We've got a board that will line

two guns up at a precise distance.

We've got a way of aiming them
precisely, including some laser sights.

And we've got special -made holders for
the guns that we'll be able to hook a

string onto and fire the guns safely and
remotely from the other side of the

range. The shooting gun is a Glock
that...

Receiving gun is a Colt Police Positive
38 Special.

We've got it mounted here into basically
a clamp that won't allow this gun to

move. Glock's mounted in the same thing.

It should just be a matter of sighting
these up, firing them, and seeing what

the result is.

To replicate this one -in -a -million
shot, they're fitting a laser sight

the Glock's barrel to line up on the
empty chamber.

But bullets don't fly as straight as a
laser beam, so Alan suggests a target

test to calibrate the trajectory.

Turns out the bullets don't always leave
the barrel of a gun and stay on perfect

columnar center of that barrel.

That's something I had no idea about.
Look, I mean, all these things are

-to -one shots, which means that getting
it is exceedingly difficult and

requires a really high degree of
precision.

The laser is aimed at the heart of the
bullseye, and Alan's betting none of the

test shots will hit the mark, even from
a range of just five feet.

Fire in the hole. Prepare to fire.

All right.

Firing in three, two, one.

The first bullet went through top hole,
and the second and third bullets both

went through this bottom hole. Right.

So do we just split the difference
between them? Absolutely.

Three more shots should help refine the
aim.

That grip looks nice and tight. It is a
little bit right of where the laser

sight was. We need to make one little
final tweak of an adjustment, and I

we're in.

The Seattle Backwoods bullet became
instant firearms folklore.

Reports of the incident were widespread,
but you can't believe everything you

read in the paper.

So Adam and Jamie are set to look this
myth straight down the barrel.

We've got our Glock aimed down at the
38th special, right down the cylinder.

It's all been aimed up, and it should
work.

Our goal here is to end up with a
backwards bullet lodged in the cylinder

38th special.

This is one of the things that's
probably harder than it might seem. I

we're pretty much point -blank range,
but there's no room for error here.

Test number one, hopefully the only
test.

Firing in three, two, one.

Oh.

Is that as bad as I think it is?

Maybe not, but it seems the sight
correction was a touch off -beam.

Well, there's no bullet in any of the
cylinders or any of the chambers.

No, although this thing is damn hot.

Although that's probably from the light.

My first thought is...

Maybe the bullet bounced out of there.

Certainly possible.

I'd like to see what the high speed
says.

The high speed camera shows the bullet
did hit the gun, but just missed the

chamber.

It's high. It's way high.

Look at the splattering.

Coming out the back even.

That's crazy.

All right. Well, all I think is that we
could re -aim and try again.

Yeah. I agree.

After all this effort, it's definitely
worth another try.

Fire in the hole.

Firing in three, two, one.

Hey!

That looks a little better. That looks a
lot better. I'm provisionally excited.

One minute adjustment, and the bullet is
all over that chamber.

Though you really can't call it a bullet
anymore.

Nothing but little pieces there. The
bullet did go into the chamber, but it's

not left there as a chunk of a bullet.
And that may just be the way that it

worked.

I think we ought to try it again. I'm
just not sure from this distance that

bullet's going to be anything but munged
like grass by the time it hits this

gun. They try again.

Firing in three, two, one.

And again.

With similar results.

Anything short of a perfect entry
disintegrates the bullet.

And a chamber half full of metal mush
won't confirm the myth.

I should know. When I'm heading out for
a day of shooting and I think, this is

going to be easy. We've got laser sight.

Everything requires some fussing and
fudging. And even something as powerful

a handgun.

It requires some finesse to make sure
you know where it's going to shoot, even

from five feet away. I didn't expect
that.

It's a tougher shot than anyone
imagined, and one of the reasons is all

obvious. The 9mm bullet is slightly
bigger than the .38 caliber chamber.

First of all, the bullet is larger than
the cylinder bore, which means when it's

hitting, parts of the bullet start
stripping off. But on a high speed, it

looks like the bullet is just
integrating into...

powder practically well it's a little
frustrating at this point we keep lining

it up dead on with lasers and very
carefully finessing it into position and

these guns just aren't designed for that
they're designed to hit relatively

large meaty objects and uh they're not
designed to go down a tiny hole

All right, this next myth actually comes
from a viewer complaint.

A lot of people feel that Jamie is using
hammers unsafely.

A lot of people feel that when he's
shaping metal with two hammers like

they feel like there's a potential to
crack the heads or even explode the

Well, this seems easy. Why don't we just
bang them together and find out what

happens? Well, if it's really as lethal
as the fans say, I think that could be a

little dangerous.

Now, hammers aren't normally sold with
instructions, but some do have warnings

that give this myth plenty of street
cred. Never strike the tool with or

another striking tool, hardened nail, or
other hard objects, as chipping can

occur, possibly resulting in eye or
other injury.

But is this tall tool tail really a
serious threat to life and limb?

So far, it's done Jamie no harm. But
maybe that's why he wears the hat.

Time to consult an honest -to -God, old
-fashioned blacksmith.

Scott Thomas doesn't just use hammers.
He makes them.

Have you heard that slamming two hammers
into each other is dangerous?

It can be bad, generally because hammers
are both made out of hardened steel,

and when you strike two pieces of
hardened steel together, something's

give, and you're usually going to get
chips, or one might even break or

on you.

Draped from the horse's mouth, or at
least the guy who makes their shoes,

thinks testing this myth will be risky
business. So Torrey's designed a, what

you know, hammer -smashing robot.

What I'm going to build, it'll be like a
little triangle frame with two arms.

and the arms will be on two axes, kind
of like this, so that when they both

reach the bottom, the two hammerheads
will strike against each other.

We're probably going to have to use some
pneumatic actuators just to get the

kind of speeds that we want.

Actuators are simply devices that make
something move.

These rotary models use compressed air
to rotate at high speeds through 90

degrees.

they should give the robot arms the
mechanical muscle needed to simulate a

swinging human arm.

All right, so I have my arms made. What
I'm going to do now is I'm going to put

them in two pillow blocks, and this way
it'll allow a smooth swinging action

for the two arms to come crashing
together.

It's ironic how I'm using a hammer to
make this, and this is going to be the

same thing that destroys the hammer.

It'll be like couple ammo.

It'll be like blood now.

Well, let's just wait and see.

Torrey sets up in the blast chamber, and
for the first test, he's fitting brand

new wooden -handled claw hammer.

We have two hammers set up on the rig
that Torrey built with the pneumatics

Grant has added.

They're basically just going to come
together at a very high velocity, which

will measure with our scale and our high
-speed camera.

Okay, here we go in three, two, one.

The speed was fast, around 16 meters per
second from each arm. But the timber

handles took all the impact.

Still, some hammers are tougher than
others.

These are double -tempered, steel
-handled, unbreakable under normal

Okay, these are far from normal
conditions, but that's the point. These

toughened steel handles should at least
put the pressure back on the

hammerheads.

After seeing the force that these
hammers came at each other with and

out the high speed, I think that with
the new steel handles, they won't have

this sort of weakness. We might have the
possibility of getting some shrapnel.

All right, we ready?

Yeah. Here we go in three, two, one.

This face right here has a dent, but
that's about the worst off.

There's no chipping. It's just denting.
It's all intact.

Well, there's your two basic hammer
types, bash and bang, and still no

shards of steel.

Perhaps they're just not hitting hard
enough.

Adam and Jamie are just as frustrated
with their backwards bullet.

Is that as bad as I think it is?

They want to confirm the story that a
criminal's bullet hit and lodged in the

empty chamber of a police revolver. So
far, the messy results don't quite match

the myth.

Maybe the bullet bounced out of there.
After some tiny adjustments to the pitch

of the guns, they stand back, block
their ears and give it their best shot.

Filter test number five, trying to get a
one in a million shot. Fifth try. Here

we go.

And three, two, one.

The aim looks good, but they're chasing
perfection.

It's just a sliver straighter than the
last shot. And that's all it takes.

Incredibly, most of the bullet is still
intact.

And it's a very close match to the
police photos. There's a hell of a lot

shrapnel at the bottom of the very
chamber we were shooting into.

And if you look in this way, you can see
the copper jacket.

That's a bullet lodged the wrong way in.

This is the ballistics equivalent of a
hole -in -one.

Perfect. It's as perfect as we can
possibly make it.

It's a tight fit, as no one knows better
than Jamie. It takes him 15 minutes to

prise the bullet loose from the chamber.

There wasn't much left of it. I had to
saw and pry and finagle the thing out of

the back of the gun. And a lot of it had
actually gone into the cylinder and

then kind of sprayed out the back and
the gap between the cylinder and the

of the gun.

But it was an honest -to -goodness
bullet, and it was in there. It looks

like the picture that we had from the
report we saw.

It's just, it's perfect. I couldn't be
happier.

I'm calling this one confirmed.

Totally possible that he'd shoot your
bullet down the cylinder of another

person's gun.

I'm calling this one confirmed.

100%.

The

humble hammer was almost certainly our
first real tool. And where would

slapstick be without it?

Oh, son of a... Son of a... Son of a...
Gun.

But can bashing two together really send
deadly shards of steel whizzing around

the workplace?

Some toolmakers take the myth seriously.

But so far, Tori's hammer -smashing
robot has barely made a dent.

Well, clearly we're not in any imminent
danger based on these few tests here. So

we're going to step away from the robot
and give it a crack ourselves.

Grant's concerned that the robot arms
might simply be too slow to cause the

fabled fracture.

So with a high -speed camera and a
calibration board, we'll soon find out

fastest, man or machine.

Tori thinks he'll drive the nail with
one strike.

But that was a tad optimistic.

I was just like inches away from hitting
the nail. Inches?

Inches? I was just inches away.

Back to the plate at its swing and a
miss.

You know.

Look, I hit the same spot as last time.
Why don't you put the nail there?

It's worth noting that a smart remark
rarely goes unpunished.

You guys might want to, like, knock Sam
behind you. The advice is well taken.

And in due course, Torrey finally hits
the nail on the head.

Yeah! You got it? One shot.

At least we have plenty of information
on his velocity, not his accuracy.

High -speed replays clock Torrey's
mighty swing at 16 meters per second.

which is no faster than the robot.

So speed at impact clearly isn't the
problem.

With our last round of human testing, we
were successful in that we confirmed

our robot is well in the realm of human
capacity.

In a desperate effort to prove the
legend of burning shrapnel, they try

with two of Adam's old, pre -loved
hammers.

Possibility. that over time, the
constant hitting of those hammers maybe

them in some way and makes them more
brittle so they might shatter. This is

Adam's old hammer versus Adam's old
hammer.

Once again, no shards.

Looks like the handle's bent, but no
shattering.

So what about a pair that spent a whole
night in the freezer?

Well, these are our best quality
hammers.

kept overnight at minus 10 degrees
Fahrenheit.

And you can tell right here, closest
that we've gotten to a chip, still

no explosion.

Okay, so where to from here? Maybe Jamie
has the answer.

Jay, we've been doing this all
afternoon. We've been smacking hammers

We haven't gotten anything more than
like a little tiny spray of particle

And you're sort of the subject of this
whole myth, and you're the reason that

we're visiting it.

I think if a...

Hammer head is really hard.

If it's just super hard, it's going to
be brittle. That you would do by getting

the hammer head really hot, like red or
white hot, as hard as you can get it

without melting it, and then quenching
it and use motor oil because it absorbs

lot of the excess carbon in there.

It's called case hardening, and here's
why it could work.

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon.

The more carbon you add to the mix, the
more brittle the steel.

So Tori taps into the nearest source of
free carbon.

That's some dirty oil.

The used motor oil is full of carbon,
which is introduced into the hot metal,

and it's supposed to make this a much
stronger hammer.

But in taking away some of its softness,
which absorbs shock, we are making it

more brittle, at least.

That's the idea.

And that calls for a down -home,
MythBusters -style barbecue.

Who had the 20 -ounce claw hammer?

Medium? Okay. Medium on this one.

Once the hammers are heated to a healthy
red glow, they're all set to suck up

the carbon from that second -hand motor
oil. When they've cooked and cooled, we

might just have the explosive hammers
we've been looking for.

Back at MythBusters HQ, Adam and Jamie
are ready to test their next classic gun

myth.

I've seen this in the movies. It's one
sniper taking out another sniper.

And the final thing is the guy who's
about to be killed sees the first sniper

his eyepiece and gets shot right through
his scope, through his head.

That's it?

That's it.

So what's the plan on the sniper scope?

Well, the first thing is I think we have
to find a range to do this in because I

don't think it's fair to... you know,
use 10 feet or 20 feet on this deal. We

should have a nice long throw between
these rifles. I agree for accuracy.

And I don't think that the insurance
company is going to let you or I be the

sniping victim in this. I think we
should ask Grant if he's willing to do

Okay.

Sadly, Grant's too busy bashing hammers
to accept the invitation.

But he has offered his likeness in the
name of science.

Well, the stuff that I'm making it out
of is a ballistics media that's actually

based on animal protein.

So it's perfect for us in seeing a real
damage assessment to muscle tissue.

That's exactly what this equates to when
it's dry, is muscle tissue.

Just like the backwards bullet, this
myth wasn't invented by a script writer.

The legend stems from the Vietnam War,
when a U .S. Marine sniper named Carlos

Hathcock... killed his VC counterpart
with one shot straight down the scope.

Jamie's first job is to track down a
similar rifle.

This is a new gun that just came out.
This is the actual 100 % true copy of a

Vietnam sniper rifle.

Is that a good rifle?

Oh, man.

You could hit a fly at 500 yards of this
if you were a good sniper.

After buying the rifle, the budget
stretches to four quality scopes. That

they'll have just four shots at busting
this myth.

All they need now is a victim, and Adam
delivers a bouncing ballistics baby

named Grant.

Beautiful. Look at that.

That.

That's great.

This ought to be not so hard.

Look at that.

That's easy. I can do that with a piece
of bailing wire.

Always a bear for detail, Adam hitches a
lift to raid Jamie's wig wardrobe.

That's it.

Now at least we'll have a snappy sniper.

A little cosmetic surgery to accommodate
the rifle rig, and they're ready to go.

I guess we're all set. Let's go do some
sharpshooting. We're ready to load up.

Jamie and Adam have brought their two
sniper rifles and a rubbery likeness of

Grant to a local rifle range.

There's a sniper.

They want to see if one sniper could
kill another by shooting a bullet

down the enemy's skull.

I look forward to seeing if we can make
that shot. What is it from here to the

end of the range?

It's 100 yards, which for a sniper or a
precision marksman is not really that

far. But the math at 100 yards is
perfect for us because the calculations

one inch at 100 yards is one minute of
angle. And what we're trying to do today

is to shoot into a one -inch scope tube.

So that should be just perfect.

So you think this is totally possible?

Apparently back in World War II, when
marksmen were first used for this type

activity, they were trained to aim at
the glint of the opponent's scope.

So in bright sunlight, they saw a little
reflection to aim at that glint. And

that's why there's really potential for
this myth to be seen today. I think we

can knock this out today.

But Jamie has his doubts.

For this myth to be true, not only do we
have to hit a small target at some

distance, I mean, we know that we'll be
able to do that.

sooner or later.

The question is, what will happen to
that bullet when it hits the scope? Is

actually going to penetrate all the way
through and hit the other sniper in the

eye, or is the scope going to serve as
some sort of a shield?

Jamie's worried about the half dozen or
so glass lenses inside the scope.

They're not especially robust, but any
one of them could still deflect a

speeding bullet and stop it from
bursting out the other end.

Once again, Alan needs to sight in the
rifle by taking test shots at a target.

Here's the center of the group, right?

We're going to move it one click left
and one click down, and that's it. Once

know that it's reasonably centered in
that fashion, you guys can start

Now's the chance for Adam and Jamie to
get their fingers on the trigger.

Good job, young man.

Yeah, good shooting there, Tex.

Those three cracking shots won't just
help sight the gun. They could also

determine who gets to play sniper.

If Jamie's aim is just a little off,
Adams our starting shooter.

There's a myth that I'm looking to bust
today, which is that somehow Jamie is an

incredible shot and I'm a terrible shot.

It's not that I feel competitive.

You know, I happen to be a myth buster.

Bullseye right down the middle.

Perfect shot.

Jamie's grouping is close to perfect,
but then Adam's effort wasn't exactly

scattershot. There can only be one fair
decision.

They both get to shoot Grant.

I think it's time to set up our sniper
target. I think it's time to set up our

sniper target as well.

This might be a good time for Grant's
mom to turn off the TV.

Our floppy facsimile is carefully
positioned behind his rifle out at the

-yard mark.

Head.

Tail. Jamie goes first.

Jamie wins the coin toss and the right
to shoot first.

I don't know whether I'm going to hit
the guy behind the scope or not, but I'm

going to pretend it's either him or me.

We want to hit.

Smack dab in the middle because we want
that bullet to go all the way through

the scope and into our sniper.

Confidence is high that this myth could
be proved with a one -hit wonder. And

there's no doubt that Jamie's got his
eye in.

I think that was the money shot.

It's a direct hit from a distance of 100
yards.

The scope is history, but gunman Grant
lives to snipe another day.

It didn't make it through to his eye.

It didn't even make it to the back of
the scope. I dare say this guy would be

kind of upset, but his eye is still
intact, and the scope acted effectively

shield. It looks like Jamie's fears were
well -founded.

The optic elements jam the bullet, but
with three more scopes to destroy, they

can still turn this myth around.

Well, it's up to Adam to see whether he
can best this shot, and that's going to

be a pretty tall task.

The fate of the squad rests with
Sergeant Savage.

I'm happy with that shot.

Let's see how it is.

It's another clean hit, unleashing a
river of pulverized glass.

But it's Adam who's truly shattered.

Doesn't look like I made it.

No, similar deal.

No, it doesn't even look like it made it
as far.

Look, we have two hits, and neither of
them are kill shots, but there's no

reason to call this one busted yet.

Jamie or I have been firing sniper
rifles for all of four hours.

I think it might be time to bring in our
ringer and ask Sergeant Normandy to

take the shot for us.

They're hoping for one expert shot that
hits and shatters those lenses dead

level, dead center, with no deflection.

So a new scope is fitted, and the Master
Marksman takes aim.

I don't think I got it.

In fact, he did get it. But once again,
the bullet stopped short of ruining

Grant's good looks.

No, didn't make it through the back the
same deal as before.

I don't see a hole all the way through.
I see everything collapsed inside.

Yeah, look, I think this just, I mean,
to me, this just keeps on explaining

it's not about marksmanship. It's about
a ridiculously lucky shot.

It's not plus or minus. It's like
threading a needle. A half inch. Yeah,

like threading a needle from 300 feet
away.

There's only one scope left, so they
decide to stack the odds and make this

test up close and lethal.

What we're doing now is we're setting up
a point -blank shot so that there's no

kind of trajectory involved.

We've determined that the power of the
bullet, the difference from the distance

is negligible.

So if this doesn't do it, then we'll be
able to say something definitive about

whether the myth is possible or not.

It's literally their last shot at this
myth, and Alan has the honors.

One, two, three.

The impact is strong enough to knock the
scope from the rifle.

It's a fitting end to a myth that's been
all but blown away.

Oh, man.

Looks like the same as the others from
100 yards.

Deflecting off the convex lens. Exactly
the same deal.

I got to say, I thought this one was
totally plausible, but I'm not so sure.

Knocked out everything in the center.

I just don't think it's possible for a
bullet to make it all the way through

this scope. This isn't a one -inch
diameter tube. With the aiming reticule

the glass elements in there, it's like a
half -inch diameter tube.

It's harder than shooting down the
barrel of another gun because there's a

bunch of crap in the way.

But Jamie can still see the point of
aiming straight down the scope.

If you're a sniper and you're looking
down the barrel of another sniper's gun

and you see the glint, I'd take the
shot.

First off, you're going to ruin the
guy's scope and he's not going to be

shoot back very accurately.

Secondly, you're probably going to make
him clear out of there. He's not going

to be a very happy camper.

And then thirdly, I mean, if you miss,
you're going to hit his head.

It's a one -in -a -billion shot.

He might have been the best marksman in
the world and might have never made that

shot. If the sun and moon and stars
aligned and maybe one of the lenses was

and maybe the sniper had removed an
element because he had some better

thing, maybe then the bullet could have
gone through. We don't have the scope

that Gunny Hathcock shot at, so we can't
know for sure. I say we have to call

this myth busted.

Tori, Grant, and Carrie are testing the
myth that smashing hammers together

could be extremely bad for your health.

So far, they've hardly scratched the
surface. But according to Jamie, high

followed by a carbon -rich oil bath
should make the steel much more brittle.

And much more flammable.

Well, that's a good thing. That's cool.
I didn't expect that. I didn't either.

More steel and more flames. This
backyard Barbie is getting way out of

You're spilling it on the wood pallet.
I'm getting a fire extinguisher.

The extinguisher works briefly, but it's
no match for flaming oil.

Everything's under control.

That always sounds so easy in those do
-it -yourself manuals.

This case -hardened solid steel hammer
is ready to be put to the sword.

And this time, they've decided to crash
it into something that's guaranteed not

to bend or break.

What we're going to do is we're going to
put to rest one of these arms, and

we're just going to have the hammers
crash into the anvil.

So we are moving on to a test that
possibly could be the grand finale.

This could be the shattering hammer that
we've been waiting so patiently for.

Systems armed.

Just got to limbo my way out.

All right, so this is the final test.

Harden hammer against anvil in three,
two, one.

The result is totally unexpected.

The carbon -soaked head failed to
shatter, but the softer shaft has a

case of the bends.

That was the part that wasn't hardened.

That's true. That's the part that wasn't
hardened.

Dang! Yeah, that was the part that
wasn't hardened. That's pretty cool.

This here is our case hardened hammer,
which we did on our last test.

The hammer's so hard, and this is so
soft, that the neck completely bends.

Those flying fragments are just flaky
residue from the barbecue. The head

is completely undamaged.

Conclusion? It's never wise to bang two
good tools together. But the chances of

a hardware store hammer exploding are
virtually zero.

All right, so, are we in agreement?
Hammer versus hammer, busted?

Yeah, it's busted.

Totally busted.

Jamie and Adam have already proved that
a fired bullet could end up in another

gun's empty chamber.

As for killing the enemy by shooting
down his sniper scope, well, Grant

without a scratch.

But this last gun myth might be the
toughest test of all.

Now, I've got one that I've been wanting
to try about two Civil War soldiers who

fired at each other and their bullets
fused together in midair and dropped to

the ground below where they hit.

It sounds like a classic myth. It also
sounds like one that might be a little

trickier than we think to pull it off. I
mean, they're going to want to go and

every place, but like that. This is
definitely a one in a million shot, but

we've got to try this one. It's one of
my favorites.

One famous fused bullet myth became
folklore at the Battle of Fredericksburg

1862. These primitive rifles shot rounds
called mini -balls.

Slightly pointed, 58 -caliber slugs of
solid lead. They're softer and slower

than modern bullets, so theoretically,
they could fuse together.

This is what one looks like.

This is the mold for one. This is the
fire, the crucible, and the pouring

I'm sure there are other names for some
of these things.

And I'm going to try and make as many as
I can.

The recipe is simple. Melt some lead
pellets, pour the liquid into the mold,

and then cool it.

Now that is perfect.

Meantime, Jamie sorts two near -perfect
replica rifles to fire those mini

-bombs. What we're going to do is take
it.

these rifles and put them in our bunker
at opposite ends. We'll probably screw

them down onto a table and we'll line
them up with laser sights.

We'll use the adjustable qualities of
these clamps to precisely dial them in

we're good to go.

But this is shaping up as one very
tricky test.

These rifles need to be fully adjustable
for fine tuning. But once they're set,

they can't move a fraction of an inch.
I've got an idea which I think you're

going to like.

Do you know your really, really huge
hockey puck magnets of death?

How could anyone forget?

Jamie used his mega magnets to climb up
the inside of a metal duck.

Lord, the god of thunder is trying to
enter my building.

And they could make or break this rifle
rig.

These magnets are like the most
diabolical things you've ever seen.

straight out of a science fiction movie,
except they're real. And on a side

note, they actually provide us a lot of
the adjustability we'd be looking for. I

mean, these guns aren't going to go
anywhere with two of these magnets on

Mounting the magnets to the frame
involves a fair degree of strength and

patience. There we go.

But the key to testing this myth is
timing.

Two actuators linked up to digital
timers should ensure a simultaneous

but that's no guarantee of success.

We've got a hammer that hits a cap that
ignites the powder that sets the bullet

off on its path.

One bullet could be packed a little
tighter. One bullet could have a little

wadding. One black powder might have a
drop of someone's sweat in it. One cap,

don't even know what the manufacturing
standards on these caps are.

All these factors could...

really get in our way of being able to
get these bullets to fire simultaneously

and hit in midair.

So if two bullets collide in midair,
could they really fuse together?

Some say it happened for real in the U
.S. Civil War. But, of course, there's

one around to verify that.

So what do you got there, little buddy?

I have a letter from the Smithsonian
National Museum of American History, and

they have said,

Dear Mythbusters, Enclosed is a disc
with photos of the mini -balls from the

opposing sides that met head -on during
the Battle of Fredericksburg in December

1862. According to the donor, they were
found by his father shortly after the

battle, and he donated them to the
Smithsonian in 1906. And here is a

Check that out.

Now, that looks to me like...

I mean, it looks the part of what I'd
expect to see, but I'm still pretty

dubious about it.

Yeah, I don't know. That could be
anything.

I'll believe it when we do it ourselves.

They're setting the guns just six feet
apart, hoping the laser sights ensure a

hit.

In case the aim is askew, they've fitted
circular collars to the end of both

barrels to limit the damage to the rest
of the gun. In order to align the two

barrels directly, down each other's
throat.

We've got these, which are in -barrel
laser sights.

Basically, I put this in the barrel, and
I screw it in, and it pulls this little

thing down, bands this collet to fit the
barrel, and then I know that this laser

is dead center of the barrel, pointing
exactly where that barrel's going to

shoot. Line both of these up across the
same center, and we should get two

bullets meeting. But the biggest concern
is timing.

Jamie's actuators are precise to the
millisecond, but 19th century firing

and gunpowder aren't so reliable.

So Adam's running a test with a slab of
bulletproof plastic to see if both

rifles fire in perfect unison. The point
of this is that...

If everything hits at the same time,
then we're golden. We just leave

set and we go for the real test.

If we see that, say, one bullet is off
to one side or one bullet hits before

other one, this will help us dial it in.

They fill each gun with exactly 80
grains of gunpowder, a standard charge

1860s.

All right, I'm just about to put the
caps in. We should clear all non

personnel. Okay, I'm out. All right.

Okay, range is going hot. Clear the
range.

Three, two, one.

I heard that bounce around, and I also
heard that it wasn't quite exactly the

same hit.

There's only one slug embedded in the
plastic, and it takes a minute to figure

things out.

No, that's the bullet from this side,
because there's still a barrier.

Yeah, I think they both just kind of
bounced off. This one didn't quite

as far as the other one.

Hey, how good is the aim? It's perfect.

I can't tell, is it? Yeah.

That is very, very cool. Let's check out
the high speed. The high speed camera

confirms the theory. One bullet popped
out the other because one gun fired a

fraction of a second later.

Which means we now want to set this one
to fire 62 milliseconds before that one.

Well, I've got it set for delay, so I'll
delay that one 62 milliseconds.

Six hundreds of a second might not sound
much, but that tiny delay could be

catastrophic in a real test.

That's way more time than it takes for
one bullet to get from one gun to the

other. So that would have been one
bullet all the way down the barrel of

other gun.

Our biggest worry is that this black
powder stuff is so unreliable that we

get some totally different result next
time, but at least we're dialing in on

it. So Jamie dials in the timer with a
slight delay.

The guns are reloaded, and fresh caps
are fitted.

Three, two, one.

Now that was the right sound.

It was off, but a lot closer. I couldn't
tell you that I heard two distinct

bangs, only one bullet falling.

I heard two.

Really? Yeah.

That's bionic hearing.

This is one time Janie would love to be
proved wrong.

Sadly, he's never been more right.

Now it looks like the opposite happened,
that this gun fired first, and this

gun led, knocked the first gun right out
of there. That is so cool.

The high -speed shots are crystal clear.
The aim is still dead square.

But these two slugs are a long way from
meeting in the middle.

Oh, that is such a beautiful shot.

Look at that.

That was 30 % closer than the other one,
but in the other direction.

Yeah. Which tells me we're dealing with
a lot of inconsistency here. I think

we're getting as close as we can
possibly get, but I think...

From any shot to any other shot from the
same rifle, you're going to deal with a

difference in delay of, you know, 20 to
80 milliseconds, and that's what's going

to kill us in this.

Okay. Let's just set up and do as many
shots as we can.

Okay.

The odds against perfect synchronicity
are enormous. The gunpowder is just too

unreliable. So they might as well bite
the bullet, lose the plastic, and do

test for real.

In three, two...

One.

Oh, collar got knocked up. That hammer's
down.

Interesting. Test after test proves that
timing is still the problem, and

there's no way to fix it.

One rifle always fires fractionally
before the other, and they take turns

jumping the gun. Any delay Jamie dials
in is pure guesswork.

We can, in the high -speed camera,
clearly see one bullet moving across

and then another bullet moving across
frame in that kind of time period.

So it's not like they're like this.
They're kind of going... We're not

sure how to get there. These bullets are
little rascals.

It's like herding a cat. They're not
behaving.

So we need to come at it from a
different angle, and I'm not sure what

right now.

The solution might involve some lateral
thinking.

Hey, Tori.

And there's no doubt that Adam's brain
often works sideways. This is perfect. I

want to put a bullet in there, just hold
it ever so lightly enough that it stays

there and I can shoot it with another
bullet. You guys use this for silver

dollars, right?

Yeah, and that's what it was designed.

So there's no resistance whatsoever.

Fantastic. That's perfect.

Tory once used this fancy frame to see
if he could shoot a hole through a

dollar. And it might just work now as a
bullet holder.

It's a legitimate way to test them in.
Remember, they're not out to see if two

bullets could hit, but whether they'd
fuse together.

It's basically just a tube with three
long screws mounted in it that hold the

bullet very gingerly. The thing that it
does is holds it completely stationary,

so we're guaranteed to hit it.

If those bullets completely disintegrate
and don't fuse at any speed, then this

myth is busted.

If we are able to get those bullets to
fuse at some speed, well then, we're

going to say it's plausible.

With one mini -ball held fast in the
frame, they compensate by cutting the

charge to just 20 grains of gunpowder.

It's a fairly realistic battlefield
scenario, and their last chance to turn

bullets into one.

Powder's in.

Bullet's in.

Safety's on.

Target bullet's in. Lights are on. I'm
going to climb out and put in the cap,

and we'll be able to close the doors and
fire.

Firing in 3, 2, 1.

That was such a delay.

It was like, pow!

Jamie always says the simplest rigs are
the most effective.

And once again, he's proved the point.

Oh, Jimmy.

If you and I had hired a sculptor, we
couldn't have asked him to do a better

proving of plausibility than that. Yeah,
that's pretty elegant.

It does not get any better than that.
Dude, that is fusion.

There's no doubt that these two lethal
chunks of lead have hit and fused.

The high -speed camera can't clearly
show the melting moment, but so what?

you can't see it.

It's already gone.

Oh, well.

I thought the evidence would be on the
high speed, but no! We have physical

evidence. Who cares about the high speed
today?

Not me.

When you think about what's required to
make this happen in real life, I mean,

it's a freak accident.

I am so happy about this. This is one of
the most beautiful objects we have yet

made on the show because of how
unexpected it is. I would have to call

plausible. However unlikely, it is in
fact plausible.

All right. Time to call it.

First one up, mystery of the backwards
bullet. What do we say?

That would be confirmed. It is possible
to fire a bullet down the cylinder of

another gun.

Diffused bullets from the Civil War.

Plausible. it worked and sniperscope oh
we kind of have to say

busted i think i mean as much as i don't
want to make a bunch of snipers angry

no i don't either it's busted we
couldn't make it happen no