MythBusters · Video summary
Can You Ricochet a Bullet Off The Road To Hit A Pursuing Car? | MythBusters
The Mythbusters test the movie trope of bouncing bullets off the ground to disable a chasing car. They investigate whether a direct shot or a ricocheted bullet can penetrate a car's floor and whether shooting out a tire can stop a pursuit.
Watch on YouTube ↗Key takeaways
- 🎬The Mythbusters are testing the movie trope of bouncing bullets off the ground to disable a chasing car, inspired by the TV show "Burn Notice."00:06
- 🎯A 9mm bullet can penetrate the floorboard of a car, but it's challenging to get it through the carpet into the cabin, even with a direct shot under static conditions.03:50
- 📉The steeper the angle at which a bullet hits the ground, the more energy it loses upon ricochet, making it less effective for penetration.08:14
- 💥A bullet ricocheting at a 16-degree angle can retain enough energy to penetrate a steel footwell and a 3/4-inch chipboard, demonstrating the potential for damage.11:01
- 🛠️The Mythbusters designed a high-speed bullet filming rig, effectively a trailer with a mounted gun and camera, to study ricochet dynamics at 40 mph.12:10
- 🚧In a dynamic test at 45 mph, ricocheting bullets failed to find a clear path through the car's undercarriage to the wheel well, due to the complex mechanical clutter.19:17
The digest
In the world of action movies, heroes often employ ingenious, if improbable, tactics to escape their pursuers. One such maneuver involves shooting at the ground to ricochet bullets up into the underside of a chasing vehicle, aiming to disable it without directly harming the occupants. The Mythbusters, ever keen to separate fact from fiction, put this cinematic trope to the test.
The Premise: Bouncing Bullets from "Burn Notice"
The inspiration for this myth comes from the TV show "Burn Notice," where a character suggests that if you lack armor-piercing rounds, you can skip bullets off the ground and into the floor of a pursuing car. This tactic is supposedly effective in delaying a pursuer while leaving them unharmed. The Mythbusters decided to investigate the plausibility of this claim, starting with the type of firearm used in the show, which appeared to be a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
Keep reading in The Digest
The full 3-minute article, 4 more sections, and every new episode from MythBusters and the creators you follow.
- Testing Direct Penetration: Can a 9mm Bullet Pierce a Car Floor?
- Understanding Ricochet Dynamics: Angles and Energy Loss
- Full-Scale Ricochet Test: Hitting the Target in Motion
- The Verdict: Myth Busted
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