General > General Technical Chat
Gun with a 180 bent barrel -- will it explode or will it fire Tom and Jerry way?
blueskull:
I must admit I was expecting the barrel to explode or at least rupture. I would never dream this to actually work.
Domagoj T:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krummlauf
Syntax Error:
Okay, so the inventor shoots himself in the head :clap: GENIUS
Cerebus:
--- Quote from: blueskull on July 15, 2020, 04:10:09 pm ---
I must admit I was expecting the barrel to explode or at least rupture. I would never dream this to actually work.
--- End quote ---
Thought of as a machining process, firing a bullet is a swaging operation. That rifle looks to be chambered in 5.56 mm - the mean gas pressure behind the projectile is around 350 MPa, peak is even higher. The yield strength of mild steel is around 210 MPa, the slug in question would be even lower. It's no surprise that a pressure that high can persuade the bullet to deform to squeeze around corners to conform to the barrel.
chickenHeadKnob:
When I was a young lad, I was something of a gun nut. My parents, who experienced WWII Germany during their pre-teen years, didn't want any firearms in the house. They were dismayed at my interest and tried to discourage me. They did however relent and allow me to go hunting with my friends and also join a gun club. At the gun club I received the required safety course which did emphasize keeping mud out of the muzzle and checking for barrel obstruction, because "your barrel could blow up".
At the time I also wondered if barrels would split open like a cartoon depiction. My father said he witnessed FLAK cannons split open because of bad ammunition, perhaps sabotaged ammo as it was made by slave labour. Towards the end of the war boys were enlisted as FLAK helfer (helpers). But those cannon rounds had integral explosive so it still didn't resolve the question for small arms inert lead jacketed bullets hitting a blockage.
At the same time I was in the gun club I would also visit a gun shop/smith and basically be a pest slobbering over rifles I could not legally buy on my own. The owner tolerated me as he probably figured I would be a good future customer. One day I noticed a rifle in his "to be worked on pile". From the muzzle end to 20 cm back a section of barrel had a big splinter missing and a soft point bullet lodged, with the tip slightly expanded. The gunsmith did confirm it was mud although whatever had caused it was washed away. So I had my answer.
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