Samurai sword vs .50 BMG?

H

HKG36

Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Messages
129
Does anybody have the video of a Browing M2 .50 BMG machine gun firing at a samurai sword and the sword cutting the bullets in half? I saw it awhile back and the strength of the sword was AMAZING!

They also fired a 9mm at it and it cut that in half with no problems.
 
That is pretty impressive, although I saw it a year or so back. Must have had a good purification ceremony ;-)

There used to be another video that I can't find anymore. The guy was cutting cinder blocks in half with the katana.

Japanese weaponry is a bit of a specialty a mine.
 
Can anyone explain to me how this is possible? I am not trying to be rude, I just don't understand how this is fiscaly possible. I take it the blade is differentially tempered? :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
It's hot lead. Not exactly the hardest substance in the world. You can cut a non jacketed lead bullet with a butter knife. Turn the sword to the side and try again. :D
 
Yes, typically the edge is around 60RC and the spine is about 40RC. This has been discussed at length before. The bullet is much softer than the edge of a katana. It isnt some kind of miracle. The videos seem like more of a joke than anything. I've also head of a similar video where 50 cal rounds are shot at a sog fixed blade, supposedly with no damage to the edge. But the principle behind it is isnt too complicated. A knife cuts through butter because the butter is softer.
 
That particular video was courtesy of a weird Japanese trivia show. I believe one of their other sketches had the participants determine where exactly between Tokyo and Osaka the "passing lane" on escalators in subway stations switched sides.

Judge everything by the company it keeps, is what I'm trying to say.

A really nice demonstration of what catastrophic delamination looks like, though.
 
Quiet Storm said:
A thread on this subject.
Click to expand...


A quote from that thread...

"The jacket is necessary because the energy imparted to the bullet by the explosion inside the gun will create forces greater than the cohesive force holding the lead atoms together and the bullet will literally disintegrate. The jacket holds the lead atoms together."


Good Lord. That's as far as I could make it into the thread. That has to be one of the biggest examples of total misinformation I've ever seen on the net. And that's saying something.
 
Peter La said:
Can anyone explain to me how this is possible? I am not trying to be rude, I just don't understand how this is fiscaly possible. I take it the blade is differentially tempered? :confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...
Glad you figured it out Peter! Alas, economics had no play in the outcome though!:D ;)
 
Larry S. said:
Glad you figured it out Peter! Alas, economics had no play in the outcome though!:D ;)
Click to expand...

*shakes head :o * *dumb a$$ :rolleyes: * *what was I thinking?? :confused: * *It's Monday!! :D *

Seriously, what was I thinking?? :confused:
 
50 cal BMG rounds are not lead. The garden variety standard 50 cal. ball ammunition uses a bullet with a steel core, though there is some lead for weight, and a brass jacket.

The armor piercing variety is the same except that a hardened tungsten steel slug replaces the regular steel core. 45.8 gram (706.8 grains) bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2,910 fps (887 mps) and can easily blow a hole through a manhole cover (will penetrate 1 inch of miltary armor plate at 200 metres/219 yards). There is a digram of various 50 cal rounds here: http://www.biggerhammer.net/barrett/fas/

Quite impressive that the katana stood up so long and managed to cut a few of the slugs in half, though that steel slugs really chewed chips out of the blade. Looks like it failed after a number of shots chipped off the hard facing and left a wider impact area in the softer steel of the sword's core/back. Now the 9mm was no real test. A good knife will stand up to a pistol bullet.


Here's some amusing vids of a 50 cal incendiary and an AK47 vs lawn mowers.
http://www.serbu.com/lawnmwr.htm (click photos to play the short videos).
 
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