Among firearm circles, particularly when talking about self/home defense, the issue of overpenetration is frequently mentioned. Well, read about an experiment by the MythBusters gang gone horribly awry while they were firing a cannonball. I have to admit, it's almost comical to read about what and how far this cannonball traveled. I kind of imagine some cartoon character with this bowling ball-sized hole through his torso. But obviously, it's a dead serious thing. Any number of unlucky people could've been killed.

I sure hope this isn't the end of MythBusters experiments based on projectiles.

You can read about it here.

Well, I guess I won't be needing one of those for home defense.

HJ

WOW!

Wow... I can understand why someone might be threatening to sue, but really, you do only live a few hundred yards from an EOD range. If you didn't know it was there, then your real estate agent forgot to mention the noisy neighbors who have the ability to toss a cinder block a mile. This comes solidly under the heading of "stuff happens"- I'd be willing to call it good so long as they cover costs and the repairs/replacements are fast.

I think they are going to be going out to the desert more for projectiles after this.

I'm really shocked that sheet-rock and stucco didn't stop that cannonball cold

Nice clean holes it punched through those walls.

Agree with more trips to the desert, but CA frowns on that too.

It's fortunate nobody got hurt. Yeah, take it out to the dessert. Keep in mind the actual law, not the facial expressions of people. California frowns upon everything by default.

I just saw a short video clip which I think is supposed to be of the experiment gone awry. The target (a simulated castle wall made of cinder blocks, I believe) is set up in front of a big dirt berm. Unless the cannon actually tilted upward somehow, seems difficult imagining how the cannonball could ricochet up and over that berm (the original article said the shot missed the wall so it didn't ricochet off the cinder blocks) and still travel 700 yards to that neighborhood. Wow, that will be an interesting accident investigation report to read.

I've heard it said about CA,

"If it's not illegal, it's mandatory."

As a California native, I obviously have my opinions about the Golden State. But I'd sure hate to have my thread locked if someone complains about political comments. Let's stick with what's important here--things that go BOOM!

I see that the stars of Myth Busters, Adam and Jaime, personally went to see the damage in the neighborhood, although they weren't even the ones conducting the experiment. As a Myth Busters fan, I think I'd be torn between being tickled pink to meet them in person and being hopping mad if I were that family. Maybe me and the missus could do the adoring fan-hater routine on 'em. Keep 'em guessing.

Really, though, when you watch the show, it does seem obvious that they do take safety very seriously although they do a lot of outrageous and highly dangerous experiments that I probably would not do. Actually, I'm surprised that they've managed to have insurance coverage all these years.

One episode pops into mind immediately. It's one of my favorite topics, actually. It was the episode where they were testing the claim that you could save yourself from gunfire by jumping underwater. They fired a series of long guns into a swimming pool, including a Barrett .50 cal IIRC. That pool is literally in the middle of a dense residential neighborhood in San Francisco, next to one of the most heavily traveled surface streets, too. A freak accident could've sent a .50 cal round crashing through who knows how many homes and cars in the neighborhood, and several schools are within range. Kind of creepy when I think about it now, considering what just happened with the cannonball experiment.

Where are those danged moderators anyway?

Let us do restrain ourselves with regard to political commentary.

HJ

Home defense or defense against homes?

Getting back on topic, it's nice to see the production company and Jamie and Adam stepping up to make it right.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/MythBusters+apologize+cannonball+havoc/5830837/story.html

It will be interesting to see if they air this episode and how they deal with it.

Another article I read stated they would not air the footage that was recorded for the test, and also implying the entire experiment would never air.


Someone ironic that I now feel the need to know how much stone to put on my house to stop a cinderblock.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/08/mythbusters_mythfire_cannon/

suggests they will air the episode.

-john

Last I heard, they are still in production for that episode. However, I did hear Adam Savage say that they would not use this incident in any way to drum up interest in that episode whenever it does air.

So far, the best explanation I can find of what happened is that unanticipated muzzle lift caused the shot to go awry. Instead of burying itself in the dirt berm, the cannonball careened up and over the berm and downrange hundreds of yards to that neighborhood.

Considering that they had already reportedly fired this cannon 50 times for other episodes, this muzzle lift must have really come as a surprise to the crew. Not that that excuses what happened, of course.

Quoting an absolutely FABULOUS sentence... you just made my day

My own view is the opposite: in the episodes I've seen they often seem pretty lax about health and safety, and it's not usual for them to get a nasty surprise. In the first series, pretty much every episode seemed to have an accident. This one has been reported because it affected other people's property.