Why does bullet spin on ice

Looks real to me. Bob P. Rating - Click to expand Joined Jul 16, Messages 2, Likes I'd think it was plausible, except I think the bullet should be more deformed in the rear from lead vaporization and the nose from the impact. I'm also not sure if I think they should be spinning quite that fast. I could be wrong. Count me a somewhat skeptical, but not certain.

This seems to be picking up steam and there are a bunch of copycat vids on youtube. Bob P said:. LMAO Was talking about this video with a couple of guys at the range last night who's opinion I trust. They thought it was real. Longer version. Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, TheRoland said:. It would have gone right throw the ice! Joined Sep 21, Messages 5, Likes 2, Location your tight sphincter.

Looked almost too fake to comment on, but cool. Joined May 1, Messages 3, Likes Just a WAG. EddieCoyle Consigliere Moderator.

NES Member. Admin Staff member. EddieCoyle said:. You'd be surprised. I've picked up s of bullets that were stopped by ice off the range at Shirley after the spring thaw and most of the jacketed bullets look like you could reload and fire them again. Joined Mar 21, Messages 78, Likes 58, It either "bounces" or something weird like disobeying the laws of physics, or it's a nice edit job. Look closely at the circle he draws, the bullet left a trail from the right of the screen before it stopped moving and just spun.

It has perplexed everyone I have shown. I don't think it was real though. JayD said:. I think it's real. If the angle was just right I'm guessing as Derek's red line shows that the hot, spinning bullet would slide over the ice like a skate until it comes to a rest. Since it could still have rotational energy the thing will continue to spin like a kid's spinning top. That makes them go straighter. So I'm leaning toward credible now.

I can understand it spinning. I can understand low friction from a small, warm contact patch on ice. I don't understand the lack of deformation.

Also, it had to slow down from muzzle velocity to zero, and presumably it did that by traveling into the ice. What backs it out of whatever hole it made in the ice? The direction of spin will tend to thread any marks made by the rifling of the barrel into the ice, not out. Originally Posted by TjW. I also lean toward totally real, based on the expressions of people shooting these videos. I understand how the bullet spins for so long, but I'm still having trouble understand how it bounces out of the ice in its original shape; From Mythbusters, when you shoot a bullet into water, it usually shatters into little pieces.

Actually, I have a theory: Maybe the structure of the ice is more uniform and stable than that of water. The bullet is spinning at incredible speeds, so it melts water on it's way in, but the water itself exits the hole and evenly pads the bullet so that it doesn't deform.

The hole itself would be very small, so the bullet is not bouncing back Since the bullet is spinning so fast, it doesn't matter how it ends up on the ice, it will "right itself" with any slight protrusion that gets in its way. The lack of deformation is explainable by the fact that this is an FMJ full metal jacket bullet. It looks identical to the bullets we use for training, they are fully enclosed by the bullet jacket to prevent lead pollution at heavily-used ranges.

These are also lower in velocity than the "duty" ammunition we issue. There are rifling marks on the bullet, so it's not something they pulled from a cartridge and set up in some way. I have seen pistol bullets do odd things. Once, while shooting at an old, weathered hickory stump with. The next came back out of the stump at much the same angle as it went in, striking me in the leg.

Spent, fortunately! I'm inclined to say The bullets all seem to migrate across the ice, leaving a trail much in the way a spinning top traverses across a tabletop. Very interesting. There are at least 6 youtube videos demonstrating this. This does not mean that physics is everything. Originally Posted by Dr. Bullets spin due to rifling in the barrel; they can spin at tens or hundreds of thousands of RPM.

A shot at a reasonably soft surface like ice could quite plausibly spin like a top if it ricocheted and landed in just the right way. It'll spin for a long time due to the speed and low-friction surface. Getting this to work probably depends greatly on the muzzle velocity, and possibly the outside temperature, but it's really not that unbelievable.

These pistol bullets would spin considerably slower; muzzle velocity on these rounds from a 4" barrel would likely be well under fps. I can't recall the rifling twist-rate on the Glock in. Oh, Wiki says it's 1 turn in 16". The bullets seem to suddenly appear some distance from where they were actually shot. Only a small percentage of shot bullets are found and seen spinning.

Is it possible that what happens is a bullet bounces or jumps up from its original impact point then lands with only the force of gravity while still spinning? This is different than gliding across the ice from the initial point just like a spinning top. The super spin on axis causes it to act just like a top and a gyroscope?

To address the lack of bullet deformation, could it be that the cartridge has less than the usual amount of gunpowder? I used to know some people who would pack their own ammo. This would reduce the impact with which the bullets are hitting the ice, and hence the amount or probability of deformation. I think it would also increase the probability of a bullet successfully rebounding back out of the ice.

ETA: I think this is definitely a Mythbuster-worthy phenomenom to investigate. The slow-motion footage would be very cool. Last edited by kalen ; 15th October at AM. Originally Posted by Richard Masters. From Mythbusters, when you shoot a bullet into water, it usually shatters into little pieces. Right, but they were deformed weren't they? That would rule out spinning like a top. I'm well aware that bullets spin. It's just difficult to believe that they can do so having come to rest after hitting ice undamaged, nose down, spinning for as long as they do in the video.

My incredulity makes no difference to whether it's fake or not, and it is looking legit. It's just counter-intuitive. Originally Posted by kalen. Originally Posted by steve s. Only the bullets from the rifles shattered. The ones from hand guns stayed intact. Steve S. Originally Posted by quarky. As I noted, the ammunition used is of less power than "full-house" loads used for combat; it's training ammunition.

However, it cannot be greatly under-loaded, or the action of the pistol would not function. All times are GMT The time now is PM. Powered by vBulletin.

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Forum Index. Mark Forums Read. Bullet spinning on ice. Some people say that this is impossible. How can a. I don't know the what the physics are, but the video is pretty clear and I don't see any way of faking that, which is probably why Mythbusters is going to put it to the test. I watched the video in question several times, and it looks legit.

Then, because I'm such an intrepid reporter, I searched Youtube for other people trying it, whose attempts also seemed legit. But that's not important, what's important is how many people are gonna shoot themselves trying it.

I suspect in the tens.