Katana vs. M2 .50 BMG Machine Gun
This video is great! It shows a Japanese katana sword being shot at by an M2. See what .50 caliber FMJ bullets do to a steel sword!
I am very surprised it lasted even one .50 BMG round!!!
Hat Tip: Danger Room
5 Responses to “Katana vs. M2 .50 BMG Machine Gun”
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HerbGwrote on October 21st, 2010 at 1:16 am Link To Comment |
And the significance of this little test is……….?
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Nanban Jimwrote on October 20th, 2010 at 7:51 am Link To Comment |
Old, I know, but not everybody has been reading this blog from day 1. My first thought was whether this was a properly made sword or just a shin gunto or other machined sword, but while my Japanese is beyond rusty, it does appear in context that it is a modern, traditionally produced sword.
It comes as no surprise that a round designed to penetrate to 3/4-7/8 inches (19-22mm) of “modern” (1930s) hardened steel plate (and ends up spalling thicker plate) will crack the hard edge and bend the soft rear of around 1 inch (25mm) of steel to the breaking point. There’s a reason you aren’t supposed to parry edge-on, especially with hardened swords, which the direct and glancing hits show very nicely: It isn’t just a loss of edge, but the hardened cutting edge will crack and break. Hard=brittle.
It’s almost surprising that they got any hits at all, I’d love to see how many rounds it took in total. Very difficult to peg such a narrow target edge-on, isn’t it? (The camera was at 3/4 angle, but the gun doesn’t seem to be, especially considering how that would have biased the test against the sword.)
Very nice find.
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G11wrote on February 07th, 2010 at 9:47 am Link To Comment |
Ball ammo or SLAP?
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AK™wrote on January 25th, 2009 at 6:31 am Link To Comment |
They only tested it with the facing edge it looks like…if they would have tested it by firing at the side of the sword..it probably would have failed.
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Antonwrote on July 18th, 2008 at 8:14 pm Link To Comment |
They should try hitting it with the .577 T-Rex Rifle.
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And the significance of this little test is……….?
Old, I know, but not everybody has been reading this blog from day 1. My first thought was whether this was a properly made sword or just a shin gunto or other machined sword, but while my Japanese is beyond rusty, it does appear in context that it is a modern, traditionally produced sword.
It comes as no surprise that a round designed to penetrate to 3/4-7/8 inches (19-22mm) of “modern” (1930s) hardened steel plate (and ends up spalling thicker plate) will crack the hard edge and bend the soft rear of around 1 inch (25mm) of steel to the breaking point. There’s a reason you aren’t supposed to parry edge-on, especially with hardened swords, which the direct and glancing hits show very nicely: It isn’t just a loss of edge, but the hardened cutting edge will crack and break. Hard=brittle.
It’s almost surprising that they got any hits at all, I’d love to see how many rounds it took in total. Very difficult to peg such a narrow target edge-on, isn’t it? (The camera was at 3/4 angle, but the gun doesn’t seem to be, especially considering how that would have biased the test against the sword.)
Very nice find.
Ball ammo or SLAP?
They only tested it with the facing edge it looks like…if they would have tested it by firing at the side of the sword..it probably would have failed.
They should try hitting it with the .577 T-Rex Rifle.