MythBusters (2003) s15e11 Episode Script
Supernatural Shooters
[ Clink .]
Give me that.
[ Distorted voice echoing .]
Amateur.
[ Distorted voice echoing, electricity crackling .]
I didn't even think that was possible.
[ grunts .]
[ Lowered voice .]
Why is he here? [ Lowered voice .]
I don't know, but I would just get on with it.
So I could be mistaken, but I'm getting the sense that we're doing something with guns? You are totally right.
Specifically shooters with seemingly supernatural abilities with guns.
Later on, we've got a story about a guy who fires bullets that he holds in his hand while he holds his hands in a fire.
[ Gunshots .]
[ Grunts .]
So the bullets are, like, between his fingers? Exactly, but first up, we have sort of a classic movie hitman trope, in which hitman is tracking his guy.
His guy goes behind a wall, but it turns out to be no barrier for the hitman.
He knows where he is, tracks him, shoots through the wall, and right through his prey.
So we want to find out whether or not a bullet would go through a wall easily, and whether you can actually track somebody behind the wall without seeing them.
Exactly.
I've been wanting to do this story for so long.
It is going to be awesome.
[ Chuckles .]
[ Chuckles .]
[ Groans .]
Now when we're talking about shooting through walls, the word "wall" could mean many, many different things based on when and where the building you're in was actually constructed.
Aah! Too big.
Too big! The walls could be made of different materials, and they could have lots of different things inside them.
Starting to look like something.
We want a broad representation of walls to shoot at, so I've assembled all the materials, walls have been built out over the last 100 years.
The house I grew up in was all lathe and plaster.
[ Sighs .]
The old crafts.
As well as a lot of the things, electrical boxes, insulation I hate fiberglass insulation.
Wiring and plumbing that you'd find inside those walls.
Hey! That's awesome.
It fits! When does that ever happen? With this, we should be able to make the targets that we need to find out just how bulletproof or not walls actually might be.
Almost ready for shooting.
Now it's ready for shooting, and so am I.
Decided to come in costume as the man in black, the man of mystery, the man you don't want to see at your doorstep.
Normally, when we're using guns, we come to a firing range.
But because we're going to be firing into walls, these bullets may behave, well, unpredictably.
I think it looks pretty good.
Jamie: So instead of using the normal targeting range, we're gonna go off to one end where we can safely control what happens.
It's time to introduce you to the ammunition and pistol we'll be using today for the experiment.
The bullets we'll be firing are standard high velocity hollow point rounds.
They'll be fired from a standard double action 9-millimeter pistol used by the military and law enforcement the world over [ Click .]
And also a staple of action movie heroes.
Here we go.
And you know that's true because you heard it from The hitman.
Did I pull that off? Jamie: The panel we'll be shooting into is composed of the kinds of things that you would find in a standard wall, from sheet rock to a solid wood stud, sheet metal stud, sections with plumbing fixtures, and lastly, an electrical box.
Now we'll be firing bullets out of this 9-millimeter pistol into those sections.
I guess that ought to do it.
And of course, for safety, we'll be triggering this from behind the blast shields.
Adam: Now we don't just want to shoot at walls.
We also want to witness what happens when the bullet and the wall meet.
Thus, we've set our high-speed camera perched carefully above, looking down through the inside of the wall.
We've also chosen an extremely high frame rate of 17,000 frames per second.
That's one of the highest frame rates we've ever used on the show.
All will be known by this rate.
Narrator: And with a steel backstop It makes a cool noise when a bullet hits it.
Narrator: Their 6-in-1 interior wall mock-up is ready to go.
Will any of them halt a Hollywood hitman? First up, a blast from the past Lathe and plaster.
Actually, I think the lathe and plaster is gonna do pretty good in slowing the forward progress of the bullet.
Range is hot.
Whether it stops completely, I can't say.
Count it down.
But I do think it's going to provide a nice barrier.
Okay.
9-millimeter into lathe and plaster in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Well, it did the classic small entry wound, larger exit wound, but it looks like it came out pretty straight.
Narrator: With the bullet's trajectory unaffected, and the velocity hardly hindered, ye olde wall would have provided no protection for our hitman's hidden target, and that sounds good for the myth.
Made a resounding clang when it hit this backstop.
I guess that means that you would probably get penetrated by that bullet.
Narrator: Up next All right, let's slide this puppy down.
Narrator: Will this more modern eco-friendly fortification fare any better? Jamie: This test is against two layers of drywall Range is hot.
With about 3 1/2 inches of fiberglass insulation between them.
[ Clank .]
Nice.
Right through the square, heard the ding of the steel.
Couldn't have gone better.
Narrator: More good news for the myth.
Two targets taken down, and no sign the bullet has been significantly slowed or in any way altered.
[ Clank .]
I love that sound.
Narrator: A result replicated when the sheet metal and wooden studs are also found to be duds.
But now it gets interesting.
Next up is the first time our bullet's going to encounter an actual object inside the wall, and that is copper plumbing.
We're gonna hit it right there.
And this is the reason for all of our safety shields.
The bullet could spatter in a lot of different directions when it hits this.
Firing in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Ho ho ho ho! That Looks like a perfect hit.
A perfect hit through and through.
With the bullet's trajectory and speed only marginally affected, the myth that a hitman can hit his hidden target is still looking good.
But what about the toughest target yet? A steel junction box.
[ Gunshot .]
- Oh! [ Gunshots .]
Oh, yes.
[ Laughs .]
Oh, you're gonna love this.
The whole story of the bullet's stoppage is apparent in this one shot which we will cut to right [ Snaps fingers .]
[ Gunshot .]
Narrator: It took a solid piece of steel in exactly the right place to halt the bullet's momentum and disperse its kinetic energy.
But clearly, this is the exception and not the rule.
The myth is on track.
Adam: I have to say I'm pretty surprised at the results.
The only one of our in-wall obstacles The electrical box actually stopped the bullet cold.
The rest made it through.
Now what that means for the myth as walls are okay to shoot through if you're a hitman, from my vantage point, it's looking pretty good for the myth.
Shh.
Narrator: And so it's back to the shop, where our hard-to-please professional is waiting for an update.
So is that it? No, no, no.
We actually have a few more tests to do before we finally call shooting through walls, but we're now jumping to the second story in this episode.
It's from a movie called "shoot 'em up.
" I am dead on about who you are, right? Say that again.
I said I'm dead Stop.
That part of it you got right.
Adam: At the end of the movie, our hero is cornered.
It looks like he is dead.
He doesn't even have a gun.
But what the bad guy doesn't know is that the hero has a handful of bullets shoved between his fingers.
He thrusts his hand into the fire, and two seconds later [ Gunshots .]
[ Thud .]
No more bad guy.
[ Wheezes .]
What was that? We were re-enacting a movie.
Oh, my What we want to find out is one can bullets go off that fast in a fire? Two if they can, could you aim them, and three Are they remotely lethal? Uh-huh.
So which one of you geniuses is gonna stick his hand in the fire? Well We haven't thought that far ahead yet.
Uh-huh.
Well, whatever.
I've got a plane to catch.
Shall we, uh, start testing? Sure.
Narrator: For that, Adam and Jamie hit their all-time favorite location to cause a commotion.
Lots of goats.
They don't seem to mind the fact that my jacket is made out of them.
[ Screams .]
Narrator: To set off this myth, the first item on the menu is a controlled fire.
Even a simple fire can be fraught with difficulties and dangers that are unforeseen.
That's why one We've come out here to the Alameda county sheriff's bomb range to set this fire, two we've put it in a barbecue, and three Jamie and I are wearing all the proper safety equipment to make sure nothing gets out of control.
Safety is always of the first priority to us.
We don't like to let anything get out of control.
There, that's more like it.
That's a nice little fire.
Narrator: After the flames have died down, it's time to get cooking, and they're starting out hands-free.
But they're also playing it safe.
The single round being baked has had the projectile removed.
The empty case and primer will react to the heat, but no one's in danger of being shot Yet.
Question is, will the ignition match the movie? Now there are three things that we will be testing in this fire test with the bullet shell casings.
- You ready to do this? - Yeah.
One is will shell casing go off in the fire? Two will it go off exactly where our hero is holding his hand in the film clip? He holds his hand just about 3 inches above the logs right in there.
And three will it go off in two seconds? Okay.
Shell-casing test in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Well, that's longer than two seconds.
5 - [ Chuckles .]
We know that the chemical in the bullet primer ignites at about 300 degrees or above.
15 It's just where he was holding his hand.
But the thing is, it's surrounded by metal, and that metal is insulating it from the 1,500-degree-plus heat in the fire.
20 Geezum crow.
25 It's right in the fire.
Now eventually the metal does heat up, and it gets that primer to its 300 degree plus [ Click .]
There it goes.
And it goes off.
[ Click .]
43 seconds.
43 seconds.
That's, uh That's a lot.
Narrator: It did go off, but it took its sweet time [ Click .]
Time our Hollywood hero would not have had.
But Adam and Jamie aren't giving up.
Up next, it's go big, but not at home.
[ Fire extinguisher hisses .]
[ Es .]
Narrator: The movie "shoot 'em up" [ Gunshots .]
Oh, oh! Looks like it's being shot down.
Well, the results of our movie parameter test are in, and the 2-second time is totally out.
[ Click .]
Jamie: 43 seconds.
But the fire gets a lot hotter inside among the hot coals.
I think we should do another test to find out if there's any place in this fire where we can get the bullet to go off in two seconds, and frankly, I predict we totally will.
Narrator: So for test two, Jamie Stokes the fire.
Mommy, I don't like barbecues at Jamie's house.
Narrator: Because this time they're baking the bullet deep among the coals at temperature differential from test one of 800 degrees.
All right, so you ready? I'm ready.
I'm going all the way in this time, looking for the hot spot.
Looking for something close to two seconds.
32 1.
Jamie: 2 4, 5 6 78, 9 10.
[ Click .]
Those didn't sound like regular seconds.
What kind of seconds were you counting there? I'm - 2, 4, 5, 6 7, 8 9, 10.
What kind of seconds are those? Who counts like that? What was the time? [ Chuckles .]
10 seconds.
- 10 seconds.
I think we've definitively proven that there's no way a bullet is gonna go off in that fire in two seconds flat.
- Yeah.
- I mean, it will go off, but Not in two seconds.
Narrator: Even exposed to the hottest heart of the fire at temperatures no human hand could survive, the primer did not reach its flash point in anything like the time it took in the movie.
I think we could use a hand on this story.
Narrator: But although one facet of this film fable is an obvious fiction, the guys aren't done yet.
Jamie: While it's true that the timing of the hand in fire is busted, nevertheless, I've got to find out whether bullets fired in that manner are both accurate and lethal.
So to do that, I need a hand that I can heat up safely.
Narrator: Yep, Dr.
Franklin Hyneman is making a heat-resistant human hand.
Well, we got a good start with the grinder, but from here on in, it's mostly gonna be blacksmithing.
[ Clank .]
One of the joys of doing this kind of work is first, there was nothing, and then there was something.
Narrator: That something being an adjustable articulated hand, able to realistically grip bullets between each finger Detailed and disturbing work the doctor clearly enjoys.
I've left a texture that is not unlike the wrinkles in my finger, and where it kind of smoothes out all over the knuckle, I've done that with a blob of weld.
It's all very fast and crude, but it gives it a strangely organic look for it being all metal.
Narrator: For added accuracy It fits like a You know what.
Narrator: A leather glove that grips like skin is heat-molded onto the metal skeleton.
And to gauge human-like strength Position number one between the thumb and index finger.
Narrator: Adam sets a calibration benchmark with his own grip.
8.
1 pounds.
This force cage here holds what's called a peak value.
That is the most amount of weight that it took since you last pressed zero.
Now I will put the bullet on this string on the force cage and hold it between two fingers [ Strained voice .]
As hard as I can until it lets go.
[ Groans .]
[ Clatter .]
Ow! Ow! [ Clatter .]
And then I read that value, enter it into this chart.
Narrator: With the data handed over, Jamie mechanically matches Adam's grip strength to his metal digits.
Couple minor adjustments, and I think we should be all set.
Narrator: And this myth is all set to go off.
It's perfect.
Narrator: But first [ Western theme playing .]
There's some unfinished business for our wall-shooting hitmen.
Adam: Now that we've determined exactly how porous walls are, and the bullets will most likely make it through them, it's time to deal with what's on the other side.
So you are the good guy, the camera, the people watching TV, and you're looking at a wall.
And there's a bad guy behind.
Where is he? Oh! There he is.
Now that bad guy is gonna move behind the wall, and you've got to shoot him.
How are you gonna do that? We figure there's two methods that you could use.
One is you could watch him run behind and make an assumption that he's going to maintain his speed Bang! And try and shoot him.
Or you could listen for the sound of his footsteps [ Rapid footsteps .]
And use your natural powers of triangulation to make an assumption about where he is and shoot there.
[ Palm hits table .]
I'm not sure if either one of those is gonna work, but in either case, it's going to require a rig with a motorized dude on it.
The dude.
How you doing, dude? He's a very handsome dude.
Something kinda like this.
[ Whirs .]
Walk, walk, walk.
Narrator: So bullets can penetrate an interior wall, but is hitting your target as easy as Hollywood would have us believe? [ Whirring .]
That is so weird.
[ Laughs .]
To find out, the team is testing two mythical methods.
First up, target tracking.
Here's how this test is gonna work.
Our target that's me Will always start every test by moving from a visible position to an obscured position.
The operator will be able to control the position of the target with this joystick, and he'll be able to see what's he's doing through this monitor.
The shooter must use trajectory tracking and their intuition to surmise where the target might be behind the wall and attempt to shoot them through the wall.
- Beautiful.
- Okay.
There are two restrictions to this test.
One is shooter can't start shooting until the target's past that yellow and black line.
All the action happens on that side.
And only one bullet at a time.
[ Click .]
This first test is gonna be pretty basic.
I'm going to be moving the target, at what amounts to walking speed, continuously.
Jamie, you ready to start this? I am.
[ Whirring .]
[ Click .]
Gun is loaded.
[ Click .]
Safety is off.
Range is hot.
All right, count me down, sir.
3 2 Stop.
[ Whirs .]
Let's see if I hit him.
I'm gonna go inspect.
Well, it turns out, with velocity tracking of an obscure target [ Laughs .]
A perfect hit! I'm actually pretty good.
I got myself in the face on the first try.
[ Chuckles .]
A perfect hit.
Narrator: But maybe Adam got lucky.
It's Jamie's turn.
Okay.
Range is hot.
Narrator: Time to double down on the data.
[ Whirs .]
Let's go see if you hit me.
Narrator: With nothing to go on but the projected trajectory of the target, how did Hyneman the hitman fare? - Yeah.
- Nice! Right there.
Took out my left lung.
Adam and I both got what might have been kill shots on our first go, but that was following a consistent movement.
So that obviously is the best case scenario.
Ah, look at that.
Nice little boo-boo.
The reality is gonna be more like somebody is starting and stopping.
Who knows what they're doing back there? And the only thing you might have to go on is sound.
[ Loud footsteps .]
So that's what we're gonna try next.
Narrator: The hitman.
Give me that.
Narrator: The ultimate Hollywood anti-hero With a seemingly supernatural ability, he always gets his mark.
[ Laughter .]
[ Whirring .]
Or does he? Sounds like it's time for test two.
Jamie: This test is gonna be pretty much like the last one, except that the target is gonna be moving all over the place, and the only thing that the shooter will have to go by is the sound of footsteps.
Can I hear a test of that? [ Loud footsteps .]
[ Chuckles .]
[ Footsteps continue .]
Narrator: With the fake footstep audio coming from a speaker attached to the target [ Footsteps continue .]
I can kinda hear it go.
Narrator: The setup is complete.
In theory, I thought this would be pretty cool.
In practice, it's far cooler.
[ Whirs .]
What do you think? One shot this time, or how about three shots? Yeah, let's up the ante.
Okay, cool.
All right, so you ready? I'm ready.
Adam: You're wondering how we're gonna do a test about hearing for footsteps when we're wearing hearing protection to protect ourselves from the sound of a gun going off.
Excellent.
Sounds loud and clear.
Adam: These earmuffs I use are military grade, and they have a really cool feature Actual microphones that play sound into the muffs so I can hear stuff in the world until a gunshot happens And then they cut out to protect me from the loud sounds.
Also, it's two separate sound chips One on the right, one on the left.
I actually can fully triangulate while wearing these, so that's what we'll be wearing for this test.
Oh, what's that over there? I must admit, I am a little surprised that both Jamie and I got successful kill shots on the first test.
[ Laughs .]
A perfect hit! But on the second one, I personally think it's gonna be a lot harder to triangulate the sound of footsteps behind a barrier.
Count me in, sir.
I'm giving myself only a 20% chance of actually hitting this thing.
32 1.
[ Loud footsteps .]
Adam: Let's see if I hit him.
Narrator: Adam acoustically and intuitively tuned in to his target's tread and took him out.
Oh, looks like you got him.
No way.
- Oh, no, I'm sorry.
- No? Narrator: Or not.
No, that was there before.
Was that? Aw.
Jamie: Adam missed.
You survived this time, Savage.
And you'll notice that he clustered three of his shots in one small area.
I'm not so sure that's the best approach.
If I were doing this, which I'm about to I'm ready.
I think I'd be inclined to do a sweep across an area to try and bracket in the sound, because we can hear the sounds, but pinpointing it Not so much.
[ Loud footsteps .]
Narrator: Despite the benefit of being able to adapt his tactics You missed him.
- Yeah.
- Entirely.
Narrator: Jamie missed as well.
So while you could easily shoot through a wall, the real world detail of the prey's unpredictable position makes hitting a moving target tough, and this myth is on the ropes.
So what do you think? Have we answered the question of shooting people on the other side of walls and how easy it is? Well, mechanical moving targets are all well and good, but I don't think there's any substitute for the real thing.
I think we ought to shoot at each other.
[ Laughs .]
How uh Not with real guns, right? Well Okay.
Paintball guns.
Paintball guns.
Okay, I think we can do that test.
Narrator: A new test, a new day, and a new location for a spot of hitman elimination.
[ Creaks .]
[ Door creaks .]
- Morning.
- Morning.
Shall we get to work? Yeah, let's do.
We have brought you to an abandoned machine shop in Mare Island, California, to put all the disparate elements of this story back together for a nice, violent, fun-filled, family-friendly finale.
So it's time we ramp things up and use live human targets that are moving Namely Adam and I.
[ Gravelly voice .]
That's right.
It's you and me, Hyneman.
Suit up.
- Am I out? - Man: Unh-unh.
Aw, crap.
Narrator: For this gunfight head-to-head [ Whirs .]
So freakin' cool.
Narrator: Adam and Jamie are putting the human back into the experimental equation.
This last test is a classic cat and mouse.
We're building a hitman fantasy camp.
Jamie and I are gonna stalk each other through a labyrinth created of walls, making hallways, rooms, doorways, the whole kit and caboodle.
Excuse me.
We must try and win this stalking contest by shooting each other through one or more of the walls of our labyrinth.
Our walls are made of paper.
Our weapons paintball guns.
[ Click .]
- Adam: Ow! [ Chuckles .]
Narrator: With help from their origami army Adam: Go ahead, Willie.
Pivot around.
And an artistic finishing touch or two Lovely.
The 8-room assassin's arena is ready for the showdown.
[ Beeps .]
But it won't be a free-for-all.
These are the rules.
First, there's no time limit.
Adam: The winner is the first one to shoot the other through a wall.
We each only have one 8-round clip, so every shot counts.
Finally, during the test, we are not allowed to travel beyond the boundaries of the experimental space.
Narrator: And with the rules laid down, Adam and Jamie are all set for a hitman hunt.
[ Paintball gunshots .]
Narrator: To test Hollywood's idea of a handheld "shoot 'em up" Oh! - [ Thud .]
[ Laughs .]
Narrator: The Mythbusters need bullets [ Sneezes .]
A helping hand It's perfect.
And dry experimental conditions.
[ Thunderclap .]
Jamie: Doesn't rain all week, and then when we go out to shoot, it's raining.
So let me introduce you to a little bit of how "Mythbusters" conducts a shoot in the pouring rain.
We've actually set up 400 square feet of tent city here in the middle of our muddy field.
Right there is our high speed camera op.
That's an expensive laptop and our $100,000 high speed camera.
The important cables are running up through the rafters.
There's where Jamie and I will be standing behind the blast-chamber shields.
That's our experimental setup.
Hopefully it's dry enough to actually get this experiment off.
So if you hold bullets in a fire, they're gonna take a lot longer than two seconds to go off.
10 seconds.
10 seconds.
[ Chuckles .]
But at this point, we haven't established what exactly they'll do when they do go off, and in the movie, the bullets are shown to be lethal, so that's what we've got to test now.
"Mythbusters" during the monsoon season.
Narrator: Despite the deluge, the team has a handle on the situation and is all set to fire up.
Jamie: For this test, we've got a single bullet mounted on the hand right here, and we're gonna have a single flame coming out of this tiny copper tube.
[ Clicks .]
Let's try it quickly.
When I pull on a cord, the flame will swing in and will set off the bullet.
Adam: That's it.
You're right on the bullet.
You're right on the bullet.
Narrator: This time, the round is live Come on, bullet.
Come on, bullet.
With primer, powder, and projectile intact.
Aah! It just blew out.
This program is rated "frust" "frustrating.
" Narrator: In theory, they'll use the high-speed camera to capture the bullet's speed.
You're good.
Still lit.
Still lit.
Oh! It just blew out.
In practice, that's not happening.
Just goes to show, best-laid plans of mice and men are often screwed up by the rain.
Jamie: So it turns out our tiny, little flame wasn't concentrated enough.
The torch head we're gonna use this time is called a pencil torch, and that means that it literally has a point on it that's similar to a pencil point.
Jamie, you're good to light it.
[ Click, hissing .]
And I'm gonna aim that right at the cap, and I think that'll get us where we need to go.
There it is.
[ Click .]
Both: Hey! [ Laughs .]
[ Clicking .]
That worked a lot better.
That was like within 10 seconds.
That's what I wanted.
Excellent.
Narrator: At last, there's fire in the hole.
But what does the data say? Adam: Flame placement looks perfect.
Oh! [ Laughs .]
Let me see if I can't get a rough idea of speed here.
[ Laughs .]
The bullet's moving at 82 miles per hour.
Yeah.
Narrator: Question is, why is it going so slow? Jamie: When you pull the trigger of a loaded gun, the bullet inside basically explodes.
The resulting shock wave travels down the barrel and propels the bullet out, but without the gun to enclose and back up the cartridge, there's nothing to prevent it from simply expanding and rocketing backwards instead of pushing the bullet forwards.
Hence the low speeds of the bullet.
Narrator: With no barrel to contain the energy, it disperses, and the bullet comes out at 10% of its usual velocity.
I don't think that's gonna be lethal, but for due diligence, let's put our dummy in there and see what happens to him.
- Sure.
Why not? - Okay.
[ Grunts .]
Your days are numbered, dude.
Narrator: So will a handheld bullet accurately hit a target with lethal impact? Okay, coming in.
That's it.
It's on! I can hear it going.
[ Click .]
Hey! There it went.
I don't know if it hit him.
Narrator: The early signs for accuracy are not good.
Well I don't see any bullet holes.
I don't see any bullet holes, nor do I see any bullets.
Narrator: This is a job for the high speed camera.
Bang! Oh! It went way down.
Boink! Is it bounced off? Actually, it looks like it's still there.
[ Click .]
This is right about where it looks like it hits, right? Well, see any reason why I shouldn't excavate? I don't see any reason why you shouldn't excavate.
High speed says bullet entered the dude.
We should cut him open and find the bullet.
Let's see.
Okay.
There we go.
There it is.
Whoa! No way! [ Laughs .]
Embedded in his chest.
Amazing! Narrator: It's a satisfying and surprising result, but with such shallow penetration, it wouldn't have been lethal.
Merely, painful.
If only our hero could hold his burning, fleshy hand in a fire until it melted and kept that pressure on, well, he might have just injured the villain.
[ Laughs .]
That is awesome.
All right.
Let's count down the components of this story.
Bullets going off in a fire in two seconds or less? - Busted.
- Okay.
What about the lethality or danger of those bullets after that? Well, that is where it starts to get a little interesting, but Nah.
It's still busted.
It's still totally busted.
Narrator: That's one myth done and busted, but still to come, a head-to-head hitman showdown.
Narrator: Deep in an underground bunker Jamie and Adam captured an exquisite world exclusive.
Adam: Oh, no way.
[ Laughs .]
Wow! We've just taken a shot with a high-speed camera called the phantom of a bullet exiting a gun at 73,000 frames per second.
73,000.
I seriously had no idea it would be that lovely.
Oh, I got to go back and watch it again.
The artifacts that you start to be able to see Mushroom clouds, little rivulets of gases, and fire forming on flame fronts of pressure waves and stuff.
I'm not sure many people in the world have ever even looked at.
It's just really cool.
Yep, it's cool.
Narrator: It's showtime.
One by one, our would-be hitmen are guided silently to separate random locations in the arena.
Can a Hollywood hitman Gentlemen.
Really locate and liquidate a wall-hidden target Are you ready? With supernatural-like acoustic ability and intuition? In 3 2 1.
Go.
Narrator: It's a stalk to the death to find out.
[ Click .]
Oh! Ho ho ho! I'm hit! He got my gun hand.
Got me right in the wrist.
I've been looking forward to this test for a while, but that was far more scary and hair-raising and exciting than I ever imagined it would be.
[ Click .]
That's just stunning.
You might recall from our earlier testing, to track somebody moving behind a wall was fairly easy to do as long as you can anticipate their movement.
Now in this first game, I remembered that.
I peeked out the doorway just in time to see him move behind a wall, and so I was able to actually track his movement, fire through the wall, and I hit him.
That was beautiful.
[ Chuckles .]
It worked just like we learned.
Narrator: So the combination of a preliminary visual cue, audio location, and intuition does make it possible to pop your opponent.
Good news for the myth, but Adam's not giving up yet.
Nicely done.
Best out of three? [ Laughs .]
- Okay.
[ Both laugh .]
This is too much fun to give up after one try.
Love this game.
Narrator: That's the cue for a fun and fear-filled test two.
Adam: Looking down on this test from above, I'm struck by a couple things One, how lovely it is with all the colors in all of the labyrinth.
Steve: Go.
Adam: But perhaps the most diabolically scary part of this test to me was the quiet.
I open my eyes.
I don't see Jamie.
I hear little creaks, but that doesn't necessarily help because you're waiting somebody else out.
You know that they want to kill you, and even though this is for play, it doesn't make it any less of an adrenaline rush to know that someone's got your number and they're looking for you, and you are looking for them.
[ Click .]
It is Really, really thrilling in a way that few tests that we have done on this show really deliver.
[ Paintball gunshots .]
Aah! [ Laughs .]
[ Jamie laughs .]
I'm hit.
I'm hit.
I'm hit in the leg.
Jamie: This whole test came together quite beautifully.
Ugh! That was Scary as hell.
[ Chuckles .]
Because in our early mechanical testing, we found only one technique that was effective.
You got me right in the knee.
That is a totally incapacitating hit.
Well, you know, that's my personal style.
You know, it sends a message.
But here with real human subjects, I found I had to put all of those techniques together.
I used a little bit of sound to roughly locate where they were at.
Once I did get any kind of hint of how they were removing, I tracked them, and then I sprayed.
Adam: Uhh! And putting all of those techniques together allowed me to win.
[ Blows air .]
[ Chuckles .]
You've nailed it.
I'm dead two out of two.
I'd say you are the, uh, the absolute winner, sir.
[ Chuckles .]
Congratulations.
Thank you.
That was an awesome contest.
Well, it would seem that just like the rest of the world, it is very difficult for me to get a bead on James Franklin Hyneman.
[ Click .]
He seems to be a fan of shooting people in the joints.
Maybe that's from when he used to be a loan shark.
I don't know.
[ Chuckles .]
But I couldn't hit him once.
How do you want to call it? I got to say, I'm surprised, but I think the hitmen are onto something.
Shooting through walls has far more efficacy than I began this myth believing.
Yeah, I agree.
Interior walls don't offer much protection, do they? No.
They're far more porous than anyone thought.
Let's get outta here.
- You you coming? - Sure.
Jamie: Oh, yeah! [ Bullets clanking .]
Narrator: Back across town, it's time to settle accounts.
[ Groans .]
Adam: You're going? Shooting through walls confirmed.
"Shoot 'em up" [ Groans .]
Busted.
See you on the next bounce, boys.
[ Engine revs, tires screech .]
I don't trust that guy.
Neither do I.
Let's get inside.
[ Flames whooshing .]
Give me that.
[ Distorted voice echoing .]
Amateur.
[ Distorted voice echoing, electricity crackling .]
I didn't even think that was possible.
[ grunts .]
[ Lowered voice .]
Why is he here? [ Lowered voice .]
I don't know, but I would just get on with it.
So I could be mistaken, but I'm getting the sense that we're doing something with guns? You are totally right.
Specifically shooters with seemingly supernatural abilities with guns.
Later on, we've got a story about a guy who fires bullets that he holds in his hand while he holds his hands in a fire.
[ Gunshots .]
[ Grunts .]
So the bullets are, like, between his fingers? Exactly, but first up, we have sort of a classic movie hitman trope, in which hitman is tracking his guy.
His guy goes behind a wall, but it turns out to be no barrier for the hitman.
He knows where he is, tracks him, shoots through the wall, and right through his prey.
So we want to find out whether or not a bullet would go through a wall easily, and whether you can actually track somebody behind the wall without seeing them.
Exactly.
I've been wanting to do this story for so long.
It is going to be awesome.
[ Chuckles .]
[ Chuckles .]
[ Groans .]
Now when we're talking about shooting through walls, the word "wall" could mean many, many different things based on when and where the building you're in was actually constructed.
Aah! Too big.
Too big! The walls could be made of different materials, and they could have lots of different things inside them.
Starting to look like something.
We want a broad representation of walls to shoot at, so I've assembled all the materials, walls have been built out over the last 100 years.
The house I grew up in was all lathe and plaster.
[ Sighs .]
The old crafts.
As well as a lot of the things, electrical boxes, insulation I hate fiberglass insulation.
Wiring and plumbing that you'd find inside those walls.
Hey! That's awesome.
It fits! When does that ever happen? With this, we should be able to make the targets that we need to find out just how bulletproof or not walls actually might be.
Almost ready for shooting.
Now it's ready for shooting, and so am I.
Decided to come in costume as the man in black, the man of mystery, the man you don't want to see at your doorstep.
Normally, when we're using guns, we come to a firing range.
But because we're going to be firing into walls, these bullets may behave, well, unpredictably.
I think it looks pretty good.
Jamie: So instead of using the normal targeting range, we're gonna go off to one end where we can safely control what happens.
It's time to introduce you to the ammunition and pistol we'll be using today for the experiment.
The bullets we'll be firing are standard high velocity hollow point rounds.
They'll be fired from a standard double action 9-millimeter pistol used by the military and law enforcement the world over [ Click .]
And also a staple of action movie heroes.
Here we go.
And you know that's true because you heard it from The hitman.
Did I pull that off? Jamie: The panel we'll be shooting into is composed of the kinds of things that you would find in a standard wall, from sheet rock to a solid wood stud, sheet metal stud, sections with plumbing fixtures, and lastly, an electrical box.
Now we'll be firing bullets out of this 9-millimeter pistol into those sections.
I guess that ought to do it.
And of course, for safety, we'll be triggering this from behind the blast shields.
Adam: Now we don't just want to shoot at walls.
We also want to witness what happens when the bullet and the wall meet.
Thus, we've set our high-speed camera perched carefully above, looking down through the inside of the wall.
We've also chosen an extremely high frame rate of 17,000 frames per second.
That's one of the highest frame rates we've ever used on the show.
All will be known by this rate.
Narrator: And with a steel backstop It makes a cool noise when a bullet hits it.
Narrator: Their 6-in-1 interior wall mock-up is ready to go.
Will any of them halt a Hollywood hitman? First up, a blast from the past Lathe and plaster.
Actually, I think the lathe and plaster is gonna do pretty good in slowing the forward progress of the bullet.
Range is hot.
Whether it stops completely, I can't say.
Count it down.
But I do think it's going to provide a nice barrier.
Okay.
9-millimeter into lathe and plaster in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Well, it did the classic small entry wound, larger exit wound, but it looks like it came out pretty straight.
Narrator: With the bullet's trajectory unaffected, and the velocity hardly hindered, ye olde wall would have provided no protection for our hitman's hidden target, and that sounds good for the myth.
Made a resounding clang when it hit this backstop.
I guess that means that you would probably get penetrated by that bullet.
Narrator: Up next All right, let's slide this puppy down.
Narrator: Will this more modern eco-friendly fortification fare any better? Jamie: This test is against two layers of drywall Range is hot.
With about 3 1/2 inches of fiberglass insulation between them.
[ Clank .]
Nice.
Right through the square, heard the ding of the steel.
Couldn't have gone better.
Narrator: More good news for the myth.
Two targets taken down, and no sign the bullet has been significantly slowed or in any way altered.
[ Clank .]
I love that sound.
Narrator: A result replicated when the sheet metal and wooden studs are also found to be duds.
But now it gets interesting.
Next up is the first time our bullet's going to encounter an actual object inside the wall, and that is copper plumbing.
We're gonna hit it right there.
And this is the reason for all of our safety shields.
The bullet could spatter in a lot of different directions when it hits this.
Firing in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Ho ho ho ho! That Looks like a perfect hit.
A perfect hit through and through.
With the bullet's trajectory and speed only marginally affected, the myth that a hitman can hit his hidden target is still looking good.
But what about the toughest target yet? A steel junction box.
[ Gunshot .]
- Oh! [ Gunshots .]
Oh, yes.
[ Laughs .]
Oh, you're gonna love this.
The whole story of the bullet's stoppage is apparent in this one shot which we will cut to right [ Snaps fingers .]
[ Gunshot .]
Narrator: It took a solid piece of steel in exactly the right place to halt the bullet's momentum and disperse its kinetic energy.
But clearly, this is the exception and not the rule.
The myth is on track.
Adam: I have to say I'm pretty surprised at the results.
The only one of our in-wall obstacles The electrical box actually stopped the bullet cold.
The rest made it through.
Now what that means for the myth as walls are okay to shoot through if you're a hitman, from my vantage point, it's looking pretty good for the myth.
Shh.
Narrator: And so it's back to the shop, where our hard-to-please professional is waiting for an update.
So is that it? No, no, no.
We actually have a few more tests to do before we finally call shooting through walls, but we're now jumping to the second story in this episode.
It's from a movie called "shoot 'em up.
" I am dead on about who you are, right? Say that again.
I said I'm dead Stop.
That part of it you got right.
Adam: At the end of the movie, our hero is cornered.
It looks like he is dead.
He doesn't even have a gun.
But what the bad guy doesn't know is that the hero has a handful of bullets shoved between his fingers.
He thrusts his hand into the fire, and two seconds later [ Gunshots .]
[ Thud .]
No more bad guy.
[ Wheezes .]
What was that? We were re-enacting a movie.
Oh, my What we want to find out is one can bullets go off that fast in a fire? Two if they can, could you aim them, and three Are they remotely lethal? Uh-huh.
So which one of you geniuses is gonna stick his hand in the fire? Well We haven't thought that far ahead yet.
Uh-huh.
Well, whatever.
I've got a plane to catch.
Shall we, uh, start testing? Sure.
Narrator: For that, Adam and Jamie hit their all-time favorite location to cause a commotion.
Lots of goats.
They don't seem to mind the fact that my jacket is made out of them.
[ Screams .]
Narrator: To set off this myth, the first item on the menu is a controlled fire.
Even a simple fire can be fraught with difficulties and dangers that are unforeseen.
That's why one We've come out here to the Alameda county sheriff's bomb range to set this fire, two we've put it in a barbecue, and three Jamie and I are wearing all the proper safety equipment to make sure nothing gets out of control.
Safety is always of the first priority to us.
We don't like to let anything get out of control.
There, that's more like it.
That's a nice little fire.
Narrator: After the flames have died down, it's time to get cooking, and they're starting out hands-free.
But they're also playing it safe.
The single round being baked has had the projectile removed.
The empty case and primer will react to the heat, but no one's in danger of being shot Yet.
Question is, will the ignition match the movie? Now there are three things that we will be testing in this fire test with the bullet shell casings.
- You ready to do this? - Yeah.
One is will shell casing go off in the fire? Two will it go off exactly where our hero is holding his hand in the film clip? He holds his hand just about 3 inches above the logs right in there.
And three will it go off in two seconds? Okay.
Shell-casing test in 3 2 1.
[ Clank .]
Well, that's longer than two seconds.
5 - [ Chuckles .]
We know that the chemical in the bullet primer ignites at about 300 degrees or above.
15 It's just where he was holding his hand.
But the thing is, it's surrounded by metal, and that metal is insulating it from the 1,500-degree-plus heat in the fire.
20 Geezum crow.
25 It's right in the fire.
Now eventually the metal does heat up, and it gets that primer to its 300 degree plus [ Click .]
There it goes.
And it goes off.
[ Click .]
43 seconds.
43 seconds.
That's, uh That's a lot.
Narrator: It did go off, but it took its sweet time [ Click .]
Time our Hollywood hero would not have had.
But Adam and Jamie aren't giving up.
Up next, it's go big, but not at home.
[ Fire extinguisher hisses .]
[ Es .]
Narrator: The movie "shoot 'em up" [ Gunshots .]
Oh, oh! Looks like it's being shot down.
Well, the results of our movie parameter test are in, and the 2-second time is totally out.
[ Click .]
Jamie: 43 seconds.
But the fire gets a lot hotter inside among the hot coals.
I think we should do another test to find out if there's any place in this fire where we can get the bullet to go off in two seconds, and frankly, I predict we totally will.
Narrator: So for test two, Jamie Stokes the fire.
Mommy, I don't like barbecues at Jamie's house.
Narrator: Because this time they're baking the bullet deep among the coals at temperature differential from test one of 800 degrees.
All right, so you ready? I'm ready.
I'm going all the way in this time, looking for the hot spot.
Looking for something close to two seconds.
32 1.
Jamie: 2 4, 5 6 78, 9 10.
[ Click .]
Those didn't sound like regular seconds.
What kind of seconds were you counting there? I'm - 2, 4, 5, 6 7, 8 9, 10.
What kind of seconds are those? Who counts like that? What was the time? [ Chuckles .]
10 seconds.
- 10 seconds.
I think we've definitively proven that there's no way a bullet is gonna go off in that fire in two seconds flat.
- Yeah.
- I mean, it will go off, but Not in two seconds.
Narrator: Even exposed to the hottest heart of the fire at temperatures no human hand could survive, the primer did not reach its flash point in anything like the time it took in the movie.
I think we could use a hand on this story.
Narrator: But although one facet of this film fable is an obvious fiction, the guys aren't done yet.
Jamie: While it's true that the timing of the hand in fire is busted, nevertheless, I've got to find out whether bullets fired in that manner are both accurate and lethal.
So to do that, I need a hand that I can heat up safely.
Narrator: Yep, Dr.
Franklin Hyneman is making a heat-resistant human hand.
Well, we got a good start with the grinder, but from here on in, it's mostly gonna be blacksmithing.
[ Clank .]
One of the joys of doing this kind of work is first, there was nothing, and then there was something.
Narrator: That something being an adjustable articulated hand, able to realistically grip bullets between each finger Detailed and disturbing work the doctor clearly enjoys.
I've left a texture that is not unlike the wrinkles in my finger, and where it kind of smoothes out all over the knuckle, I've done that with a blob of weld.
It's all very fast and crude, but it gives it a strangely organic look for it being all metal.
Narrator: For added accuracy It fits like a You know what.
Narrator: A leather glove that grips like skin is heat-molded onto the metal skeleton.
And to gauge human-like strength Position number one between the thumb and index finger.
Narrator: Adam sets a calibration benchmark with his own grip.
8.
1 pounds.
This force cage here holds what's called a peak value.
That is the most amount of weight that it took since you last pressed zero.
Now I will put the bullet on this string on the force cage and hold it between two fingers [ Strained voice .]
As hard as I can until it lets go.
[ Groans .]
[ Clatter .]
Ow! Ow! [ Clatter .]
And then I read that value, enter it into this chart.
Narrator: With the data handed over, Jamie mechanically matches Adam's grip strength to his metal digits.
Couple minor adjustments, and I think we should be all set.
Narrator: And this myth is all set to go off.
It's perfect.
Narrator: But first [ Western theme playing .]
There's some unfinished business for our wall-shooting hitmen.
Adam: Now that we've determined exactly how porous walls are, and the bullets will most likely make it through them, it's time to deal with what's on the other side.
So you are the good guy, the camera, the people watching TV, and you're looking at a wall.
And there's a bad guy behind.
Where is he? Oh! There he is.
Now that bad guy is gonna move behind the wall, and you've got to shoot him.
How are you gonna do that? We figure there's two methods that you could use.
One is you could watch him run behind and make an assumption that he's going to maintain his speed Bang! And try and shoot him.
Or you could listen for the sound of his footsteps [ Rapid footsteps .]
And use your natural powers of triangulation to make an assumption about where he is and shoot there.
[ Palm hits table .]
I'm not sure if either one of those is gonna work, but in either case, it's going to require a rig with a motorized dude on it.
The dude.
How you doing, dude? He's a very handsome dude.
Something kinda like this.
[ Whirs .]
Walk, walk, walk.
Narrator: So bullets can penetrate an interior wall, but is hitting your target as easy as Hollywood would have us believe? [ Whirring .]
That is so weird.
[ Laughs .]
To find out, the team is testing two mythical methods.
First up, target tracking.
Here's how this test is gonna work.
Our target that's me Will always start every test by moving from a visible position to an obscured position.
The operator will be able to control the position of the target with this joystick, and he'll be able to see what's he's doing through this monitor.
The shooter must use trajectory tracking and their intuition to surmise where the target might be behind the wall and attempt to shoot them through the wall.
- Beautiful.
- Okay.
There are two restrictions to this test.
One is shooter can't start shooting until the target's past that yellow and black line.
All the action happens on that side.
And only one bullet at a time.
[ Click .]
This first test is gonna be pretty basic.
I'm going to be moving the target, at what amounts to walking speed, continuously.
Jamie, you ready to start this? I am.
[ Whirring .]
[ Click .]
Gun is loaded.
[ Click .]
Safety is off.
Range is hot.
All right, count me down, sir.
3 2 Stop.
[ Whirs .]
Let's see if I hit him.
I'm gonna go inspect.
Well, it turns out, with velocity tracking of an obscure target [ Laughs .]
A perfect hit! I'm actually pretty good.
I got myself in the face on the first try.
[ Chuckles .]
A perfect hit.
Narrator: But maybe Adam got lucky.
It's Jamie's turn.
Okay.
Range is hot.
Narrator: Time to double down on the data.
[ Whirs .]
Let's go see if you hit me.
Narrator: With nothing to go on but the projected trajectory of the target, how did Hyneman the hitman fare? - Yeah.
- Nice! Right there.
Took out my left lung.
Adam and I both got what might have been kill shots on our first go, but that was following a consistent movement.
So that obviously is the best case scenario.
Ah, look at that.
Nice little boo-boo.
The reality is gonna be more like somebody is starting and stopping.
Who knows what they're doing back there? And the only thing you might have to go on is sound.
[ Loud footsteps .]
So that's what we're gonna try next.
Narrator: The hitman.
Give me that.
Narrator: The ultimate Hollywood anti-hero With a seemingly supernatural ability, he always gets his mark.
[ Laughter .]
[ Whirring .]
Or does he? Sounds like it's time for test two.
Jamie: This test is gonna be pretty much like the last one, except that the target is gonna be moving all over the place, and the only thing that the shooter will have to go by is the sound of footsteps.
Can I hear a test of that? [ Loud footsteps .]
[ Chuckles .]
[ Footsteps continue .]
Narrator: With the fake footstep audio coming from a speaker attached to the target [ Footsteps continue .]
I can kinda hear it go.
Narrator: The setup is complete.
In theory, I thought this would be pretty cool.
In practice, it's far cooler.
[ Whirs .]
What do you think? One shot this time, or how about three shots? Yeah, let's up the ante.
Okay, cool.
All right, so you ready? I'm ready.
Adam: You're wondering how we're gonna do a test about hearing for footsteps when we're wearing hearing protection to protect ourselves from the sound of a gun going off.
Excellent.
Sounds loud and clear.
Adam: These earmuffs I use are military grade, and they have a really cool feature Actual microphones that play sound into the muffs so I can hear stuff in the world until a gunshot happens And then they cut out to protect me from the loud sounds.
Also, it's two separate sound chips One on the right, one on the left.
I actually can fully triangulate while wearing these, so that's what we'll be wearing for this test.
Oh, what's that over there? I must admit, I am a little surprised that both Jamie and I got successful kill shots on the first test.
[ Laughs .]
A perfect hit! But on the second one, I personally think it's gonna be a lot harder to triangulate the sound of footsteps behind a barrier.
Count me in, sir.
I'm giving myself only a 20% chance of actually hitting this thing.
32 1.
[ Loud footsteps .]
Adam: Let's see if I hit him.
Narrator: Adam acoustically and intuitively tuned in to his target's tread and took him out.
Oh, looks like you got him.
No way.
- Oh, no, I'm sorry.
- No? Narrator: Or not.
No, that was there before.
Was that? Aw.
Jamie: Adam missed.
You survived this time, Savage.
And you'll notice that he clustered three of his shots in one small area.
I'm not so sure that's the best approach.
If I were doing this, which I'm about to I'm ready.
I think I'd be inclined to do a sweep across an area to try and bracket in the sound, because we can hear the sounds, but pinpointing it Not so much.
[ Loud footsteps .]
Narrator: Despite the benefit of being able to adapt his tactics You missed him.
- Yeah.
- Entirely.
Narrator: Jamie missed as well.
So while you could easily shoot through a wall, the real world detail of the prey's unpredictable position makes hitting a moving target tough, and this myth is on the ropes.
So what do you think? Have we answered the question of shooting people on the other side of walls and how easy it is? Well, mechanical moving targets are all well and good, but I don't think there's any substitute for the real thing.
I think we ought to shoot at each other.
[ Laughs .]
How uh Not with real guns, right? Well Okay.
Paintball guns.
Paintball guns.
Okay, I think we can do that test.
Narrator: A new test, a new day, and a new location for a spot of hitman elimination.
[ Creaks .]
[ Door creaks .]
- Morning.
- Morning.
Shall we get to work? Yeah, let's do.
We have brought you to an abandoned machine shop in Mare Island, California, to put all the disparate elements of this story back together for a nice, violent, fun-filled, family-friendly finale.
So it's time we ramp things up and use live human targets that are moving Namely Adam and I.
[ Gravelly voice .]
That's right.
It's you and me, Hyneman.
Suit up.
- Am I out? - Man: Unh-unh.
Aw, crap.
Narrator: For this gunfight head-to-head [ Whirs .]
So freakin' cool.
Narrator: Adam and Jamie are putting the human back into the experimental equation.
This last test is a classic cat and mouse.
We're building a hitman fantasy camp.
Jamie and I are gonna stalk each other through a labyrinth created of walls, making hallways, rooms, doorways, the whole kit and caboodle.
Excuse me.
We must try and win this stalking contest by shooting each other through one or more of the walls of our labyrinth.
Our walls are made of paper.
Our weapons paintball guns.
[ Click .]
- Adam: Ow! [ Chuckles .]
Narrator: With help from their origami army Adam: Go ahead, Willie.
Pivot around.
And an artistic finishing touch or two Lovely.
The 8-room assassin's arena is ready for the showdown.
[ Beeps .]
But it won't be a free-for-all.
These are the rules.
First, there's no time limit.
Adam: The winner is the first one to shoot the other through a wall.
We each only have one 8-round clip, so every shot counts.
Finally, during the test, we are not allowed to travel beyond the boundaries of the experimental space.
Narrator: And with the rules laid down, Adam and Jamie are all set for a hitman hunt.
[ Paintball gunshots .]
Narrator: To test Hollywood's idea of a handheld "shoot 'em up" Oh! - [ Thud .]
[ Laughs .]
Narrator: The Mythbusters need bullets [ Sneezes .]
A helping hand It's perfect.
And dry experimental conditions.
[ Thunderclap .]
Jamie: Doesn't rain all week, and then when we go out to shoot, it's raining.
So let me introduce you to a little bit of how "Mythbusters" conducts a shoot in the pouring rain.
We've actually set up 400 square feet of tent city here in the middle of our muddy field.
Right there is our high speed camera op.
That's an expensive laptop and our $100,000 high speed camera.
The important cables are running up through the rafters.
There's where Jamie and I will be standing behind the blast-chamber shields.
That's our experimental setup.
Hopefully it's dry enough to actually get this experiment off.
So if you hold bullets in a fire, they're gonna take a lot longer than two seconds to go off.
10 seconds.
10 seconds.
[ Chuckles .]
But at this point, we haven't established what exactly they'll do when they do go off, and in the movie, the bullets are shown to be lethal, so that's what we've got to test now.
"Mythbusters" during the monsoon season.
Narrator: Despite the deluge, the team has a handle on the situation and is all set to fire up.
Jamie: For this test, we've got a single bullet mounted on the hand right here, and we're gonna have a single flame coming out of this tiny copper tube.
[ Clicks .]
Let's try it quickly.
When I pull on a cord, the flame will swing in and will set off the bullet.
Adam: That's it.
You're right on the bullet.
You're right on the bullet.
Narrator: This time, the round is live Come on, bullet.
Come on, bullet.
With primer, powder, and projectile intact.
Aah! It just blew out.
This program is rated "frust" "frustrating.
" Narrator: In theory, they'll use the high-speed camera to capture the bullet's speed.
You're good.
Still lit.
Still lit.
Oh! It just blew out.
In practice, that's not happening.
Just goes to show, best-laid plans of mice and men are often screwed up by the rain.
Jamie: So it turns out our tiny, little flame wasn't concentrated enough.
The torch head we're gonna use this time is called a pencil torch, and that means that it literally has a point on it that's similar to a pencil point.
Jamie, you're good to light it.
[ Click, hissing .]
And I'm gonna aim that right at the cap, and I think that'll get us where we need to go.
There it is.
[ Click .]
Both: Hey! [ Laughs .]
[ Clicking .]
That worked a lot better.
That was like within 10 seconds.
That's what I wanted.
Excellent.
Narrator: At last, there's fire in the hole.
But what does the data say? Adam: Flame placement looks perfect.
Oh! [ Laughs .]
Let me see if I can't get a rough idea of speed here.
[ Laughs .]
The bullet's moving at 82 miles per hour.
Yeah.
Narrator: Question is, why is it going so slow? Jamie: When you pull the trigger of a loaded gun, the bullet inside basically explodes.
The resulting shock wave travels down the barrel and propels the bullet out, but without the gun to enclose and back up the cartridge, there's nothing to prevent it from simply expanding and rocketing backwards instead of pushing the bullet forwards.
Hence the low speeds of the bullet.
Narrator: With no barrel to contain the energy, it disperses, and the bullet comes out at 10% of its usual velocity.
I don't think that's gonna be lethal, but for due diligence, let's put our dummy in there and see what happens to him.
- Sure.
Why not? - Okay.
[ Grunts .]
Your days are numbered, dude.
Narrator: So will a handheld bullet accurately hit a target with lethal impact? Okay, coming in.
That's it.
It's on! I can hear it going.
[ Click .]
Hey! There it went.
I don't know if it hit him.
Narrator: The early signs for accuracy are not good.
Well I don't see any bullet holes.
I don't see any bullet holes, nor do I see any bullets.
Narrator: This is a job for the high speed camera.
Bang! Oh! It went way down.
Boink! Is it bounced off? Actually, it looks like it's still there.
[ Click .]
This is right about where it looks like it hits, right? Well, see any reason why I shouldn't excavate? I don't see any reason why you shouldn't excavate.
High speed says bullet entered the dude.
We should cut him open and find the bullet.
Let's see.
Okay.
There we go.
There it is.
Whoa! No way! [ Laughs .]
Embedded in his chest.
Amazing! Narrator: It's a satisfying and surprising result, but with such shallow penetration, it wouldn't have been lethal.
Merely, painful.
If only our hero could hold his burning, fleshy hand in a fire until it melted and kept that pressure on, well, he might have just injured the villain.
[ Laughs .]
That is awesome.
All right.
Let's count down the components of this story.
Bullets going off in a fire in two seconds or less? - Busted.
- Okay.
What about the lethality or danger of those bullets after that? Well, that is where it starts to get a little interesting, but Nah.
It's still busted.
It's still totally busted.
Narrator: That's one myth done and busted, but still to come, a head-to-head hitman showdown.
Narrator: Deep in an underground bunker Jamie and Adam captured an exquisite world exclusive.
Adam: Oh, no way.
[ Laughs .]
Wow! We've just taken a shot with a high-speed camera called the phantom of a bullet exiting a gun at 73,000 frames per second.
73,000.
I seriously had no idea it would be that lovely.
Oh, I got to go back and watch it again.
The artifacts that you start to be able to see Mushroom clouds, little rivulets of gases, and fire forming on flame fronts of pressure waves and stuff.
I'm not sure many people in the world have ever even looked at.
It's just really cool.
Yep, it's cool.
Narrator: It's showtime.
One by one, our would-be hitmen are guided silently to separate random locations in the arena.
Can a Hollywood hitman Gentlemen.
Really locate and liquidate a wall-hidden target Are you ready? With supernatural-like acoustic ability and intuition? In 3 2 1.
Go.
Narrator: It's a stalk to the death to find out.
[ Click .]
Oh! Ho ho ho! I'm hit! He got my gun hand.
Got me right in the wrist.
I've been looking forward to this test for a while, but that was far more scary and hair-raising and exciting than I ever imagined it would be.
[ Click .]
That's just stunning.
You might recall from our earlier testing, to track somebody moving behind a wall was fairly easy to do as long as you can anticipate their movement.
Now in this first game, I remembered that.
I peeked out the doorway just in time to see him move behind a wall, and so I was able to actually track his movement, fire through the wall, and I hit him.
That was beautiful.
[ Chuckles .]
It worked just like we learned.
Narrator: So the combination of a preliminary visual cue, audio location, and intuition does make it possible to pop your opponent.
Good news for the myth, but Adam's not giving up yet.
Nicely done.
Best out of three? [ Laughs .]
- Okay.
[ Both laugh .]
This is too much fun to give up after one try.
Love this game.
Narrator: That's the cue for a fun and fear-filled test two.
Adam: Looking down on this test from above, I'm struck by a couple things One, how lovely it is with all the colors in all of the labyrinth.
Steve: Go.
Adam: But perhaps the most diabolically scary part of this test to me was the quiet.
I open my eyes.
I don't see Jamie.
I hear little creaks, but that doesn't necessarily help because you're waiting somebody else out.
You know that they want to kill you, and even though this is for play, it doesn't make it any less of an adrenaline rush to know that someone's got your number and they're looking for you, and you are looking for them.
[ Click .]
It is Really, really thrilling in a way that few tests that we have done on this show really deliver.
[ Paintball gunshots .]
Aah! [ Laughs .]
[ Jamie laughs .]
I'm hit.
I'm hit.
I'm hit in the leg.
Jamie: This whole test came together quite beautifully.
Ugh! That was Scary as hell.
[ Chuckles .]
Because in our early mechanical testing, we found only one technique that was effective.
You got me right in the knee.
That is a totally incapacitating hit.
Well, you know, that's my personal style.
You know, it sends a message.
But here with real human subjects, I found I had to put all of those techniques together.
I used a little bit of sound to roughly locate where they were at.
Once I did get any kind of hint of how they were removing, I tracked them, and then I sprayed.
Adam: Uhh! And putting all of those techniques together allowed me to win.
[ Blows air .]
[ Chuckles .]
You've nailed it.
I'm dead two out of two.
I'd say you are the, uh, the absolute winner, sir.
[ Chuckles .]
Congratulations.
Thank you.
That was an awesome contest.
Well, it would seem that just like the rest of the world, it is very difficult for me to get a bead on James Franklin Hyneman.
[ Click .]
He seems to be a fan of shooting people in the joints.
Maybe that's from when he used to be a loan shark.
I don't know.
[ Chuckles .]
But I couldn't hit him once.
How do you want to call it? I got to say, I'm surprised, but I think the hitmen are onto something.
Shooting through walls has far more efficacy than I began this myth believing.
Yeah, I agree.
Interior walls don't offer much protection, do they? No.
They're far more porous than anyone thought.
Let's get outta here.
- You you coming? - Sure.
Jamie: Oh, yeah! [ Bullets clanking .]
Narrator: Back across town, it's time to settle accounts.
[ Groans .]
Adam: You're going? Shooting through walls confirmed.
"Shoot 'em up" [ Groans .]
Busted.
See you on the next bounce, boys.
[ Engine revs, tires screech .]
I don't trust that guy.
Neither do I.
Let's get inside.
[ Flames whooshing .]