Will an Aluminum Scuba tank explode when shot?

[BIGSAGE136]

There are a lot of guys in Iraq and elsewhere right now that could answer all of your questions in a heartbeat, and need someone to talk to. I guess you have to really witness destruction to understand exactly how childish this adventure is.

 

[Warren_L]

Realistically, you will most likely never penetrate the tank unless you are an extremely good shot. Why you ask? Simple, it's round with an extremely small area available for penetration. You'll have around 1 inch if that, all other shots will merely deflect. Simple physics.

If it's an aluminum tank it will have a flat bottom. Perfect place to shoot it dead center...

But my guess is that you won't see it blown into thousands of fragments. I've seen a couple exploded AL tanks before (actually, what's left) and they were more or less in relatively large pieces ... Just split apart.

 

[mike_s]

There are a lot of guys in Iraq and elsewhere right now that could answer all of your questions in a heartbeat, and need someone to talk to. I guess you have to really witness destruction to understand exactly how childish this adventure is.

The "tanks" in Iraq have a tendancy to "shoot back"

 

[BIGSAGE136]

The "tanks" in Iraq have a tendancy to "shoot back"

Sometimes I just cry.

 

[Quarrior]

If it's an aluminum tank it will have a flat bottom. Perfect place to shoot it dead center...

Good point, it's been so long since I used an AL80, I forgot about that.

Now lets look at marksmanship. Ever try to hit something that is about 7" around at 200 yds like he wants to do? I have in the past participated in competition shooting for steel silouette Turkeys at 200M. Much bigger than the tank and a very hard target when you take into consideration things like elevation and windage.

 

[jepuskar]

WhalerKyle,

Please don't become a Darwin award winner....be smart about this, and even better..please videotape the whole event, so if something does happen, we can see...hehe

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Good point, it's been so long since I used an AL80, I forgot about that.

Now lets look at marksmanship. Ever try to hit something that is about 7" around at 200 yds like he wants to do? I have in the past participated in competition shooting for steel silouette Turkeys at 200M. Much bigger than the tank and a very hard target when you take into consideration things like elevation and windage.

You could use some instruction.

 

[mike_s]

I'm betting that they'll have to fire at least 10 shots to hit it at 200 yards. It's not as easy as people think to shoot accurately at any distance.

 

[Quarrior]

You could use some instruction.

As I said, that was a long time ago. Since then, things changed.

 

[whalerkyle]

Most of the guys that will be at the range are retired or almost retired police/swat/csi guys that have some good weapons, and great skills. I don't have any worries about them not able to hit the target.