P95DC Fired Under Water in Slow Motion

[NixieTube]

Awesome. I saw this the other day, and along with the revolver and the explanation of the particular kind of vortices (toroidal) the muzzle blast produces, I am 99.99% sure the gun in question is a P95DC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eUlpPY96Ok

The frames from 3:00-3:15 are fascinating because you can *see* the polymer frame flex as it absorbs recoil energy from the slide. You understand in an instant why the polymer guns (when properly designed) have a reputation for their calibers as being "softer shooting" - the gripframe flex/whip is completely clear: the gun is absorbing some of the recoil energy through the flex of the frame, it's like a spring. You can also see by comparison with the revolver how much more efficient a locked-breech semiautomatic design is at getting the expanding gases down the barrel instead of out the sides of the gun. It's very, very clear.

The gun survives the completely submerged test and lives to fire again!

 

[OSU Beaver]

Great video Nixie, thanks. That looks exactly like my P95DC, grip & all, you might think about moving that 99.99% up to 100%.

 

[Knecht]

That's nice video, thanks!
Slow motion gun videos are always interesting. Once at a range I met a guy who does them too, he made nice slow-motion video of my wheel-lock carbine in action. It was really cool to see te wheel turning, sparkles shine, then first little flame on the pan, followed by huge pan blast that seemed like it just MUST burn shooter's eyes out...

 

[blume357]

For sure a P-95 and after he test fires the pistol to make sure it still works he says "thank you Ruger!"

I'm pretty sure he was mistaken when he says no one else has done this kind of testing though...

 

[NixieTube]

For sure a P-95 and after he test fires the pistol to make sure it still works he says "thank you Ruger!"

I'm pretty sure he was mistaken when he says no one else has done this kind of testing though...

Yeah I loved the little manufacturer acknowledgement there after the test shot, it made me cheer even though I've got an SR9, that's one of the reasons I posted it.

He has a lot of fun doing the video and it's just a cool and informative thing to watch from end to end. He's a very personable smart person and he really presents it all very well, with great personality. It's nice to see smart people make videos like this one, putting some joy and humor (and cool background music) into the thing to get people involved in the experiment.

You can see a high school teacher or college undergrad professor using this video as a starting point or a supplement in a course lecture. It's a fun, well-controlled and safe educational video.

 

[NixieTube]

That's nice video, thanks!
Slow motion gun videos are always interesting. Once at a range I met a guy who does them too, he made nice slow-motion video of my wheel-lock carbine in action. It was really cool to see te wheel turning, sparkles shine, then first little flame on the pan, followed by huge pan blast that seemed like it just MUST burn shooter's eyes out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGHxyBTycLY&list=UU6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAA&index=3&feature=plcp

That one's even more ambitious in my opinion. He's using a piezo acoustic transducer to "hear" the muzzle report and trigger a high-speed flash using a pulse generator. Man, that's a lot of fun to have.

He manages to capture not just the muzzle flash but also the **bullet in flight**, which is kind of surprising to me. That piezo transducer has to be *CLOSE* to capture the sound in time to trigger the flash and get the flash fired with all the rest of the apparatus involved, in time to capture the bullet. I'm kind of surprised the flash triggering system worked fast enough to capture the bullet in flight, before it was out of the frame, but it did. That's some high performance stuff. He was kind of surprised by it too, if you listen to the video. Some of it has to do with the angle he's photographing the gun from, which gives everything a little more time to work. This guy is smart and fun. Good American Ruger owner :).

He is, of course standing on the shoulders of people like Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton doing these new and fun things on YouTube. All that is old is new again, as it were. ;)

 

[blume357]

I like the part about a minute and a half in where he is just through explaining about the camera and spot light and explains when all done that they are then going to compress the film and beam it back to the 80s via the big Satellite dish in the back ground so his grandfather can see it.

 

[Knecht]

Here's the one I mentioned, with my wheel-lock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR015bgU4PQ

 

[NixieTube]

I like the part about a minute and a half in where he is just through explaining about the camera and spot light and explains when all done that they are then going to compress the film and beam it back to the 80s via the big Satellite dish in the back ground so his grandfather can see it.

Yeah that was funny, and he planned that joke a little. He's got a good sense of humor and he's a down-to-earth guy despite the Ph.D. level grey matter. He's not all twisted up and perverted and cynical, either. We need a lot more more people like him in this country. He's not afraid of getting his hands dirty despite the obviously big brain. He also doesn't mind owning his guns and enjoying them (he sure didn't want to lose his P95DC), he doesn't condescend to his friends or his viewers, and that's the way my dad raised me, too.

I was glad to stumble on his channel the other day while I was thinking about a response to the "everyone can make a YouTube video" thread. It's good to see we've got people making stuff like this in America. In Alabama, no less :).

 

[NixieTube]

Here's the one I mentioned, with my wheel-lock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR015bgU4PQ

That's awesome and the costumes and music are great, too. You look at that video and instantly you understand how dangerous it was to be on *either* end of the barrel when those guns were the firearms on issue or available to people. Reminds me of an old saying:

"In times past, our ships were made of wood, but their men of iron...."

To have to put your face up against something like that knowing how the powder is going to explode right in front of your features is something almost none of us know or have to even think about. Brave people doing the best they could with what they had. The necessity of invention was strong, right there. I'm not a firearm historian but someone here must have some sense (with data to back it up) of how dangerous and unpredictable it was. But it was the best they had to use. You look at it and realize how spoiled we are sometimes by modern manufacturing techniques and engineering.

Now we can take the frame of a pistol and model its materials and put it through finite element modeling on a desktop supercomputer and calculate the flex that makes it shoot softer as we dress the thing up and customize its shape. It's still a lot of work, but it's not even in the same universe as wondering "is this powder going to take out my eye when it goes off?"

Even relatively inexpensive bolt-action rifles you can buy at a local Cabela's in America now are capable of MOA or sub-MOA groups with good ammo, right out of the box. And they're safe to shoot.

http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/minute-of-angle-moa-accuracy-out-of-the-box/

These guys test several guns and they get a $329 Savage Axis down to sub-MOA groups.

...this is a no frills hunting rifle at a no frills price. You would think that it would have no frills accuracy as well.

But you know what? This crazy little Savage put 20 rounds into a hole no bigger than a half dollar at 100 yards like it was born and bred to do it! For 3 rounds the Savage came in at .869 inches, not as good as I think it can do, and 10 rounds at exactly an inch, 1.004. Savage has always been known for being the Cadillac of out of the box accuracy in American rifles, but in a $329 rifle I felt that this level of accuracy was over the top. The Axis may be an entry level hunting rifle, but take it as an example of what you’ll discover in a quality American made Savage.

And did I mention they're safe to shoot? Every time? For $329 or less, basically anyone can buy a solid bolt-action rifle that shoots into an inch at 100 yards and does it over and over again, like there was nothing to it. The engineering and metallurgy and manufacturing have improved by leaps and bounds in the past 10 years alone, so far that today's firearms are really on a different level, even the cheapest of them.

It's just a really, completely different world from what it was even ten years ago.

We're spoiled and that's great. It's also cool to be reminded of what people used to have to put up with.

 

[Knecht]

I love wheel lock guns. They are really tricky to shoot reliably, but hey - when they do fire, the satisfaction is awesome!
I've had that carbine since I was 18, as that's the legal age here to possess a muzzleloader. I only started with modern firearms like 2 years ago (the legal age is 21 here, but I had little time and even less money during my college years) and love them, but I still enjoy shooting my wheel lock! I even got a wheel pistol lately and that's a sweet one as well!

And yes, you're right about us being spoiled by modern guns and technologies. We do sort of "30-years War-game" (that's where the pics are from) and even if it's a game, knowing that you only had that one, not really reliable shot and then you either died or drew your blade and continued, well....it makes you realize what kind of man did it take to go to war back then. Last year we did this as a night fight and that was even better. It was freezing, there was fog, powder went wet...quite an experience!

 

[NixieTube]

And yes, you're right about us being spoiled by modern guns and technologies. We do sort of "30-years War-game" (that's where the pics are from) and even if it's a game, knowing that you only had that one, not really reliable shot and then you either died or drew your blade and continued, well....it makes you realize what kind of man did it take to go to war back then. Last year we did this as a night fight and that was even better. It was freezing, there was fog, powder went wet...quite an experience!

It's always good to talk with someone from Europe who actually lives there and can give us some perspective on how fortunate we are in the United States - to remind us of why we have to be aware and cognizant that defending our right to own firearms is important. I live in a relatively "gun hostile" state and so I have some background in that sense. Most of the antipathy chalks up to a lack of understanding and education and mutual mistrust based on prejudice. A failure of dialogue and a hardening of opinion based on that failure of dialogue. When has it ever been otherwise in human history?

You would find yourself right at home here with a lot of our firearms historians and reenacters who take great pride in replicating and maintaining the firearms from vintages like these. And what an amazing and horrific slog it was. The 30 Years War ultimately was the "war of exhaustion" and despite all the bloodshed it didn't end in a clear, colossal victory for any of the embattled parties or nation states.

It's to your real credit that you are trying to preserve the fighting implements, regalia, costumes, and uniforms of that conflict to remind people of the real history, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. There is nothing wrong with what you are doing as long as you're doing it safely and you're very well aware of the context.

Have fun and be safe with your guns and come and visit us here in the USA when you get a chance; there are a lot of people here who share your fascination with these kinds of historic firearms and the ways they were used, and who want to preserve that knowledge. History might not always be pleasant to remember but it should never be forgotten.

Great job.

 

[Knecht]

(first, sorry for kidnapping the thread a little, moderators please feel free to erase this if you wish)

Well, re-enactment and all the stuff around has quite a tradition here as well and many people do that. I've been into this since I was 14 and I went through several historical eras and armies I re-enacted. Now I'm really happily settled in a band that does 17th century cossack infantry. While the cossacks are not really connected with our history much, there is evidence that small units of them actualy were here during the 30 years War - and we really enjoy being such unit.

As for gun ownership and such - this is not so widely known, but our country is sort of "gun-freedom island" inside the unarmed Europe. After the revolution in 1989 that took out the commies, we were lucky enough to establish pretty good gun laws and we keep them even now, when we slowly sink into the EU crap.
(I should not forget to mention that in Slovakia they have very similar gun law as we do)

Despite it takes more paperwork here, in the end we can own, carry and shoot about the same guns as you guys in the US. Anyway, I'd like to visit your country someday, I've got couple friends there from several forums and it would be cool to meet them.