357mag block killer

[jamaldog87]

I have hear that a 357mag can drive throgh the block of a car engine and it was done back in the 30s. Is this true?

[mechanic]

I don't know about the 30's, but yes there was once ammo available for the 357 that would break a engine block.  I still have about 6 pcs. from years ago.  It's my understanding that it is now illegal, (don't know if that's Ga. law or feds), so it can't be bought now.

Any reasonable powered full metal jacket will break an engine block.  If you still have some of the steel cored SKS ammo, it will do so.

We also once had some steel cored 30-06 that would go through a 1/2" steel plate like nothing from my Dad's M1.

So...I'm thinking that the answer is yes, if you had the right bullet.

Ben

[SHOOTALL]

He ask if a 357 mag. would go thru. a block . Breaking a water jacket on a cast Iron block and going thru. are different . Also all engine block are not the same .

[jamaldog87]

I don't know about the 30's, but yes there was once ammo available for the 357 that would break a engine block.  I still have about 6 pcs. from years ago.  It's my understanding that it is now illegal, (don't know if that's Ga. law or feds), so it can't be bought now.

Any reasonable powered full metal jacket will break an engine block.  If you still have some of the steel cored SKS ammo, it will do so.

We also once had some steel cored 30-06 that would go through a 1/2" steel plate like nothing from my Dad's M1.

So...I'm thinking that the answer is yes, if you had the right bullet.

Ben

that works for me.  The car is stopped, so it works for me.

[SHOOTALL]

It might work for you then again it might not . Guess it depends on if the car was pointed at you or away 

[45-70.gov]

it will penetrate the radiator

[SHOOTALL]

What a mess your blood and the cars anti-freeze all mixed togather in a puddle on the road.

[Default_Required]

SHOOTALL ,

 You crack me up brother I Got It .

    Stopping a vehicle with a 357 mag ? Aim at the driver   Getting run over by a car of any make while trying to prove your wheel gun can stop the motor wouldnt look all that great. In fact I think that might look worst then stare'n down the tubes of a SxS double barrel 12Ga. at point blank range.

[mcwoodduck]

It was a selling feature of the 357 mag to police departments.
You simply put a 357 round into the engine and it will crack the block and the car case is short.
You know like all the 60 and 70 cop shows and movies where the bank robber peals by the police in some hot rod sports car and gets away.
with the police shooting 38's at him.  Except Clint who shoots a mag and the engine pops out of the car, chase over.
Well the cracked block will shorten the chase as the car over heats.
But it would have to be a really big bullet to go through an engine block. I do not think a 50 BMG will transverse a V6 engine block, especally when running. Thinking 20mm cannon would do it, but may have to move up to something the A-10 wart hog shoots to get fully though a running engine block.  I think the cam shaft or the cylinders would stop or deflect the round.
Even if you could stop an engine with a round,  Lets say it is strong enough to get into the block and 1/2 way through on of the cylinders pinning it in place, the first law of phystics will get you killed.  A body at rest will stay at rest and a body in motion will stay in motion until another force acts on it.  So if the bullet is not the same size, speed, and weight as the car it will continue to move forward and right over, into, or through you as Shoot all pointed out.
Pesky laws of physics.

[SHOOTALL]

What I have read it was to pass thru. doors and glass better than other rounds . In its day auto rounds and many revolver rounds were round nose. and failed in both areas. Also back in the day engine blocks were flater in line affairs in many cases and easier to crack. Have you ever seen an inline 8 .

[mcwoodduck]

Yes i have.
Grandads friend had a railroad mesuem and had a strait 8 in one of his 1930's cars he drove.  I think a Nash or a Hudson.  i was young when I saw it.
I did own two differnt cars with strait 6's
Both were Jeep Cherokee's with the 4.0L engine and that was one great engine.  If they still put it in cars I would own a new Jeep in a heart beat - First Jeep had 187K miles on it when I sold it and the second had 275K miles on it.
Neither had great maintence records and with snaped belts and other problems they just ran and ran past things that have killed the Al lock V 6 I have now in an SUV.  Had to replace it when had hole in radiator hose that over heated the truck.  My jeeps had a auto reset high limit of some kind that if the engine got so hot it would turn off rather than kill the engine.  Miss those little jeeps.   

[john keyes]

if it were one of those aluminum block monzas from back in the day....maybe.

[teamnelson]

Seen a lot of vehicles stopped by fire, usually 7.62 or 50, and once the vehicle didn't stop, just kept rolling in neutral although the engine was ruined and the driver was dead. That was eery.

Dad told stories of reloading in the late 40s and early 50s .357 and .44, cast their own bullets, counter bore a hollowpoint, and use a small length of drill steel to make steel core pistol bullets that they'd use to shoot old cars in the desert. So perhaps its true that there's enough energy in the round, so long as the projectile is of greater density than the material of the block? Just speculating out loud.

[SHOOTALL]

Interesting TM , getting that to blance at any thing but close range had to take good machine work.

[teamnelson]

Granpa had a mill at the house, actually a pretty nice machine shop, he was a master machinist by trade. I envy their skills. I remember he made a nipple for a muzzleloading pistol kit I bought as a kid, I thought it was magic.

Back on subject, there are days I'd like to see what my 357 would do on a moving car, but I'm afraid HPD wouldn't see things my way. 

[Dee]

Back in the seventies when all this hype was going around, most all of us in this part of Texas carried 357 magnums, including the Texas Highway Patrol.  Being a police officer gives one the advantage of knowing a lot of folks in different types of businesses, and a wrecking yard owner with a lot of COMPLETE engines that weren't any good was not a hard man to locate. SO! Armed with several 357 magnums, several young curious police officers and a couple of boxes of these WONDER BULLET ENGINE KILLERS to the wrecking yard we went.
We shot Fords, we shot Chevys, we shot Pontiac's, we shot Dodges, we shot'em all. Sometimes we even chipped the cast iron, but we never killed an engine block, even though they were laying right out there in front of us literally surrendering. We shot'em with 2" barrels, 3" barrels, 4" barrels, 6" barrels, and 8" barrels. Then we shot'em with a REAL MODEL 92 Winchester that had been converted from 2520 to 357 magnum, and could not kill an engine block.
NOW! On another note, having been in a couple of fights where car BODIES were used for cover I can tell you for certain that a 125 grain Jacketed hollow point exiting a 357 magnum 4" revolver is far more dependable than a 45acp in punching thru that car, but it still ain't a guarantee it will get thru even one side of a car BODY.
With all that said, I am sure someone will disagree, but so be it, I know what I know, and it really doesn't matter to me anymore, I ain't lookin for a fight with an engine block or anyone with an engine block. BUT! I still trust the 357 magnum 125 grain jacketed hollow point more than any other round.

[silverbuzzard]

wHEN I WAS A LAWDAWG IN THE 70S I CARRIED Hollowpoints in a model 28 but always had 6 "ball" type in a dumppouch . Our department had a shootout /hijacked squad car just before I was hired and standard 357 hollowpoints punched through the car door and killed the perp. bullet entered his A$$hole and kilt him dead[he was all A$$ hole .
Our officer was laying in back seat floor while the car was filled with bullets. Said he was saying the Lords prayer during it. So, 357 will break stuff. I used to shoot 40 LB concrete block with 158 grain hollows and "ball" and it would all break the blocks. Used to carry a Browning Hipower as back up and only loaded it with "ball" .
357 is a mightly caliber if you use a tough construct on the bullet. All the focus on expanding /killin power is ok but think about it, if you get hit with a ball round, it STILL is a hit 

[mcwoodduck]

Dee,
What did your testing reviel?
What barrel length worked best?
and did you test different loads
125 SJHP Vs 158 JSP?

[Dee]

Actually duck it was several seasoned officers doing the testing. NONE of these pointed so called engine killers actually worked. You can shoot a carburetor, or now a days an injection system (in some areas of the system) and shut the engine down by stopping the fuel flow but, but you don't need an AP round for that, and it ain't gonna penetrate the block. But then again we later tried the 44 magnum with the same results. The best you can hope to do is deflate the tires, or damage the radiator which will eventually work, but so will # 4 buck from a shot gun, which is what I would choose to stop a car in close.
Back in the old days, in this part of Texas if you ran from the Police, and you started endangering folks, we shot at your car, and if it got rough enough at YOU. I personally have stopped cars with firearms, but knowing what I had PROVED about engine blocks and bullets, the engine was never a consideration. I went for the tires, occasionally up close, for the radiator, and a couple times for the driver, but I was going for a meat shot by that time.
I once had some officers work out pretty good on a 77 Ford F-150 4X4 with twelve gauge magnum slugs, but didn't stop the pickup. The ones that went into the engine compartment were just as ineffective as the 357 mags, or the 44mags. We eventually ran him into a wooded area pushin him and not lettin him get out of the veh and run. A tree stopped the truck.
Until the assault weapons thing got popular, I and several others, along with all of the Texas Highway Patrol carried either Winchester, or Marlin 3030s in the units, and the Troopers 3030s were State Issued. Now those will get the guy in or behind the car's attention, and will many times zip right thru, but they were no better on cast iron engine blocks.
As far as other TESTING, no. I have used the 357 mag 125 grain JHP, the 45acp in 230 grain ball, and 200 grain HP, and the 12 gauge on actually incidents involving cars, and the 158 grain, and I believe 140 grain APs in the testing.
Your just not gonna kill a car with a pistol or revolver round unless its pure luck. You can cripple the car and it may eventually die.

[charles p]

I suggest that a good way to stop an engine with a pistol would be to shoot it in the freeze plug.  The block should ruin itself in a few minutes.

[Dee]

 ???How would you go about shooting that freeze plug? You have car body, and frame and steering steel to negotiate around, PLUS without opening the hood, how do you see, and target the freeze plug? It would probably be easier to crawl under it and cut a radiator hose. Of course you would have to have the cooperation of the villain inside.

[SHOOTALL]

A freeze plun seeking projo 

[silverbuzzard]

Another way to stop an engine is shoot the driver if warranted

[mcwoodduck]

???How would you go about shooting that freeze plug? You have car body, and frame and steering steel to negotiate around, PLUS without opening the hood, how do you see, and target the freeze plug? It would probably be easier to crawl under it and cut a radiator hose. Of course you would have to have the cooperation of the villain inside.

Dee, Business oppertunity for you.
You know the different game targets that show the outline of the animal and then have outlined the heart and lungs and spine of the different animals.
well you can make Sadan, sports car, pick up/ SUV, Mini Van and commercial truck targets with the engine in outline and the freeze plug in red and sell them to police training departments, the FBI, Gunsite, and the Police academys.  Instant KA- Billionaire! 
 

[Dee]

Maybe a better idea duck would be to sell them tactical ice picks for tires, and tactical pocket knives for radiator hoses. An added touch for an extra $5.00 would be their dept logo on the handles, and maybe for an extra $20.00 a tactical leg holster for one or both.

[mcwoodduck]

I think it would be easier to funnel the chase to Jiffy Lube and just have one of the guys in the pit either drain the radiator or the oil.
 
Would the tactical pocket knife be a Swiss army knife spray painted Black or olive Drab?

[Dee]

\Given today's police leanings, I think black would be the order of the day, and of course the knife would have to be American made. Instead of Swiss Army knife, perhaps we could call it the "Black Ops Tactical Radiator Hose Knife", and limit sales to police Special Ops only. This would incite knife companies to offer to buy my patent, and model name, and civilians would clamor to own a "Black Ops Tactical Radiator Hose Knife". I would become rich, and you could manage my fortune since your the one that inspired me to go global.

[SHOOTALL]

I have only seen one cop shoot one car . It was a Va. State Trooper shooting a guy who kidnaped a woman. I had way to good a view as we were behind the guys car about two lanes to the side . The guy shot at the cop and the cop put 2 10mm's thru. the front windshield - thru the guys head and out the back glass . Very messy . So why shoot tires ? Why shoot blocks ?

[mechanic]

\Given today's police leanings, I think black would be the order of the day, and of course the knife would have to be American made. Instead of Swiss Army knife, perhaps we could call it the "Black Ops Tactical Radiator Hose Knife", and limit sales to police Special Ops only. This would incite knife companies to offer to buy my patent, and model name, and civilians would clamor to own a "Black Ops Tactical Radiator Hose Knife". I would become rich, and you could manage my fortune since your the one that inspired me to go global.

I've always thought it strange to go into a shop that handles police equipment, and be able to buy a gun, but not a B.P. vest.?  Not that I would pay what they want for one anyway, but just doesn't make sense to me.  I can leave that store, walk across a driveway and buy a military flak jacket.....

[Dee]

The military flak jacket, and the bullet proof vest are not the same mechanic.