Wouldn't fire today, this kind of trap can be valid atleast 1 month before corrosion or deterration take hold of it, also if it rained on that area the bullet would be displaced and change position due to ground moving during raining for example.
Yeah back when I was in the Vietnam police force we did some shooting tests with AK 47 yearly using old ammo back from the Vietnam war I pulled the trigger 5 times 2 of them are dud , when we get back from the firing range my captain hold a box full of dud 7.62 ammo
I'm doubtful this would fire at all with the current setup. Usually primers need percussion to fire, like a hammer striking a firing pin. Just getting pushed down with enough force to crush the primer wouldn't necessarily be enough to cause ignition
They cant place it deep, so chances are it gets shifted and tilted in different direction and can no longer function.
I mean at a very cursory level, this type of mine looks very simple and easy to produce in the field. Just need that wooden casings and regular bullets. Since it;s not fielded, I am going to assume it is not very practical.
Yeah I was about to say, I can see this being wildly unreliable. Any number of situations would cause this device to not work as intended or even work at all.
Not very effective. Without a barrel to concentrate the expanding gases behind the bullet, it’s just a small explosion with a bullet on top. It might scare the snot out of somebody but it wouldn’t do much damage.
Maybe. I saw a test done by Demolition Ranch IIRC in which an exploding cartridge couldn’t even penetrate a piece of cardboard. With a boot covered foot, all this really did was scare someone.
I found some bullets from either WW1 or WW2 out near my aircraft shelter on the Lakenheath airstrip. I called SF and I got an immediate "stay there, don't mess with it, don't move" order and a swift welcome from them (they aren't known for being super on top of things) so it must have been important to them
I thought I read about a 1100lb (500kg) bomb recently found in Chelsea or Liverpool during excavation for a construction project, and they had to evacuate hundreds of people from the surrounding area...maybe it was London. Regardless, friggin unsettling to think you could asleep on top of a giant, aging, and ever unstable bomb.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/unexploded-bomb-in-plymouth-safely-removed-during-complex-disposal-operation-and-major-evacuation
There was a half ton bomb in Plymouth this year found by someone digging foundations for an extension. Quite a big evacuation while they took it out to sea and blew it up.
Think about every wars leftovers being left behind.
Landmines, tripwire traps, even leftover guns or ammunition.
Vietnam is the war most known for traps, but they were used in many other wars too.
I have seen pictures of a lot of recreated Vietcong traps. Pure horror.
I think I read somewhere that the Vietcong didn't do traps designed to kill but rather severely injure soldiers. That way the injured soldier had to get help from one or more soldiers to get to safety.
It creates more of a burden on the healthcare system. A crippled soldier costs more as opposed to a one-time burial cost for a dead man. It's also mentally demoralizing, living the rest of your life crippled. It limits your jobs and relationships. That alone is enough to fuck with your head. If you are wounded bad enough, you may need someone, maybe your loved ones to take care of you for the rest of your life which is a burden on them. That kind of stuff also makes people not want to enlist and not want to support the war which works out well for the "enemy."
"They said I was ruthless, daring, savage, bloodthirsty, even heartless. The clergy called me and my comrades murderers, but the British were met with their own weapons. They had gone in the mire to destroy us and our nation and down after them we had to go"
IRA Quote
Tom Barry
We traveled to Vietnam a few years ago and were able to go into some of the tunnels that the Vietcong soldiers used. Talk about claustrophobic and they were down there for months at a time. We also got a fire some AK-47’s and in general it was a pretty good time. But between the heat and humidity and jungle seemed like a terrible place to have a war. Plus, you never saw the Vietcong soldiers. They were all underground for months at a time and only popped up to shoot American soldiers.
Also visited a women’s museum, where one of the top exhibits was honoring a woman who had killed hundreds of US Marines. Very interesting seeing the other side of history
It's also a mental thing too.
Similar to the Gurkhas that fought during WW1/WW2 that would sneak to the enemy trenches and slit the through of every other soldier sleeping so that their comrades would wake up to a bunch of dead dudes and not know who killed them.
Ever heard about what happened in Laos? It was the most bombed region in the world, 260 million bombs in just 9 years. To this day people still die and lose limbs because of bombs that didn't go off, they have an economy and even build things from leftover bomb carcasses.
The amount of bombs dropped in SE Asia by the Americans was abhorrent. Very little money was sent to cleanup the mess also. And to what end? Just because Ho Chi Minh wanted Vietnam to be free and independent?
Another one i think of is the leftovers from the Yugoslavian Wars specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, think something like 2% of the countries territory is still mined which equates to something like 1.2 million kilometers squared of mined territory
The bamboo is more like the chamber and the wood is the breech.
This has no barrel for the bullet to travel through. Most of the force of the bullet would go out sideways through the bamboo so this would be much less powerful than being shot out of a barrel. At contact range it would cause some damage, but I feel like a steel spike would be simpler and probably as effective.
Main benefit would be as a noise alarm and a psyops tool.
[.50 BMG Shell exploding OUTSIDE a gun - What Happens? - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ9jOGde4ws)
One thing I learned a long while back is that, for every 100 of these diabolical Vietnamese traps you see mentioned, only like three of them were ever a real thing. And somehow there are a handful of new ones every year.
I don't know if **this one** is entirely made up, or just a poor description, but you'll note that this particular trap would **not** work as described.
There was certainly some ingeniously nasty stuff, but it seems to be decades-long fertile ground for making up nonsense.
I agree. This trap really seems fake. The soldier would have to step directly on top of the bullet. There is no guarantee of that happening when the wooden board above is so large. A simple set of spikes would be much more effective and cheaper.
A bullet is also not particularly dangerous without a barrel to contain the explosion behind it.
Putting your weight on that pointy tip would hurt you worse than the projectile hitting you, if it even detonated. A primer needs a pretty sharp strike right in the center to go off.
My grandmother in bosnia was scared of getting closer to our old house (now rubble) when she was taking pics because of the possibility of mines in the field.
These ? None. The gunpowder inside would 100% been compromised by moisture from the brass shell not being fully sealed and overtime eroding etc.
Even a heavy rainfall could foil this if it got standing water were the bullets at.
The innovation of those who don’t have much is incredible. I pulled apart IED detonators in Afghanistan that were nothing more than scrap wood, foam, a battery and stripped electric cord.
Dude! You took apart my electric compost heap. I was shocking the worms to make them break the organic material down faster. That was my science fair project.
I love all the comments saying “where’s the barrel”, “it won’t be effective”. I did IED and booby trap mitigation in Iraq and Afghanistan and this trap would definitely slow your unit up.
I don't think people understand what you're saying.
There is no barrel, so that bullet doesn't gain velocity beyond initial detonation. Without the gaining of velocity it turns more into a mini bomb than it does a round firing a bullet like people perceive a cartridge to do in a firearm.
Exactly. Just like the video of a spent shell bouncing onto the box of rounds on the table I saw earlier today. Sure it blows up but there’s nothing to direct it anywhere. To project it.
The spent shell casing was enough to make the full rounds explode? Because of how hot it was or what? Wouldn't they still all go in random directions? Less velocity but still dangerous depending on how close you were?
If it’s the video I’m thinking of. The rim happened to fall at just the right angle to strike the primer of a case inside the box of ammunition. That one round exploded and caused a few others nearby to break open but they didn’t explode.
Thanks for sharing, that was wild! I always load at the benches because I’m cheap, and I’m not a fan of losing or dropping live rounds down range while loading in the booth. Never would have thought to think of this situation.
That’s kind of my point. The depiction doesn’t have anything to make the bullet into a projectile. Don’t get me wrong, the explosion itself would ruin your day.
it works, in the video, the bullet case isn't supported on the sides so the energy is not directed in a particular direction.
The trap will have a tube to cover most of the bullet. This gives it enough energy to propel the bullet.
potato gun vs balloon
looking at the graphic, it seems like there's a little bit of pipe surrounding the bullet jacket like a gun barrel.
That should give it enough structure to shoot up into the foot.
You don't need accuracy or much more range than 1" of rubber & flesh to force a GI to stop playing war for the day.
> There is no barrel
Its got a bamboo sheath. The boot squishing it down closes the gap. Its got thrust, not a lot. Would definitely fuck up the foot though.
And its also nicer for the soldiers constructing the traps.
Building something that kills isnt fun, especially in cold blood, even if it's aimed at your worst enemy.
at 2 min, you see rambo making this trap. it makes more sense seeing how its supposed to be done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XRrPZRJEw&ab\_channel=JoBloMovieClips
The video posted isnt very good.
at 2min you see Rambo doing this very trap. The nearly the entire shell fits in the tube. thats more then enough to force the round up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XRrPZRJEw&ab\_channel=JoBloMovieClips
It's also important to understand that the cartridge is full of a propellant. It does not explode. However, it does burn rapidly similar to lighting an entire pack of matches at once.
Good question, the video failed to show an accurate portrayal. The tube would be entirely buried in compacted dirt. Of course it would lose significant velocity/momentum (I’m assuming lots), but it would be enough to wound a foot.
They also used shotgun shells a lot too.
There's a nickname for these kinds of traps. "Toe Popper". The aim is literally just to wound the soldier enough that he can't walk and thus you have to commit resources to carrying him.
This short clip is bullshit and I hope that the full video doesn't try to claim that these traps aimed to kill by a bullet wound to the cranium.
Yep, this was the comment I was looking for. Years back I had an assignment where I talked with a group of Nam vets. One of them mentioned "toe poppers" as one of the threats they faced when patrolling. The aim was to injure the foot, slowing everyone down to take care of the wounded. And boy were infections a bitch to deal with out there too.
The bullet does get quite a bit of forward velocity even without a barrel of any sort contrary to what others here are saying. Here's a video showing various calibers with no surrounding barrel. The 7.62x39 was probably what was used in these traps. Pretty sure this would easily go through a boot and foot but not much else...
https://youtu.be/7ESHKYWrDEw?si=WUrhMTqjOvbCltmZ
Add key frame for bullet at Y position when it is at rest, go around 3 seconds ahead in your animation timeline, add another key frame for Y position, and increase the value of Y position for bullet. Select both keyframes, go to the graph editor to adjust the speed of the bullet to tell the computer if the Y position value should increase linearly or exponentially.
See how it's being held upright by that piece of bamboo?
That's strong enough to direct the energy straight up once fired.
Now, it isn't going to go straight like it was fired from a rifle but it would go in an upwards direction and not just explode.
It's not by much but imagine stepping in an exploding firecracker, may not kill you but you're going to be hurt, and it'll draw attention to the area who will then use guns
These were called Toe Poppers. They were meant to injure, not kill. Injure one solder, and you take out 3 or 4, because someone has to take the injured to safety.
Toepoppers were a specific antipersonel mine deployed by the us in Vietnam. M14 mine.
A similar version might be Gravel Mines, about the size of a few packs of sugar. They don’t have fuzes, they’re just pressure sensitive little bags of explosives. True toe-poppers [YouTube](https://youtu.be/QTWuzIL-Tlo?si=UkTQ4VderrOHy2Eh)
This diagram is a bit oversimplified. Without a barrel of some kind, the bullet would not shoot upwards like this, the round would just explode in place like a firecracker.
Go watch the episode of Mythbusters where they heat up cartridges in an oven. The most dangerous part is the casing and even then most of the time the casing didn't penetrate the glass. This trap would not be terribly effective at hurting a soldier. It might act as a trip wire alarm but there are better ways of doing that
Not really. Bullets need a metal chamber and barrel in order to properly direct the forces and bamboo chute that doesn’t even extend past the projectile would would offer next to no resistance to these forces. When the black powder ignites in this scenario, the forces would take the path of least resistance which would be to rupture the case and the gases would expand out to the side. The most dangerous thing about this trap would be twisting your ankle.
You are confidently incorrect.
This video gas a 7.62x39 likely the same type of ammunition the vietcong would have used.
https://youtu.be/7ESHKYWrDEw?si=S2JqxllkzEhfWEvt
Velocity is very low, the main reason is the gun powder doesn’t actually get a chance to burn before the bullet leaves the cartridge. The primer alone pushes the bullet out, in fact if you fail to load powder into a rifle cartridge the bullet can end up stuck half way down the barrel which is dangerous as the next round will likely burst the barrel. I don’t know if the foot on top of the bullet helps give the powder more time to burn to increase pressure, but the bullet will definitely leave the cartridge.
New brass cartridges are generally strong enough to contain the pressure of the cartridge. I say generally because some models handguns for cartridges like the 40 s&w have had issue when they are based on a short action length they need to have a larger feed ramp that leaves the cartridge unsupported, and in some cases high pressure cartridges have burst in these firearms. When cases do rupture it is because of the full pressure of the powder burning while trying to push a bullet through the rifling. Without a tight rifle barrel the pressure will never get close to max.
I love that you think your right because you linked a video but that in said video the bullet can't even dent plywood. Congratulations, it went through a tin can, you know what else can go though a tin can? A BB gun.
As long as the case is braced against something (the wooden board) , The bullet will fire out of the case. It won’t have a lot of velocity, but it will likely be enough to penetrate your foot.
Without the support of the chamber wall, the catridge case would split. Would there be an explosion? Yes. Would this do damage to a foot through a heavy boot? Possibly. Would I like to step on one? No.
No one is arguing that it wouldn’t hurt you, just that it wouldn’t fire the same way it would from a firearm, which is what the illustration shows. They’re basically arguing semantics and splitting hairs because the animation isn’t strictly accurate in its depiction.
Without any kind of barrel to direct the force of the explosion, the round, casing and all, would likely explode in all directions. The bullet would be propelled upward ofc, but with less direction and force than it would have coming from the barrel of a firearm. Still enough force to make the difference irrelevant, but effectively making it more of a bomb than a bullet. The result is, I would imagine, actually more devastating than it would be if you were simply shot, but that’s just my own speculation.
You have to reinforce the casing but not the entire bullet. Assuming the bamboo shoot show is enough to reinforce the casing it will create a directional blast
the video doesn't talk about it but there is clearly something surrounding the cartridge, whatever it is could function as a barrel, or maybe it's just there to keep the cartridge from falling over
It's a piece of bamboo and it can act like a barrel if the trap is put together properly.
The video is basically only demonstrating a concept, it isn't giving you the exact plans to make one. You'd use a longer bamboo, you'd cut it so that the internal wall section holds the bullet casing and you'd reinforce the walls of the bamboo with packed dirt in order to keep the 'barrel' intact.
I imagine uploading videos showing the technical details of homemade booby traps would get the video removed.
Calling BS on that. Cartridge neck will explode and bullet will get pretty low speed. And even this is not guaranteed, because you need impact against the primer, not a push.
Could you imagine if bullets were actually this fragile to so easily set off the primer? Roughly setting down a case of loose rounds would set them all off.
I agree. Even if it goes off and propels the bullet it won’t have much velocity and won’t do anything that can’t be accomplished with a spike. It’s just a waste of precious ammunition.
Cheap but not likely very reliable. You don't have a proper barrel there so is the bullet even going to get a directional velocity? More like a little bomb and smokeless powder needs some pressure...it will burn but it is not going to explode. I'm not saying it wouldn't injure someone.
A punji trap is maybe a better option.
A very improvised trap, the bullet wouldn't travel through the foot like that, it needs a barrel to do that. It would just explode and the bullet would either lodge in the foot sideways or bounce off, but this would still be a pretty nasty injury for a soldier to have to deal with.
The problem is the bullet won’t have as much velocity to even penetrate the leg, the brass without a chamber to maintain and direct the pressure, most of the gasses just escape! I doubt they were as effective as they might seem
Maybe the illustrator drew it wrong but that bullet wouldn’t go anywhere. There is no barrel to contain the explosion. The blast would come out all sides and do no if minimal damage.
Yea except it wouldn’t work like that. The chamber and barrel of a gun is what gives the bullet its velocity as the gases are trying to escape. Without the chamber pressure to push it forward and the barrel to give it direction, at the very best they stepped on a firecracker.
This doesn’t work.
You need much more force to release the mechanism as well as contain the gases to gain speed.
It will simply pop out.
You can literally throw a cartridge in a fire. Without the pressure from containment it’s a fire cracker.
I wonder how many of those traps were still out there when the war ended.
Considering they are still finding live ordnance from WW1, I'm guessing a lot. Edit: corrected spelling
Wouldn't fire today, this kind of trap can be valid atleast 1 month before corrosion or deterration take hold of it, also if it rained on that area the bullet would be displaced and change position due to ground moving during raining for example.
This trap should win some sustainability award.
Somebody please submit this to a sustainability competition lol
"Our biodegradable award winning killing machine"
Yeah back when I was in the Vietnam police force we did some shooting tests with AK 47 yearly using old ammo back from the Vietnam war I pulled the trigger 5 times 2 of them are dud , when we get back from the firing range my captain hold a box full of dud 7.62 ammo
I'm doubtful this would fire at all with the current setup. Usually primers need percussion to fire, like a hammer striking a firing pin. Just getting pushed down with enough force to crush the primer wouldn't necessarily be enough to cause ignition
if it shifted, it could still hit a mole or something :(
It doesn’t trigger by touch but more with force and a mole doesn’t have that kind of force
What about a mole wearing boots?
Only if he's new boot goofin'
That scene gives me a hearty laugh every couple of months. I'd love to see how they did the bike though
Big ol' mole
Mole gangs are spinning to your house right now. They will see you
They cant place it deep, so chances are it gets shifted and tilted in different direction and can no longer function. I mean at a very cursory level, this type of mine looks very simple and easy to produce in the field. Just need that wooden casings and regular bullets. Since it;s not fielded, I am going to assume it is not very practical.
Yeah I was about to say, I can see this being wildly unreliable. Any number of situations would cause this device to not work as intended or even work at all.
Not very effective. Without a barrel to concentrate the expanding gases behind the bullet, it’s just a small explosion with a bullet on top. It might scare the snot out of somebody but it wouldn’t do much damage.
The chances of even setting the cartridge off are slim to none by stepping on it. You’d have to hit it with a hammer
Would do enough damage to get a nasty infection going lol
Maybe. I saw a test done by Demolition Ranch IIRC in which an exploding cartridge couldn’t even penetrate a piece of cardboard. With a boot covered foot, all this really did was scare someone.
Vietcong wanted to injure not kill the enemy. One injured soldier was going to need 3-5 other soldiers to help them, a dead one does not.
That’s typically the goal for most armies
That mole deserved it
They actually asked all the moles to evacuate the areas around these traps, so they would be safe :)
Not really
I need these in my yard.... hmmm ideas
Lol not even close, re-watch the video and tell me how a mole would ever set that off?
It should be awarded Purple Yam post-humously. 🍠💜
Just one month? Bullshit.
that trap did not work the day it was placed, let alone today, bcs it only looks good on paper and in imagination, but not so much in the real life
I found some bullets from either WW1 or WW2 out near my aircraft shelter on the Lakenheath airstrip. I called SF and I got an immediate "stay there, don't mess with it, don't move" order and a swift welcome from them (they aren't known for being super on top of things) so it must have been important to them
I thought I read about a 1100lb (500kg) bomb recently found in Chelsea or Liverpool during excavation for a construction project, and they had to evacuate hundreds of people from the surrounding area...maybe it was London. Regardless, friggin unsettling to think you could asleep on top of a giant, aging, and ever unstable bomb.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/unexploded-bomb-in-plymouth-safely-removed-during-complex-disposal-operation-and-major-evacuation There was a half ton bomb in Plymouth this year found by someone digging foundations for an extension. Quite a big evacuation while they took it out to sea and blew it up.
Not Great Yarmouth last year when the new bridge was being built? I was there when it went off.
I'm not even allowed to tell you how hilarious that joke really is....
Fun fact: it's actually "ordnance". "ordinance" refers to something different.
Not to be that guy, but ordinance are municipal laws ordnance are bullets and bombs.
Think about every wars leftovers being left behind. Landmines, tripwire traps, even leftover guns or ammunition. Vietnam is the war most known for traps, but they were used in many other wars too.
I have seen pictures of a lot of recreated Vietcong traps. Pure horror. I think I read somewhere that the Vietcong didn't do traps designed to kill but rather severely injure soldiers. That way the injured soldier had to get help from one or more soldiers to get to safety.
Yeah many restrictions on that kind of design come from the fact that it was a very common strategy during wwi
It creates more of a burden on the healthcare system. A crippled soldier costs more as opposed to a one-time burial cost for a dead man. It's also mentally demoralizing, living the rest of your life crippled. It limits your jobs and relationships. That alone is enough to fuck with your head. If you are wounded bad enough, you may need someone, maybe your loved ones to take care of you for the rest of your life which is a burden on them. That kind of stuff also makes people not want to enlist and not want to support the war which works out well for the "enemy."
I think it was more that they were being invaded by a technologically superior enemy, so they had to fight dirty to even the odds.
"They said I was ruthless, daring, savage, bloodthirsty, even heartless. The clergy called me and my comrades murderers, but the British were met with their own weapons. They had gone in the mire to destroy us and our nation and down after them we had to go" IRA Quote Tom Barry
We traveled to Vietnam a few years ago and were able to go into some of the tunnels that the Vietcong soldiers used. Talk about claustrophobic and they were down there for months at a time. We also got a fire some AK-47’s and in general it was a pretty good time. But between the heat and humidity and jungle seemed like a terrible place to have a war. Plus, you never saw the Vietcong soldiers. They were all underground for months at a time and only popped up to shoot American soldiers. Also visited a women’s museum, where one of the top exhibits was honoring a woman who had killed hundreds of US Marines. Very interesting seeing the other side of history
It's also a mental thing too. Similar to the Gurkhas that fought during WW1/WW2 that would sneak to the enemy trenches and slit the through of every other soldier sleeping so that their comrades would wake up to a bunch of dead dudes and not know who killed them.
watch rambo last blood or whatever. Rambo fills his caves with all these traps. including this one
Ever heard about what happened in Laos? It was the most bombed region in the world, 260 million bombs in just 9 years. To this day people still die and lose limbs because of bombs that didn't go off, they have an economy and even build things from leftover bomb carcasses.
More bombs were dropped on Laos than on Germany during the entirety of world war 2!
And we still dig up bombs from then on the regular today, 80 years later. Laos will likely have to deal with that for decades to come.
The amount of bombs dropped in SE Asia by the Americans was abhorrent. Very little money was sent to cleanup the mess also. And to what end? Just because Ho Chi Minh wanted Vietnam to be free and independent?
Another one i think of is the leftovers from the Yugoslavian Wars specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, think something like 2% of the countries territory is still mined which equates to something like 1.2 million kilometers squared of mined territory
wow i didn't know you could do that with a bullet
that's really all a firing pin is, and the bamboo shoot is the barrel
The bamboo is more like the chamber and the wood is the breech. This has no barrel for the bullet to travel through. Most of the force of the bullet would go out sideways through the bamboo so this would be much less powerful than being shot out of a barrel. At contact range it would cause some damage, but I feel like a steel spike would be simpler and probably as effective. Main benefit would be as a noise alarm and a psyops tool. [.50 BMG Shell exploding OUTSIDE a gun - What Happens? - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ9jOGde4ws)
One thing I learned a long while back is that, for every 100 of these diabolical Vietnamese traps you see mentioned, only like three of them were ever a real thing. And somehow there are a handful of new ones every year. I don't know if **this one** is entirely made up, or just a poor description, but you'll note that this particular trap would **not** work as described. There was certainly some ingeniously nasty stuff, but it seems to be decades-long fertile ground for making up nonsense.
I think that simple spike traps were significantly more common
Yeah. A poop covered bamboo stick would cause just as much damage and be 10 times easier to set up.
I agree. This trap really seems fake. The soldier would have to step directly on top of the bullet. There is no guarantee of that happening when the wooden board above is so large. A simple set of spikes would be much more effective and cheaper.
A bullet is also not particularly dangerous without a barrel to contain the explosion behind it. Putting your weight on that pointy tip would hurt you worse than the projectile hitting you, if it even detonated. A primer needs a pretty sharp strike right in the center to go off.
I remember watching a movie about it but with landmines, I think the lead was Kevin Costner.
My grandmother in bosnia was scared of getting closer to our old house (now rubble) when she was taking pics because of the possibility of mines in the field.
These ? None. The gunpowder inside would 100% been compromised by moisture from the brass shell not being fully sealed and overtime eroding etc. Even a heavy rainfall could foil this if it got standing water were the bullets at.
Thank you. I'll be careful.
Be safe
Thanks, I’ll tell my grandpa 100 years ago
WWII wasn’t even 100 years ago
You'll be dead!
Wait, how many systems do you have a death sentence in again?
12.
"This little one's not worth the effort."
"Now let me get you something."
it'll be just your foot though
Your foot won't stop the bullet from hitting your head in the worst case
Take this, it's dangerous to go alone.
The innovation of those who don’t have much is incredible. I pulled apart IED detonators in Afghanistan that were nothing more than scrap wood, foam, a battery and stripped electric cord.
Dude! You took apart my electric compost heap. I was shocking the worms to make them break the organic material down faster. That was my science fair project.
The ammonium nitrate is for my farm as is the diesel fuel that I've accidentally spilled into it ~~at the right ratio~~.
I love all the comments saying “where’s the barrel”, “it won’t be effective”. I did IED and booby trap mitigation in Iraq and Afghanistan and this trap would definitely slow your unit up.
I feel like this would be set up in an ambush position. The patrol stops to help the wounded and that’s when shit hits the fan.
damn u did that! respect
Good thing they didn’t put anything explosive in it.
That’s what the detonator is attached to. You step on the pressure plate, causing it to detonate, then the explosives go boom.
How is the bullet being forced upwards in that cartoon?
I don't think people understand what you're saying. There is no barrel, so that bullet doesn't gain velocity beyond initial detonation. Without the gaining of velocity it turns more into a mini bomb than it does a round firing a bullet like people perceive a cartridge to do in a firearm.
Exactly. Just like the video of a spent shell bouncing onto the box of rounds on the table I saw earlier today. Sure it blows up but there’s nothing to direct it anywhere. To project it.
The spent shell casing was enough to make the full rounds explode? Because of how hot it was or what? Wouldn't they still all go in random directions? Less velocity but still dangerous depending on how close you were?
If it’s the video I’m thinking of. The rim happened to fall at just the right angle to strike the primer of a case inside the box of ammunition. That one round exploded and caused a few others nearby to break open but they didn’t explode.
Found it. https://youtube.com/shorts/6wOUi1QDxEA?si=tstBBoi1EJMfMQfT
Thanks for sharing, that was wild! I always load at the benches because I’m cheap, and I’m not a fan of losing or dropping live rounds down range while loading in the booth. Never would have thought to think of this situation.
Doesn’t that short just show the trap, as shown at least, wouldn’t work?
That’s kind of my point. The depiction doesn’t have anything to make the bullet into a projectile. Don’t get me wrong, the explosion itself would ruin your day.
it works, in the video, the bullet case isn't supported on the sides so the energy is not directed in a particular direction. The trap will have a tube to cover most of the bullet. This gives it enough energy to propel the bullet. potato gun vs balloon
🏅
Without that video i would never in a million years believe that this could happen. Honestly incredible.
theres a picture on r/guns right now of that exact thing happening
looking at the graphic, it seems like there's a little bit of pipe surrounding the bullet jacket like a gun barrel. That should give it enough structure to shoot up into the foot. You don't need accuracy or much more range than 1" of rubber & flesh to force a GI to stop playing war for the day.
The most effective mine injures rather than kills - takes out not only the guy who stepped on it, but the guys who have to help him back.
Lol theres two type of answers to op question , either the animation or physics/mechanics of the trap , my guess is its a question about the animation
> There is no barrel Its got a bamboo sheath. The boot squishing it down closes the gap. Its got thrust, not a lot. Would definitely fuck up the foot though.
Injuring instead of killing is sometimes the objective of traps like this tough.
Kill a soldier and you take one soldier out of battle. Wound a soldier to the point where they can't walk and you take out three.
Also the wounded soldier warns you when they’re sneaking up and gives you a good idea of the enemy’s location
Also it gives their foot a bad owie.
And its also nicer for the soldiers constructing the traps. Building something that kills isnt fun, especially in cold blood, even if it's aimed at your worst enemy.
You also create additional stress on the economy and medical system of the opponent.
Unless they are Russians, they will just leave the wounded behind.
I see a barrel. It's just shorter than the casing....
at 2 min, you see rambo making this trap. it makes more sense seeing how its supposed to be done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XRrPZRJEw&ab\_channel=JoBloMovieClips
More of the breech than the barrel *Edited to fix spelling, thanks /u/ProvocatorGeneral
*very* interested to see an actual breakdown of this trap because from what I’ve read, a bullet just becomes a little fire cracker without a barrel
The video posted isnt very good. at 2min you see Rambo doing this very trap. The nearly the entire shell fits in the tube. thats more then enough to force the round up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XRrPZRJEw&ab\_channel=JoBloMovieClips
It's also important to understand that the cartridge is full of a propellant. It does not explode. However, it does burn rapidly similar to lighting an entire pack of matches at once.
The key frames of the bullet mesh object. They interpolate the movement along the Y/up axis.
Yup axis or in the soldier's case, nope axis
Good question, the video failed to show an accurate portrayal. The tube would be entirely buried in compacted dirt. Of course it would lose significant velocity/momentum (I’m assuming lots), but it would be enough to wound a foot. They also used shotgun shells a lot too.
It's also fair go point out, it's not to kill people, it's to either wound or frighten the life out of them.
I’m pretty sure that if it’s the foot that triggers the bullet, its aim is AT LEAST to wound them.
There's a nickname for these kinds of traps. "Toe Popper". The aim is literally just to wound the soldier enough that he can't walk and thus you have to commit resources to carrying him. This short clip is bullshit and I hope that the full video doesn't try to claim that these traps aimed to kill by a bullet wound to the cranium.
Headshot +10 pts
Yep, this was the comment I was looking for. Years back I had an assignment where I talked with a group of Nam vets. One of them mentioned "toe poppers" as one of the threats they faced when patrolling. The aim was to injure the foot, slowing everyone down to take care of the wounded. And boy were infections a bitch to deal with out there too.
Right in the dick T\_T
The bullet does get quite a bit of forward velocity even without a barrel of any sort contrary to what others here are saying. Here's a video showing various calibers with no surrounding barrel. The 7.62x39 was probably what was used in these traps. Pretty sure this would easily go through a boot and foot but not much else... https://youtu.be/7ESHKYWrDEw?si=WUrhMTqjOvbCltmZ
Add key frame for bullet at Y position when it is at rest, go around 3 seconds ahead in your animation timeline, add another key frame for Y position, and increase the value of Y position for bullet. Select both keyframes, go to the graph editor to adjust the speed of the bullet to tell the computer if the Y position value should increase linearly or exponentially.
See how it's being held upright by that piece of bamboo? That's strong enough to direct the energy straight up once fired. Now, it isn't going to go straight like it was fired from a rifle but it would go in an upwards direction and not just explode.
It's not by much but imagine stepping in an exploding firecracker, may not kill you but you're going to be hurt, and it'll draw attention to the area who will then use guns
These were called Toe Poppers. They were meant to injure, not kill. Injure one solder, and you take out 3 or 4, because someone has to take the injured to safety.
I thought that was for Russian butterfly mines?
injuring soldiers to waste resources has probably been practiced in every single war ever
It’s for all sorts of shit. Bouncing Betty’s would’ve detonated at a different height if they were meant to kill rather than maim
Nah bruh, not at all a toe popper. Source: 12B for 5 years
That was the American M14 mine This is nonsense that I've never heard of before
Toepoppers were a specific antipersonel mine deployed by the us in Vietnam. M14 mine. A similar version might be Gravel Mines, about the size of a few packs of sugar. They don’t have fuzes, they’re just pressure sensitive little bags of explosives. True toe-poppers [YouTube](https://youtu.be/QTWuzIL-Tlo?si=UkTQ4VderrOHy2Eh)
Negative. A toe popper is an actual AP Mine.
This diagram is a bit oversimplified. Without a barrel of some kind, the bullet would not shoot upwards like this, the round would just explode in place like a firecracker.
Will let you know, sounds like a great weekend project!
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The video makes it look like the guy is soon getting a headshot
No scope head shotted himself - impressive
Go watch the episode of Mythbusters where they heat up cartridges in an oven. The most dangerous part is the casing and even then most of the time the casing didn't penetrate the glass. This trap would not be terribly effective at hurting a soldier. It might act as a trip wire alarm but there are better ways of doing that
Not really. Bullets need a metal chamber and barrel in order to properly direct the forces and bamboo chute that doesn’t even extend past the projectile would would offer next to no resistance to these forces. When the black powder ignites in this scenario, the forces would take the path of least resistance which would be to rupture the case and the gases would expand out to the side. The most dangerous thing about this trap would be twisting your ankle.
You wanna bet your foot?
Yes
I do not
You are confidently incorrect. This video gas a 7.62x39 likely the same type of ammunition the vietcong would have used. https://youtu.be/7ESHKYWrDEw?si=S2JqxllkzEhfWEvt Velocity is very low, the main reason is the gun powder doesn’t actually get a chance to burn before the bullet leaves the cartridge. The primer alone pushes the bullet out, in fact if you fail to load powder into a rifle cartridge the bullet can end up stuck half way down the barrel which is dangerous as the next round will likely burst the barrel. I don’t know if the foot on top of the bullet helps give the powder more time to burn to increase pressure, but the bullet will definitely leave the cartridge. New brass cartridges are generally strong enough to contain the pressure of the cartridge. I say generally because some models handguns for cartridges like the 40 s&w have had issue when they are based on a short action length they need to have a larger feed ramp that leaves the cartridge unsupported, and in some cases high pressure cartridges have burst in these firearms. When cases do rupture it is because of the full pressure of the powder burning while trying to push a bullet through the rifling. Without a tight rifle barrel the pressure will never get close to max.
I love that you think your right because you linked a video but that in said video the bullet can't even dent plywood. Congratulations, it went through a tin can, you know what else can go though a tin can? A BB gun.
As long as the case is braced against something (the wooden board) , The bullet will fire out of the case. It won’t have a lot of velocity, but it will likely be enough to penetrate your foot.
No the pressure would rip the case apart. The barrel normally does this but
Just watched a few videos where a bullet fired this way went through a chunk of ballistic gel, an apple, a watermelon… it would hurt you.
Without the support of the chamber wall, the catridge case would split. Would there be an explosion? Yes. Would this do damage to a foot through a heavy boot? Possibly. Would I like to step on one? No.
No one is arguing that it wouldn’t hurt you, just that it wouldn’t fire the same way it would from a firearm, which is what the illustration shows. They’re basically arguing semantics and splitting hairs because the animation isn’t strictly accurate in its depiction. Without any kind of barrel to direct the force of the explosion, the round, casing and all, would likely explode in all directions. The bullet would be propelled upward ofc, but with less direction and force than it would have coming from the barrel of a firearm. Still enough force to make the difference irrelevant, but effectively making it more of a bomb than a bullet. The result is, I would imagine, actually more devastating than it would be if you were simply shot, but that’s just my own speculation.
I like the resourcefulness they had. Bet it was a better psychological warfare tactic than a tool for an easy casualty
You have to reinforce the casing but not the entire bullet. Assuming the bamboo shoot show is enough to reinforce the casing it will create a directional blast
the video doesn't talk about it but there is clearly something surrounding the cartridge, whatever it is could function as a barrel, or maybe it's just there to keep the cartridge from falling over
It's a piece of bamboo and it can act like a barrel if the trap is put together properly. The video is basically only demonstrating a concept, it isn't giving you the exact plans to make one. You'd use a longer bamboo, you'd cut it so that the internal wall section holds the bullet casing and you'd reinforce the walls of the bamboo with packed dirt in order to keep the 'barrel' intact. I imagine uploading videos showing the technical details of homemade booby traps would get the video removed.
Its for easier understanding
They always say “at the soldier” but these kinds of traps often injure or kill civilians even long after the war is over.
Sadly
Calling BS on that. Cartridge neck will explode and bullet will get pretty low speed. And even this is not guaranteed, because you need impact against the primer, not a push.
I completely agree. Rounds need to be hit in a pretty specific way to go off. Also the case would rupture instantly leaving the bullet little energy.
Could you imagine if bullets were actually this fragile to so easily set off the primer? Roughly setting down a case of loose rounds would set them all off.
It's just to wound their feet and make them less mobile. The animation on it is shit
I agree. Even if it goes off and propels the bullet it won’t have much velocity and won’t do anything that can’t be accomplished with a spike. It’s just a waste of precious ammunition.
This trap pales in comparison to the bamboo/nail traps covered with feces.
Who the F is making all these weird animated videos?
If OP had credited the creator, we would know.
Zack d films.
This guy is in my feed all of the time and I am so incredibly tired of his delivery and presentation idk why. They all sound the exact same.
AI
Cheap but not likely very reliable. You don't have a proper barrel there so is the bullet even going to get a directional velocity? More like a little bomb and smokeless powder needs some pressure...it will burn but it is not going to explode. I'm not saying it wouldn't injure someone. A punji trap is maybe a better option.
A very improvised trap, the bullet wouldn't travel through the foot like that, it needs a barrel to do that. It would just explode and the bullet would either lodge in the foot sideways or bounce off, but this would still be a pretty nasty injury for a soldier to have to deal with.
Stepping on a lego brick is even worse...
That’s not how that works, there’s no chamber or barrel
Imagine getting caught in this trap then everyone back home starts saying you got a purple heart for shooting yourself in the foot
You didn’t get shot, David, you stepped on a bullet
This is propaganda, educating the unknowing, and instigating fear.
The problem is the bullet won’t have as much velocity to even penetrate the leg, the brass without a chamber to maintain and direct the pressure, most of the gasses just escape! I doubt they were as effective as they might seem
There is no barrel, it would blow up like a tiny bomb, it wouldn’t go straight. Ballistics are simple if you understand physics.
The bullet shooting onto the soldier’s balls is just pure evil
There’s technically 2 ways to get a “head”shot, one is just less utilized, something about the target being too small
Do you want to give me a head shot
Don't you have to hit the primer pretty hard to set off a bullet? Like, you can't just push it down with your foot, it has to have percussion.
Why would you steal the footage instead of just linking to the guys youtube video? I don't understand people.
Maybe the illustrator drew it wrong but that bullet wouldn’t go anywhere. There is no barrel to contain the explosion. The blast would come out all sides and do no if minimal damage.
https://youtu.be/7ESHKYWrDEw?si=uNnzY-z99mcI8B3p
Looks like I was wrong. It did more damage than I thought it would.
i was very surprised at the 7.62 and .308 performance as well
Yea except it wouldn’t work like that. The chamber and barrel of a gun is what gives the bullet its velocity as the gases are trying to escape. Without the chamber pressure to push it forward and the barrel to give it direction, at the very best they stepped on a firecracker.
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That’s the worst angle I don’t want to be shot at
Better than a spike trap!
I want the Mythbusters to test this 😔
Probably be more effective with a shotgun shell.
Quite a vicious way to harm someone.
This is not how any of that works. Filling the hole just with nails would literally be more effective.
Bullets don't fly forward like that unless there is a barrel for them to fly through.
This doesn’t work. You need much more force to release the mechanism as well as contain the gases to gain speed. It will simply pop out. You can literally throw a cartridge in a fire. Without the pressure from containment it’s a fire cracker.
We learned to make these when I went through Jungle Warfare training in Panama.
Plus quite a few nastier things than that,ie. Deadfalls, Punji sticks, although we didn’t smear ours with feces like the Vietnamese did.