Can Shooting Plastic Explosive Really Set Them Off? 

Thank you Crossout for making this one possible! You can check out Crossout here: v2.xyz/TIFO_Crossout

This video reminds me of an accident that happened when I was serving my military service. I was an ambulance driver on this one military exercise and was commanded to rush to a site of an accident with only info being that it was an "explosive related incident". A military cadet had picked up a primer for a mine out of curiosity from the ground. He tought it was a usb stick or something and it suddenly blew up in his hand. He lost 3 fingers and had painfull looking wounds on his face. I think it's funny how the explosives themself are made extremely idiot-proof but some parts of them can explode on without any reason. And to be clear I wasn't a medic. I don't have any professional first aid skills. I was just designated as the driver but I still had to see the wounds of the victim and it still crosses my mind and bothers me from time to time.

We had a demolitions class the day after a freezing rain storm that had left all of the branches of the trees coated in ice. The tree line came up pretty close to the sandpit where we were setting up the ring mains. We broke up into like 6 groups of 10 and each of us had about half a pound of C4 we had to prime and tie into the det cord of the rings. So when that 30ish pounds of C4 and det cord popped, the shock wave hit the tree branches shattering the ice and throwing a huge cloud of crystalline shrapnel that was between us and the sun into the air. It ranks in the top 3 most beautiful things ive ever seen in nature. "Amazing" doesn't even come close to describing it.

When you know the answer already, but click the vide just to see the bonus facts...

When I was in the Canadian Combat Engineers back in the 1970s, the C4 explosive we used had to have a sharp explosion like a blasting cap to set it off. As for how stable it was, we used it like Sterno to heat up food cans.

"You might think that soldiers would be scared to use the compound in this way" Umm... Have you met the Infantry?

Somebody got put on a list while researching this

I was in the Marines and our battalion was training in the desert. The breach guys blew up a stick of C4 but forgot to note it and thought they misplaced it. We were told to dump all our shit out it was searched, then we were patted down. Then an explosive k9 dog came an hour later and searched everybody. Then we were lectured in the heat for the next two hours how "if this stick of C4 doesn't turn up nobody is leaving." 3 hours later we finally got to leave. One of the many reasons on my list why I didn't re-enlist.

Fun fact. When I was six my grandfather worked for a mine. One day their explosives guy handed me a lump of clay and asked me to make a bunny. Life was more fun in the 70s.

I handled C-4 for 12 years in the Marine Corps. It's fun to play with and use!

I can't believe you didn't include Bill Murry clips from the movie Caddy Shack.

Eod guy Homemade explosives (potassium chlorate stuff) can be set off by heat, shock, and friction. Just making it and handling it will most likely kill you. Also dynamite when exposed to heat... the nitro will liquify and crystallize outside the clay it is put in to stabilize it. In crystal form it is rather unstable. Don’t tough things if you don’t know what you are doing :D.

My grandpa talked about how one time they were cooking with C4 since it's apparently smokeless so it doesn't give their position away. One of his buddies decided to stomp out the flame and apparently blew his leg off.

You know some marine had to have made a falac shaped plastic explosive for a training exercise.

Read that in book or article. As the person put it, military explosives are designed to be handled by nineteen-year-olds.

Kinda makes me wonder if c4 is so stable why in tv and movies don’t they just remove the blasting caps from c4 to disarm c4 based bombs?

Our plastic explosives in the Finnish Navy came with a knife made out of zinc or something. The idea was, I guess, that no sparks could be generated when cutting the stuff on metal or rock surfaces.

I had a blast watching this one.

IIRC, RDX requires an impact in excess of ~3600fps to set off. There ARE a couple of speciality rifle rounds fast enough for that, but virtually none of those are used by the military. Primarily as they're extremely light bullets and barrel wear is measured in 100s of rounds.

“That’s blood in your pee” No one could ever say that line cooler than Simon.

I read about this trick somewhere. Pull the pin on a grenade and stuff it in a glass jar. Then place the jar where you like. When you need to, shoot the jar, break it, and the grenade goes off.

Why in the hell are people getting uptight about a sponsorship ad in the video? We all know youtube has lost their mind when it comes to monetization and this is pretty much the only way these guys can guarantee they get paid. Seriously, if you don't want to watch the ad, click off at the segway. Anyway, Simon and the the rest of you guys keep on doing what you are doing. This is one of the best channels on youtube. And if I have to listen to a little perfunctory ad swill to keep it going, I am more than happy to.

Well, seeing as I already know you can use C4 as cooking fuel if you happen to be out of everything to burn except your explosives, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it would react to bullets very similarly to how clay does. That is to say, there will be craters and holes, but no boom.

The first plastic explosive used by the British military during WW2 was Nobel 808. This was a stable form of jellied nitroglycerine: it wouldn't detonate if shot by any pistol bullet around at the time, but there was a bullet velocity (can't remember the exact figure but possibly 1,900 fps odd) above which, Nobel 808 could explode. As with RDX, the main risk with Nobel 808 was its toxicity: nitroglycerine lowers blood pressure and Nobel 808 charges used in commando raids were prepared, shaped and WRAPPED (to avoid poisoning the commandos, amongst other reasons) beforehand in a safe environment. Nobody moulded it to a target during a raid, as the movies would have you believe.

6:53 wow, the worlds deadliest game of clay pidgeon shooting XD

When my mom was in the army she told me her soldiers used to cook with C4. I always thought she was just telling a little white lie. Too cool

Someday all this knowledge will come in handy.

This channel is turning into a mythbusters clone.... I cannot be more excited if this comes to fruition.

I used to install explosive Range Safety Systems on the space shuttle external fuel tank. Only other detonations could detonate the explosives.

Short but fine video. The closest I got to explosives were some "firecrackers", including some of the M-80 type as well as "cherry bombs". Friends and I used all of this stuff very safely. Only one other time did I handle a very different type of explosive, a railway detonator, which I had "lifted" from the caboose of a train. The caboose was empty, I decided to check if it was possible to enter in order to check out what the interior was like, though without initially intending to take anything, and the door was unlocked, with there being no one inside. Checked out the interior and it was very simple, but when I saw a bunch of these railway detonators, I decided to grab one in order to investigate it at home and alone. I knew it was an explosive used for the railroad business, so knew it likely might be possibly risky to "dissect" it and just figured to be very careful about it. But it was very easy to guess what it was used for, so I proceeded to check the thing's insides. They're not high explosives, but maybe it'd cause you to lose a hand if it exploded in your hand. Took it home, went to my father's work bench and then carefully opened the envelope, finding only a yellow or yellowish powder inside. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonator_(railway) Quote: " _A railway detonator (torpedo in North America) is a coin-sized device that is used as a loud warning signal to train drivers. It is placed on the top of the rail, usually secured with two lead straps, one on each side. When the wheel of the train passes over, it explodes emitting a loud bang. ..._ ". That much I had figured out for myself, except that I wouldn't say that it's coin-sized. According to the Wiki page, the thing sometimes is round, though I wouldn't call it coin-sized. The one I got was like the one in the first picture of the page and for which the caption reads, " _A torpedo on a rail_ ". It's a very small package of rectangular shape. Anyway, railway cies had a lot of these things and can afford a child taking only one, or so I figured! It seems that what made it yellow is sulfur: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonator_(railway)#Composition. It was obvious, esp. given the design of the thing and how the tops of railway tracks were formed, well, those I've ever seen anyway, that this thing was for attaching to a railway track and with that, it's super easy to guess its use is for signaling. I never "toyed" around with any other explosives. The fireworks, except for the M-80 and the cherry bomb, were just ordinary kind, so small, albeit we also used some _Roman candles_ two or three times. Except for the latter, the experiences were all back in the 1960s, while _Roman candles_ , for my experiences, were in the 1970s. We just played around with the things, while knowing to be careful about it; all the more so for M-80s, cherry bombs and Roman candles. (No one got injured and we didn't cause any fires with these things.) I once read or heard that cherry bombs were sometimes used during WW I by soldiers firing these things over the heads of "enemy" forces in order for the blast to spook, say, opposing forces. It supposedly wasn't to aim these at those soldiers, but only to scare them with the blasts that'd occur overhead. The Wikipedia page for "Cherry bomb", however, says nothing about this use in war.

Mythbusters: "Am I a joke to you?"

I like the mythbusters quote "when in doubt C4". I take that is if something is so messed up it's simpler to just start over from scratch.

But...if you eat C4, will it go off when you fart?🤔

Like I told my brother, you can shoot 'em, throw 'em, even whip one off the Empire State Building. you have to arm it and detonate it by remote. Heat + Pressure

Thank you for teaching me how to make C4

I suddenly have a mental image of Simon refusing the teleprompter when reading off the ingredients to C4. "No worries, gents, don't need it for this part."

Thanks bro!

It's not quite like plasticine - it's a little grainier. Think "play-doh with sand in it". It's fun to sculpt!

I see the skeet & trap shooting really paid off for trench defense against grenades and mortars in WW1.

In the Corps we trained with claymores a bit...a bit nerve racking when seeing how old they were, even if 100% sure something wont blow up that way...best to treat it like it has a chance.

Same goes for gunpowder and other common explosives. They both burn relatively docilely under normal conditions. They really need extra pressure to put them in a situation to explode as intended. In C4, that pressure is produced by a pressure wave caused by an explosion in the blasting cap. For gunpowder, it needs an enclosed space and an ignition source to go from "burning" into "exploding". Legitimately, many of plastic explosives ingredients are more hazardous than the final product. (Many dusts/vapors in air can explode, and many are just plain toxic.)

Back in the 80s Crossout was called Car Wars and we played it on paper following rules from a book.

Crossout is also P2W and the lower levels is full of smurfs destroying noobs, so be ready for the game if you decide to play it... But it is a pretty good game

I work for a blasting crew back in the 90s. We didn't use any C4 but it was definitely a dynamite job.

I heard it is also edible. But will give you the bubble guts. Lol

..who thought to themselves..”hmm looks pretty good I should eat a piece”

The Mythbusters have stated and proven that the only way to set off C4 or other plastic explosives is with a detonator. Video games and "reel" war movies have "Brian Deathwish" setting it off with his .22" Short Derringer at 100 meters "for dramatic/cinematic license." I don't recall that even Hollyweird made a war movie where a thrown World War II "Pineapple/Fragmentation" grenade could be blown up by a shotgun-armed soldier.

Skeet shooting morta shells.... BALLSY!

Inventor of TNT is not pleased

Soldiers in 'Nam would eat a tiny amount of C-4, smaller amount than what Simon here said. Just to get sick for sick leave. Back when there was a draft for military service alot of guys looked at it as more of a job and some didn't agree with that job

Check with Bomb Disposal Units. IEDs are regularly set with a rifle or machine gun rounds. Ask them if it is possible to do this. You might want to find out how they do it safely

I was literally just thinking about this last night. Thanks!

Plastic C4 looks like actual food I swear if it wasn't explosive I would have ate it

Well, at least we still have red barrels!

"Give me back my Detonators!!!"

I put a cigarette out on a block of "Plastit" and also burned some dynamite during my military service.😎 These things are pretty safe! "Plastit" is very similar to c4, but it is not toxic, so no blood in urine 😅 and I'm still here.🤗 This stuff does not taste like anything and it feels like you'd eat a cake made of sand and gum arabic mixed together.😖

Its about pressure...the us troops in vietnam would burn small amounts, rolled into a ball to heat coffee, if the ball was packed too tightly it would explode.

fyi if you want something that goes boom when you shoot it, just buy tannerite, they sell it in most sporting goods stores and it's completely legal to buy without a license.

Vsauce's british brother.

They make something like 80% of all the RDX used by the military right up the road from me at Holston Army Ammunition Plant.

The MI5 often swap the IRA’s C4 with plasticine in order to catch them in sting operations, when they go to plant it.

Are grenades filled with plastic explosives? I feel like that is the most common thing you see in the movies being shot to explode.

C4: The *"badass modeling clay"* that Chuck Norris probably used for his art projects when he was in Elementary school.

1:13 no it's Research Department Explosive

Thanks Karl!

Thanks for the recipe! I can't wait to try it! :P

Fun fact: The Mythbusters actually cooked using C4 as the heat source.

Today I found out that Simon and I have something in common - explosions are fun! (As long as nobody gets hurt.)

If you step on C4 while it’s on fire. It can blown up.

There is a sidenote on this, Semtex will sweat with age making it far more sensitive to shock making it more than possible to initiate with a high velocity round 👍

While you are right about C4, there are impact sensitive explosives. In fact, here in the states a binary explosive is sold that can be set off by impact from anything larger than a .22. It goes by the trade name Tannerite.

Chips and dip who knew

I heard something is turning the frogs gay

that music playing in the background is driving me virtually insane while trying to figure out what the hell it is.

am i on a watchlist now

Mythbusters covered this extensively.

1:30 Wait a sec Simon there's someone knocking on my door. Be right ba

yall are on a list for the specifics on how to make c4 at 1:25

Crossout looks like the new Twisted Metal style game...nice...also great video

I actually already play crossout on my Xbox but I clicked the link here and created a pc account on my phone so they keep sponsoring ;)

Apparently the ill effects of eating C4 were used intentionally in 'Nam; soldiers would eat just enough to make themselves too sick to fight, or so they hoped. Some ate too much, and in any event the brass figured it out pretty quickly. You were more likely to be sent out on patrol sick as a dog than anything. And malingering can carry some stiff penalties. Not as stiff as getting shot by Charlie, but stiff nonetheless.

So how is it that the shock of the blasting cap will do the trick but not the shock of a bullet or hand grenade exploding? What’s the difference? Boom is boom

They really need to go back to less stable explosives, for balance reasons. Kinda op, doesn't have good counter play. They ought to consider these things when rolling out new weapons and tech.

you can even hunt wild hogs with it. at least in some places.

Oh! Please! I'm just a harmless old man who up to this point has been gracefully drifting down toward oblivion. I'm only subscribed to this formerly inoffensive channel. Please don't put me on the watch list!!!

Got to hit the blasting cap.

lol so you could actually smuggle c4 into a kindergarden and have the kids play with it like normal clay without anyone ever noticing it.

I know several people that used it to cook.

Not modern plastic explosive, but old glycerin base plastic explosives you could but theyre not manufactured anymore

I've seen C4 shot, hit with a hammer, set on fire - it's not like the movies where everything explodes with a slight tap.

When Today I Found Out turns into MythBusters

Tannerite is made specifically to explode when hit with a bullet. It’s a relatively stable two part explosive and is used instead of dynamite to clear beaver dams and remove stumps, etc. Stand well back. 🤓

Just a question I personally don’t do this or condone anyone doing it but could nitroglycerin or DDNP or TATP used as the explosive then mixed with the polymer

Here after watching the last boyscout

Crossout is a really good game. I play it at times. They have a story mode now.

I mean, barrels of fuel are a classic game/movie trope. And I know that they probably also wouldn't explode on bullet impact... But the likelyhood of it is greater than with c4

So I you blew up a block of c4 with a blasting cap that was next to another unconnected block of c4 w/o a cap would the explosive force of the first block cause the second block to go off as well?

"Plastic Explosives" is a pretty broad category. Technically, Guncotton (Nitrocellulose) is a Plastic Explosive, that just means that it's malleable. No, you can't reliably detonate it by shooting it, but supposing you wanted one that did explode when you shot it (Preferably with something more energetic than a pistol round) it wouldn't be that difficult to mix a compound up. Dangerous, but not particularly tricky. C-4, and Semtex are specifically formulated to be more stable than that.

Homie DID list every ingredient and ratio in the explosive lmao.

Firewall 😉