Bolo round revisited?

S

Sabre9mm

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All these exotic rounds (with exception to the supercavitating round) seem to me to be more hype than purpose. All the exotic ammo I have ever seen actually tested have proven to be novelties, inaccurate, and or just redneck beer fun.

Anyone seen these and or have any comment?
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/30/smallbusiness/multiple-impact-bullet/index.html?iid=EL

I would think that the drag and counteraction of the centrifugal force needed to make it function would equal energy lost. But no ballistics expert and would love to hear the opinions of any that may come across this.
 
That was my gut feel, but new innovations DO occasionally come along, so I can never be certain.

I especially liked the family + bad guy target, where he could have just as easily taken wifey's head off in the process as well, I would have MUCH preferred a single projectile in a situation like that with little chance of it going anywhere other than where I needed it to. (god forbid I would ever have to trust my aim that much):eek:
 
The only notable thing I can see with these is that unlike a lot of exotic rounds, they made a shotgun round. I guess the question then is do you want 4 bits or X pellets. I would be curious to see if the tethered bits stay stable or flap around. Could be a neat way to slice melons though :D
 
The video didn't do a very good job of demonstrating it in a way that makes me want it at all. If those guys that were shooting it are normally decent shot, then there is absolutely no way I'd ever even consider this as the accuracy alone is highly questionable.

Furthermore, despite the center of the X shape hitting the target, if one or more of the other pieces misses, will it stay attached or go sailing into an unintended target?

They also didn't show any ballistics gel testing, and I'm betting that the increased surface area along with the likely slower speeds from spinning weights a good distance from the center would decrease the penetration potential by quite a bit.

Bottom line, I would never use this for SD. It might be good for some kicks and gigs at the range, but that's about it.
 
Kicks and gigs at the range are great but I not for $60 for 10! That's just stupid. I can get a whole lot more fun out of 60 bucks then that.
 
I'll tell you what, the inventor is quite the salesperson. He used just about every ammo buzzword you could.

Here's the problem, especially with the handgun ammo. You aim center mass, you miss center mass since there's no central projectile. Essentially, you don't hit what you're shooting at. Also, in a hostage situation? Wow, if you use that ammo, you're being reckless. I love how the beginning of the video he shows how it corrects your inaccuracy. But then he shows how well the round can work in a 5% shot. If he pulled high and left like he did in the first shot, his wife is now a casualty by your own gun.

This will sell as well as any other novelty ammo. The fact that he's selling "curiosity packs" is very telling. He knows it's a gimmicky novelty round, and he's hoping to make some money on it like that. Heck, I'd consider picking up a box just for fun. It'd never get loaded for SD though. I bet if you looked at this guys SD/HD weapon, he probably loads standard JHP's.
 
I met a guy who made his own bolo ammo when I was in South America. It looked cool. (He took guitar strings and heated them up until they went in to the lead pellets.)

He fired one and it took out a lot of vegetation (Leafy stuff). His second shot was a little lower and took out some small, less than an inch in diameter) lower parts of the brush, the lead balls came free from the wire and tore up some more stuff.

It was fun but unimpressive. Maybe if they had a better way of holding the wires into the lead.

OK, I watched the video. If you can not hit your target at twelve feet, you do not need this round or be handling a hostage situation.
 
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Chain (and bar) shot are to increase your cannon's odds of hitting and taking down masts, spars sails, and standing rigging, thus depriving the enemy ship of movement. Grape and canister are for shooting people. Round shot also works...less area effect, but greater range...

I can see a miniature version for a shotgun, but until I see a similarly scaled version of the masts and sails on a person or game animal, I don't see the point. And I particularly can't see any added costs being worthwhile.

I have more fun (and occasionally actually useful) ways to waste my money.
 
The bit about it being used for cutting masts was my first thought too, 44 AMP. I can just picture a tiny model boat getting hit by one of these. Next thing you know, someone will have the genius idea to put a net or something like that between the pieces.
 
I've seen guys crimp sinkers onto fishing line, and piano wire and load in shotshells. Have seen "tailed balls" too. Have seen bullets cut and seated. Have read about "Quadcutters". You may note, none of these things is a commercial offering, and with good reason.

As a pre-shooting child, I built models, planes, ships, mostly, some others. As a 14year old, I murdered many a Messerschmitt, zapped Zeros, and blasted a bunch of enemy battleships with a wonderful Winchester.22. :D

Trouble was, velocity was waay to high for scale effect!:eek:
The Hammer of Thor would have been a little more effective, but only a little....

By 16 I found other interest, like gir..er centerfires and reloading! Yeah, that's it...and my models lived a little longer....
;)
 
Ok, taking out model ships would have been hela fun with a dragons breath round and a 12g...

...as a matter of fact, now that I am multiples of 14, it still sounds fun, hmmmm weekend project :D

However I have to agree with the others too, that firing at target, hitting anything other than target, with less reliability and less energy on target, does not sound appealing other than a little whoo hooo factor at a range.

Besides a 3" 1.4oz slug is going to make a MUCH more devastating wound, and buckshot covers the not exactly on target problem too.
 
Sabre9mm That was my gut feel, but new innovations DO occasionally come along, so I can never be certain.
Click to expand...
Innovations DO happen...........but 99% of the time ammunition innovations are the result of years of research and testing.

The "Bolo" type rounds aren't even innovative......they've been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the "inventor" of the "Multiple Impact Bullet" hasn't read about products such as Dragons Breathe, Bolo or Flecchette shotgun rounds produced for mall ninjas by these guys: http://www.americanspecialtyammo.com/12_Gauge.html
Or the Fang Face rounds by EXTREME SHOCK: http://www.extremeshockusa.com/cgistore/store.cgi?page=/new/product_info.html&setup=1
 
Dogtown Tom, Are you making fun of my flechette rounds? :cool:

The only time I ever saw them work well was when fired out of the 90 mm Recoiless Rifle.
 
Since I never had to carry one (only work on them) I always had a soft spot for the 90mm recoilless rifle.

Whenever someone points out that there is "nothing a man can hold and fire that will physically knock an attacker down..." I like to point out the 90. :D
 
Looks like four projectiles to me. Might be somewhat effective at very close sd ranges. Unlikely effective or practical for hunting. Hard to say without trying. IMHO...gimmik.
 
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