EntropytouchFeb 24, 2010 5:33am
So a friend of mine works as a haz-mat cleanup tech... And OFTEN runs into firearms or other items that the families or new owners don't wish to keep. He recently acquired a Mosin-Nagant M44 Bolt-Action carbine version of the MN 91/30. The rifle fires a 7.62x54r cartridge. We took it out to Ralston ridge on my birthday, the 20th, and then again yesterday (tuesday the 23rd). The first day we shot all kindsa stuff... Monitors, Radios, and other crazy stuff... But yesterday I found an old Oxygen tank left over from before my mother passed in 06. The large high-grade aluminum canister is i'd say anywhere from 2and3/4 to 3ft tall, and I couldn't tell ya how much Oxy it holds. Now... This thing has been sitting since July of 06 or EARLIER... So, I assumed it wouldn't have much if any oxygen in it... And also assumed that if ANYTHING it would rupture when shot, producing a mild pop and maybe bending the metal out from the hole a little. Well, we get there and I set the tank up at the end of the range. Ralston ridge is damn near Lake tahoe... and for anyone that doesn't know... is FAR from anything even resembling humanity. The end of the area we were shooting at was probably a good... i'd say close to 100 yards from the area we were shooting, AND the area we were shooting from is a raised ridge and also a sort of side to a large bowl-shaped depression in the landscape. I assumed that at this distance, with little-to-no oxygen or pressure inside we would be COMPLETELY safe. So we shoot a few clays we found on the ground leftover from other people (its a popular shooting spot frequented by the few who know about it) with the 12guage.. Then we head up to the ridge and I load 5 rounds into the M44. I squeeze three out at a paper target we set up (about 50ft from the oxygen tank). And then I pop one round towards the tank, missing it on its right side by about 2 inches. RIGHT after that my friends and girlfriend were all hanging out, not thinking I was shooting at the tank yet, and my friend Seth starts to film me for his brother who couldn't make it. I take careful aim and let one fly... hitting the tank about 2inches from its bottom and DEAD-center. Not expecting to hit it, the HUGE explosion resulting caught me by suprise... And I quickly re-open my eyes and see a very large plume of smoke and several red-hot peices of shrapnel flying from the area where the tank was previously. Milliseconds later movement catches my eye way up in the sky, and I quickly realize that its the tank... Tomohawking through the sky somewhere around 100ft in the air and maybe 25 to 45 feet from passing directly overhead... Everyone in my party, caught by suprise too, began to yell and laugh and I watched the tank fly a good additional 200-300ft past us and fall into another, lower valley area. In the provided video you can hear everyone yelling, and like I said no one was ready so you don't actually SEE the explosion. What you DO see is me shooting, the VERY bright flash from the explosion, me shocked by the sight/sound and me following the tank through the air with my eyes. IF YOU LOOK VERRRRRRRRY CLOSELY you can see the tank fall through the tree's behind us, but i had to watch it like 100 times to be able to catch it. The quality isn't great cus it was taken on an android phone on low-settings... But it's worth watching quite a few times...
