Watermelon Shooting Question

[BarnesX.308]

I have the great luck of having to dispose of a watermelon and an old motorcycle helmet at the same time. Since I never throw away a watermelon if I can shoot it with my 300 Weatherby Mag, that's what's going to happen. However, I was thinking of putting the helmet on the watermelon first. Wondering what will happen?

1 - Will the helmet launch into the air?
2 -Will it be ripped in half?
3 - Will not much happen at all?

I'm hoping for 1, 2 or 1 and 2.

I will be using a handload. 150gr soft point. Don't know the load yet but think I can get pretty close to 3500fps with about 88gr of RL22.

[Knightia]

soft point hmmm- im guessing1#. will fly in the air some & have a big hole the out back side


( i have shot some bowling balls etc etcin the past but not lately)

[Retaks]

Well im going to say its just going to have a hole in it. If you were shooting something more like a 45-70 i would say it would move some but the 300 Weatherby is too fast. I was shooting pieces of 2x4 one day at 200 yards that i made have a bottom for support and my 300 wsm was just ripping through them like they werent there. I thought i was missing.

[BarnesX.308]

That's where the watermelon comes in. They are mostly water. It's like shooting a gallon jug filled with water. The faster you hit them, the more violently they'll explode.

I used to have a 45-70. Too slow to blow stuff up as violently as some of the faster cartidges. I have attached the results of shooting a Heineken mini-keg with the 300 Wby.

I'm going with the soft points because they are much cheaper than Barnes X bullets and I want quick expansion for this project.

[Retaks]

Ive shot cans before and know what they do but i think a watermellon is still not going to explode. Weve shot pumpkins with rifles before and they didnt explode like a can dose. They did have decent size chunks come off the back but not the exploding we wanted. It was still alot of fun though.

[Retaks]

I forgot to add. When you try this let me knwo the results. If im wrong i would love to give this a try.

[BarnesX.308]

Pumkins are mostly hollow. That is why the bullet passes right through them. Fill your pumpkins up with water next time and see what happens.We've shot watermelons before and they explode like their was a bomb in the middle. It's their water content. The bullet going 3500fps displaces the water to the sides at an incredible weight. Try it some time. You won't be disappointed .

I found a watermelon shot with 30-06on Youtube. I can't access it at the office, though, so I didn't watch. Here's the link.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rAvO49-TXQ&feature=related

[Retaks]

Im gonna give it a try this weekend. Im going to sight in a couple guns for a friend and im using moslty his ammo so it wont cost me a thing. Im going to try it with a 300 Weatherby since that one of the guns im sighting in for him.

[bronko22000]

If I were you I would put the helmet on and have it setting like it was facing you - shooting through the watermelon first, then out the backside of the helmet.
My thought is that the energy of the bullet hitting the watermelon will cause the portion of the watermelon inside the helmet to remain in tact but the pressure will cause that section and the helmet to be blown upward.
Let me know if my prediction is right. That is of course unless you miss..

[BarnesX.308]

That's the plan. Viser up and shoot right through the window. I might miss. Hard to keep a steady site picture while giggling.

We're planning on video taping.