A friend gave me some old bowling balls the other day. Since there are no lanes for 30-40 miles from my small town and I know very little about bowling , I tried a little test. Shot the first one at about 20 yards with a 223-55grFMG result it moved the ball about 2 inches and left a tiny entry hole, no exit. Second shot with a 270wby-130grPartition same distance moved the ball 12-15 inches, 3inch entry hole about 1 inch deep with a small deeper center hole, no exit. Took another ball same distance 375wby-300gr partition ,ball exploded . I always thought there was an oil center to a bowling ball, no oil found, the exterior coat was abouit 1 inch thick, the interior was a solid poly-fiber stuff very hard material. I know my test proved nothing but was fun.

Funny ... a single 500 gr Woodleigh soft from a 470 NE sent a 16 pound bowling ball into lots of little pieces. Largest was around the entry wound. I think I have it around here someplace. If I can find it, I'll post.

550 express, 715gr at 2130, shattered one, but only blew a 10% mass chuck off...

SECOND shot, however....

the inside of mine (which I had had for 30 years) was a phenolic of giant wood fiber and "asphalt"...


jeffe

what a waste....around here we built mortars and fire bowling balls in them.....damn things actually go out of sight with a half pound fg behind it.

vapodog - now you've let the cat out of the bag about the mortarsm shooting bowling balls..

the guys in montana were wondering where those bowling balls came from ! now they know

actually around here they're aimed at Colorado....

Hey Rug, how about filming it, I'd get a kick out of watching that. Would love to try it too. it is fun to blow things up.

Red

I'm with Vapo, bowling balls make better "bullets" than targets.

VD, cut your powder chage and get a shovel, you can recycle those things. Also, more fun per pound!

Keith

quote:

A friend gave me some old bowling balls the other day.

So you shot them.

If you ever need a job, contact me.

Vapo tell us more about the mortar That sounds very interesting for an off season project. Also Atlanta could be within reach. tin can yes, I'm always looking for targets living or not.

NOW I KNOW where all those bowling balls in the back yard came from! Guess I'll have to build a mortar to send them back to Wyoming and Nebraska!

quote:

Originally posted by Rug:
Vapo tell us more about the mortar That sounds very interesting for an off season project. Also Atlanta could be within reach. tin can yes, I'm always looking for targets living or not.

I'll see if I can get a photo soon.....it's cold out there and it's at a friends place for the winter.

LMAO Up to now I'd enjoyed shooting AT them. Now I have to build a mortar.

Well that brings back memories. Back when my best friend and I were in high school we found a bowling ball in the woods and took it home. We decided to shoot it in his basement. We put it in the coal bin next to the furnace and moved off to the other end of the basement about 20 feet away. We shot it with my friends 32 Win Special Model 94. Well, damn, the freaking ball exploded, tore down two heating pipes off the furnace and pelted the hell out of us with fragments. We vowed to never do that again and we didn't.

Saw this site about bowling ball mortars. Seems similar to what vapodog was/is? doing.
Enjoy
-Josh

http://www.docsmachine.com/nonPB/mortar.html

The nearest bowling ball is 250miles from me but when the opportunity arrises I'll grab a couple and mail them home. Can you imagine wacking 1 with a 425 at -30 !!

quote:

Originally posted by teroenza:
Saw this site about bowling ball mortars. Seems similar to what vapodog was/is? doing.
Enjoy
-Josh

http://www.docsmachine.com/nonPB/mortar.html

That looks like a lotta fun! Thanks for the link!!

There are several bowling ball calibers. Which are you shooting?

It's really fun, found out the local bullet caster has a "Cornhoe Mortar" and a "Parrot Rifle". The CHM shoots 16 lb bowling balls over 1/2 mile with a an aluminum foil baggie charge of 1/2lb. Same type of ignition chamber. His Parrot Rifle is the cool one. It takes the small concentrated OJ/Apple Juice cans, which he buy locally at one of the fruit orchards. He mixes plaster of paris up and puts food dye in some, some he leaves white. the charge is 2-3oz of cannon powder in a foil cylindrical-shaped tube thingey. This thing has rifle sights and a carriage that adjusts for basic range. You can hit a VW-sized old junker at 1000 yards in 3 shots. The cloud of white dust when the round impacts is just awesome!

Rich

I just shot a bowling ball a few weeks back. 300 RUM at 100 yards did nothing on the first hit but the second was wonderful. I need to make a cannon though. That would make camping excursions so much more fun. Now to design a horse drawn carriage...