Do not try
any of the experiments
you are about to see
at home.
You heard him.
Don't do it.
Narrator: On this episode
of "Mythbusters"...
Take 10 paces...
Turn, and draw,
because this is the good...
The bus...
And the ugly.
First, Adam and Jamie
fire up an Old West classic.
h*!
That is scary as hell.
Can you sh**t the g*n
right out of the bad guy's hand?
Stings.
Then Jessi, Keanu, and Sandra
ramp up the action...
k*ll it, k*ll it,
k*ll it, k*ll!
...to find out
can you really jump a bus
over a gap in the freeway?
- [Gasps]
- You do not want
to miss this.
Narrator:
Who are the Mythbusters?
Adam Savage...
Whoa!
...and Jamie Hyneman.
Are we gonna try and sh**t him
in the head?
Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.
Joining them...
Grant Imahara...
Burn!
...Kari Byron...
[g*n c*ck]
Let's do it.
Narrator:
...Tory Belleci...
Aah!
...and featuring Jessi Combs.
That was awesome!
Narrator: They don't just
tell the myths.
They put them to the test.
[g*nsh*t]
Jamie, I'd like you
to cast your mind back
to your days
in the Old West.
Okay, supposedly, there's
a cowboy myth from back then
that you could disarm
an opponent
with your p*stol
without harming them.
You mean you can sh**t a g*n
out of their hand?
Exactly.
I was wondering when we would
get around to that one.
The time has come.
[Blows]
Back in the Old West,
any good-guy gunslinger
worthy of a sheriff's badge
could supposedly disarm
the bad guy
with a single
sharpshootin' shot.
But is this really possible,
and would you really leave him
and any bystanders
totally unharmed?
My aim may not be so good
the next time.
So, cowboy,
since you were there,
you want to tell us how
it worked in the Old West?
Well, there are two parts
to this.
The first is "unarm,"
and the second is "unharmed."
Which do you want
to start with?
Well, I'm thinking,
"How much force can you hold on
to a g*n with?"
Let's make a plywood cowboy,
give him the same amount
of holding strength,
and take some shots
at him.
Easier said than done,
but we could give it a shot.
[Laughs]
Ha!
[g*nsh*t]
So, first off, Quick-Draw Savage
sketches a plywood posse.
And to give his trio of
tangerine bad guys
accurate
handgun-holding abilities,
Jamie knuckles down
and gets a grip.
Jamie:
This stuff right here
is some of our favorite stuff
to have around
because it's like hook and loop,
but it's actually
hermaphroditic.
It sticks to itself.
Ah. Perfect.
Narrator:
Next, the team saddles up and
heads on down to the range...
the g*n range.
Adam: It looks great.
An orange posse of trouble.
- Hey, Adam,
come check this out.
- What do you got?
This is my human-handgrip
simulator.
I love it.
How do you want to test it?
If you hold on to this g*n
and I yank it out of your hand
and see what that
feels like...
- Feel like you
got something?
- Yeah.
I'll have you hold on to this
thing just securely,
and I'll yank it
out of there.
And if I feel like they're the
same, then we're in business.
That's spot-on.
- Really?
- Yeah.
All right, let's mount it up
and sh**t this puppy.
Okay.
The g*n is placed in
the bad guy's grip simulator
as if midway through the draw.
And, with the help
of a sharpshootin' laser,
Adam and Jamie take aim,
ready to fire.
Perfect.
Okay, so, we're gonna start off
this myth with an impersonation.
- Oh, great.
Here we go.
- Go for it.
[Imitating Keanu Reeves]
Drive straight. Stay above 50.
Uh, how about
another one?
There's a b*mb on this bus.
If you slow down, it'll explode.
All right, well,
judging from your quotes,
I take it we're testing another
"Speed" myth?
Right. [clears throat]
[Normal voice] Right.
Ever since
Adam and Jamie tested
whether you could prevent a bus
from flipping over
by moving all the passengers
to one side,
everyone has been requesting
the bus-jump myth.
I know this one.
It's where their bus
is speeding along
and they get on an overpass
that's unfinished
and there's this huge gap,
but somehow they pull off
this leap across the gap,
make it to the other side,
drive away perfectly,
and nobody's injured
in the process.
[Imitating Keanu Reeves]
Exactly.
You're not gonna do this through
the whole myth, are you?
Yes, I am.
Narrator: It's a classic scene
from the green screen.
[Smooches]
Grant's alter ego, Keanu,
and the gorgeous Sandra Bullock
jump their famous bus across a
but is it really possible,
or is it just another example
of fake physics on film?
Are you okay?
[High-pitched voice]
I think so.
[Sighs]
[Normal voice]
Good job, dude.
[Normal voice] Once again
making my family proud.
All right, so,
what's the plan?
Get a bus, a half-built freeway,
and go for it!
- Who's driving?
- No way.
- That's way too dangerous.
- What, are you scared?
[As Keanu Reeves] No, I'm not.
[Normal voice] Yes, I am.
[As Keanu Reeves] No, I'm not.
[Normal voice] Yes, I am.
I think,
since gaps in freeways are rare
and Mythbusters
are even more rare,
we should start
in small scale.
We'll build a scale freeway,
build a scale bus,
and run the bus at scale speed
and see what happens.
And then
when we learn from that,
we will be going up
to full scale
'cause we are going to be
driving a full-size bus, right?
Oh, yes.
We are going full scale.
So, what I have here is the same
type of bus from the movie.
It's 35 feet long, 8 feet wide,
and it weighs 24,000 pounds.
So, what I have to do
is scale that bus down
for our small-scale test.
What I have here is a toy bus.
Now, this isn't gonna work.
So, what I need to do
is make a 1/12-scale bus
that's remotely controlled
and has the right
weight distribution.
Now, there's one thing
in this scale experiment
that we can't scale,
and that's gravity.
We made a few phone calls.
We asked people at NASA if we
could transport the scale bus
and all of us to the moon,
where the gravity's lower,
to perform the experiment.
They said no.
But what they did say
was that if you ran the bus
a little bit faster,
you could compensate
for the lack of gravity scaling.
Narrator: Basically,
what these hieroglyphics mean
is that to compensate
for the physical impossibility
of scaling gravity...
Grant: Half "G"...
Narrator: The speed of our
Grant: This is the gap
that we're traveling.
Narrator: Has to be just over
You forgot
to carry gravity.
What?!
[Horn honks]
Narrator:
Meanwhile, back at the shop,
Jessi is constructing
a perfectly scaled world
for the soon-to-be
perfectly scaled bus.
While they scale the bus,
I'm scaling the course.
Keanu was told
that the gap was 50 feet,
so we've got that covered,
but just as important
is the angle of the road.
And we've calculated it
to be 1.2 degrees,
with the exit ramp 2 feet higher
than the landing ramp,
all of which will be scaled
perfectly for this experiment.
Narrator: Back outside,
before Tory builds the shell
to cover the engine and chassis,
Grant wants to know...
...if it's got the speed
he needs.
Not quite 20.
Yeah, we need to get this to go
at least 4 miles faster.
All right.
I got a few ideas.
You break it, you buy it.
Fair enough.
Inside, Grant gets busy
souping up the engine
so it can hit the required
Plus, he's also ensuring
it weighs in
at a scale-accurate 13.8 pounds.
We're gonna be ready to go
in minutes.
Meanwhile, Tory goes to work on
the bus's body,
by first building
an accurate wooden form,
which he then vacuforms...
Vacuform, baby.
It's like magic.
Narrator:
...to produce the lightweight
plastic shell he needs.
And there's even time
for a little window dressing,
both in the bus
and on the freeway.
[Engine whirs]
Tory: Let me off this bus!
So, everything
has been scaled down,
from the freeway
to the bus,
so this is gonna give us
a really good idea
of what would happen
in the real world.
My prediction, though,
is there is no way that bus is
gonna make it across that gap.
You, uh, done saying
your last goodbyes?
Yeah.
I think what's gonna happen is
it's gonna crash on the ground
and we're gonna
have to rebuild it.
That I can guarantee.
Bus is in position.
This is small-scale bus jump.
- You ready?
- Ready.
All right, here we go.
In 3, 2, 1.
Ohh!
h* h* h* h* h*!
Oh, my gosh!
But lookit!
It went way further than
I thought it was gonna go.
Yeah, but it still
didn't land
on the other side
of the freeway.
This myth
is not looking good.
Not at all.
So, for our first
small-scale experiment,
the bus missed the other end
of the freeway
by 21/2 feet.
In scale,
that would be 30 feet.
That's a lot to miss by.
Hey, look.
I survived the crash.
Uh, I don't think we did.
That's a shame.
Narrator: Yep, despite getting
every detail down to size,
including the required speed
of just over 20 miles per hour,
as soon as the bus left
the freeway, it started falling.
Go! Go! Go! Go!
And to prove the point,
the guys set up for another test
with the distance
of the gap halved.
All right.
All right,
bus is in position.
My prediction...
we're not gonna make it.
All right, here we go.
In 3, 2, 1.
[Laughs]
Yep, as Benjamin Franklin
almost said,
"Nothing in this world
is certain
except death, taxes,
and gravity."
All right, we gave it
the best possible chance ever.
Everything was 1/12 scale,
and we even halved the gap,
and it's still not working.
Yeah.
I mean, as soon as the bus
leaves the freeway,
gravity takes over,
and it falls.
I mean,
there is just no way
this bus
is gonna make this jump.
Yeah, we would have had to
shorten the gap
to not much more than a pothole
for the bus to make it.
I think this part of the myth
is definitively busted.
Busted.
[Western-style music plays]
Narrator: Quick-Draw Savage
and Hairy Jim Hyneman
want to know
if you can sh**t the g*n
out of the bad guy's hand
without harming him.
And by testing three classic
configurations...
The draw...
The shootout...
And the hostage...
[g*nsh*t]
...we're about to find out.
Adam: Here we go.
sh**ting the g*n
out of the hands on the draw.
Three, two, one!
[g*nsh*t]
Wow, it knocked it
right out!
Jamie: So it did.
[Laughs]
That might be a result.
But it's a result
in more ways than one...
Collateral damage.
...because, although he was
disarmed, he was also harmed.
[g*nsh*t]
Wow.
That b*llet went
in all directions,
or at least
pieces of it did.
It really did.
That is terrifying.
Look at that.
That's a little dose of reality
you don't see in the movies...
deadly shrapnel
flying in all directions.
Walking away unscathed
is clearly not a given,
meaning the myth
is already looking shanky.
But what's next?
Adam: [British accent]
Right, here's the scenario.
Our bad guy's actually gotten
his g*n out of the draw
and into a firing position.
sh**t first.
Our hero still has to try
and sh**t that p*stol
out of his hand nonlethally.
sh**ting the g*n out of the hand
in shootout position.
[g*nsh*t]
I saw shrapnel
go everywhere.
Narrator:
Yep, shrapnel went everywhere.
[Normal voice] Oh!
That is
some nasty damage.
And the g*n stayed put.
It didn't drop
because the profile of the g*n
meant that there wasn't
enough leverage,
meaning this scenario is busted
on both counts.
Next we are positing
that he's pointing the g*n
at someone else,
and we're gonna hit it
in the side.
I personally have high hopes
for this one.
sh**ting the g*n out of the hand
in the hostage position.
Firing in 3, 2, 1.
[g*nsh*t]
Success!
Looks like it.
No damage to the hand.
No.
I don't see any damage to
the cowboy behind him, either.
No.
Jamie:
In the hostage position,
we can see that the b*llet got
caught squarely on the g*n
and delivered
most of its energy.
Nice sh**ting,
inanimate sh**ter.
That, in combination
with the fact
that there was a little leverage
going like this
as a result of that hit,
meant that this actually
came out of the guy's hand.
[g*nsh*t]
Narrator:
So, the orientation of the g*n
drastically alters
the disarming outcome.
But, as for the "unharmed"
half of the myth...
well, there's a whole lot
of lead flying around.
Remember, if you're sh**ting
a g*n out of someone's hand,
it's 'cause you don't want
to hurt them
and you definitely
don't want to k*ll them,
and our two cowboys here
have sustained a lot of damage.
Every piece of yellow tape
represents either a graze,
which would cut you,
or a hit that, ooh,
really might k*ll you.
We've got a lot of time
to aim...
more time than a cowboy
would have.
This leads me to believe
this might not be
the most efficacious method
for disarming someone safely.
So, what is it like
when one of these gets shot
out of your hand?
I think that it would sting
like hell.
I think it would be
like hitting something hard
with a baseball bat.
Aw! Aah!
So, what I'm gonna do
is take this p*stol,
use it as a template
to take an aluminum plate,
put some g*n handles on it,
and a big paddle out here.
See where I'm going with this?
And then I'm gonna have Jamie
hit that paddle
with something
like a baseball bat
and see how hard it is
to hold on.
I think I might want
to let go immediately.
We're getting close.
You don't know this about me,
but I have a particular penchant
for objects
that were clearly made
for a very specific function
and yet what that function
might be has been lost to time.
This definitely
falls into that category.
[Laughs]
Ta-da!
I'm very pleased.
I can say, without reservation,
this is my favorite thing
I've ever built for this show.
Yeah.
If you will hold that.
Narrator: And, with a little
help from Slugger Hyneman,
Adam is going to put his new
favorite toy to the test.
[Sighs]
My eyes are closed.
Aah!
[Horn honks]
Wow!
Ow.
- [Laughs]
- Yeah.
No, there's no way you'd be
holding on to that thing.
Gah, that hurt!
And here's how much it hurt
in glorious, technicolored,
thousand-frames-a-second
slow motion.
The shock and pain in Adam's
face was really evident
and, may I say,
also really satisfying.
But how does that relate
to a b*llet hitting a g*n
in terms of energy transfer?
Well, on the one hand,
we have a bat... 800 grams.
It was traveling
and that gives us
a potential energy
of 428 foot-pounds' force.
On the other hand,
we have a b*llet...
traveling 613 miles per hour,
and the potential energy there
is 416 foot-pounds' force.
Those numbers
are basically the same,
and yet, somehow,
I'm not gonna be satisfied
unless I get something
really close
to an actual b*llet
hitting an actual g*n
and one of us holding on to it.
All right,
so, the question is,
could the bus bridge the gap
just like in the movie?
I think we all know
the answer. Nope.
Yeah, you can't just
switch off gravity.
The moment the front tires
leave the edge, it's going down.
And what you see in the movie
is a special effect.
Yeah, they get the bus
to "take off" by using a ramp,
and then,
with some clever editing,
the rest of it's just faked.
Yeah, but what
I want to know...
is the central premise
possible?
Can you get a bus jump
just like the one in the movie
to actually happen?
Great. So, why don't we build
a ramp,
say, as if there was
just a pile of dirt
sitting at the end
of the freeway?
Perfect.
But, since it's still
too dangerous
for any of us
to drive the bus,
even channeling the spirit
of Keanu Reeves,
we're gonna have to
radio-control a full-size bus.
- Well, let's do it.
- Cool.
[Horn honks]
Narrator: So, as the small-scale
setup clearly illustrated,
the jump as per the movie
cannot be made.
But what if there was a ramp?
What if the bus took off with
a more realistic trajectory?
Would the 50-foot jump
then be possible?
To find out, it's full steam
ahead with a full-size bus.
Come on board!
Now, obviously,
I'm not gonna be driving the bus
when we try and jump it,
and neither is anyone else.
So, the first job
is to take the human element
out of the equation.
So, I got my box of goodies.
High-torque electric motor,
pneumatic cylinders,
pneumatic valves,
servo controllers.
Now, the trick
is to take all of this
and replace the driver so we
can control the bus remotely.
Adam and Jamie
have done this before,
but that was a different bus,
so I am starting from scratch.
So, using
Adam and Jamie's design,
Grant will be steering
and pressing the pedals
from the trailing pickup truck.
Now, to press these pedals,
I've got this
pneumatic cylinder.
So, I'm gonna have one each for
the throttle and for the brake.
It'll just be like this.
Waaaah!
And then hit the jump.
Yeah! Aah! Pssh!
Exactly like that.
Except at the end, it'll be
like, "Yay! We made it!"
What you're not gonna hear
is "Oh, my God!
It's out of control!"
Because I'm gonna make sure that
it doesn't go out of control.
Narrator: With everything,
eh, almost under control
in the remote-control
department,
let's check out the ramp action.
Tory: So, this is how
we're doing our ramp.
We have a 40-foot container
that we're cutting on a diagonal
to the angle that we need
for our bus to jump properly.
Right now, what we're doing
is we're just cutting through
the corrugated steel.
Once that's done, we're
gonna cut through the edges
and then pull
the whole thing off,
so we'll have two halves,
and we'll flip them over.
That way, we'll have a ramp.
Now, Jamie and Adam did this
in the Mohave Desert
when they were doing
the Jato rocket car.
However, ours
has to carry the weight
of a 24,000-pound bus.
So, we are gonna
have to reinforce
the inside of this with steel,
so that way,
when the bus hits the ramp,
the whole ramp
doesn't just crumble
underneath the weight
of the bus.
Narrator:
Sounds easy, but the team spends
a long, hot, dirty day
bracing and reinforcing
the structure
before they can move it to the
runway for the final touches.
[Tory speaks indistinctly]
So, the first half of the ramp
is loaded on the truck.
It's going out to the runway.
Once we have the other one
loaded up,
we still have to put
the two halves together
and then weld them and then skin
the top with plywood
so that the bus has something
to run up.
Narrator:
Back at the shop...
Rise! Rise!
...Grant's almost done...
I think
we have steering!
...and he's so confident,
he's ready to put his tool pouch
where his mouth is...
There are so many safety
interlocks in place
that, if this bus
goes out of control,
I'll, uh...
I'll eat my moldy tool case.
Narrator: A confidence
that is only bolstered
after his arrival at Alameda...
Yeah!
Look, ma! No hands!
Narrator:
...because out on the runway,
early tests
of the remote-control setup
are looking real good.
Yeah!
Well, I hope Grant's having fun
with the little bus.
[Laughs]
I think I'm getting
the hang of this.
Let's see what this baby does
at 70.
I drive R2-D2.
I can drive a bus.
Over there, tinking around,
staying clean
while we're out here welding,
getting dirty, breaking our
backs building this ramp.
[Sighs]
All right,
maybe I'm a little bitter.
Aren't there any,
like, massage-therapy myths?
That's it.
We're done.
Can you believe it?
Wait for me!
Tory: Oh. You done
playing with your bus?
So, without resorting
to sh**ting at each other...
an obvious no-no...
Jamie's come up
with an ingenious plan
that will exactly re-create
the experience.
Jamie: As we know,
Newton's Third Law says
that for every action, there is
an equal and opposite reaction.
So, if I were to make a g*n
that fires a b*llet
in the exact opposite direction
that an incoming b*llet
would have hit it at,
then my reaction, being the guy
that's holding the g*n,
should be exactly the same.
Narrator:
A double-barreled handgun
that is the perfect embodiment
of Newton's Third Law...
that every action has an equal
and opposite reaction.
The b*llet fired will push back
on the handheld barrel
with the same force
as the target g*n would receive.
In a word, genius.
Adam:
What do you call it?
I call it "Newton's Law."
For every action, there's
an equal and opposite reaction.
- I love it!
- [Imitates g*nsh*t]
Well,
let's test it out.
Okay.
But outside in the bunker,
the testing reveals
an unforeseen design flaw.
[Both laugh]
That's a little bit
of a letdown.
That's a lot of a letdown.
That didn't work at all.
Well, Newton's Law may work,
but this one didn't.
Turns out that these b*ll*ts
are only made to go off
when the primer is hit,
and they don't like to go off
with a fuse.
So, I've got to go back
to the drawing board.
Narrator:
A subtle modification or two,
and our g*n guru soon gets
a handle on the situation.
Adam: Have you got
a solution yet?
Actually, I do.
You're gonna love this.
It's simple.
We didn't need
to go to the trouble
of making
two separate barrels.
All we need to do
is have two separate handles.
It's the same
equal and opposite reaction.
Ingenious. I love it.
So, it's Newton's Law Mark 2,
and it works like this.
While holding the handle,
the real g*n is fired remotely,
imparting an equal and opposite
force of the b*llet
to the hand gripping the handle.
Genius... again.
[Chuckles]
Narrator:
And back down at the g*n range,
Jamie's design has got Adam's
entrepreneurial juices flowing.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a
special surprise for you today.
From Mythbusters Labs
and Hynemania Industries
comes a mix of Hoosier ingenuity
and total insanity.
I bring to you
the Hyneman Roulette 6000.
Yes, with this g*n,
not only can you play the most
advanced game
of Russian roulette
ever devised,
but every shot is a surprise,
keeping life
on the uncertain footing
it was always meant to be.
Buy yours today!
Welcome to the Mythbus 2.
Step on board.
Whoa.
Narrator:
In an attempt to find out
if a bus could jump a 50-foot
gap in an elevated freeway,
Tory, Grant, and Jessi
are about to launch
this remote-control bus
off this ramp.
But please read the small print.
All right, so, there's something
that we want to make very clear
about this ramp.
If you watch the DVD extras,
you will find
that they actually had a ramp
with a pneumatic kicker
at the end
to help give that bus
a little lift and distance
that it needed to make that gap.
Well, we're not trying
to re-create
movie visual effects here.
We're trying to give you
a real-life situation,
as if there just so happened
to be a pile of dirt or sand
right at the end of the road.
First up, the guys, who have
a turbulent relationship
with remote-control
runaway vehicles...
Whoops.
...want to test Grant's
fail-safe,
foolproof override k*ll switch.
All right,
this is slow-speed test.
Checking the brakes.
Here we go in 3, 2, 1.
Grant: Oh, my God.
This is crazy.
We're at 30 miles an hour
and holding.
k*ll it.
k*lling the switch.
- Yes!
- Great.
Jessi: Whoo-hoo!
- Yeah!
Good job, Grant.
Narrator: So, unfortunately,
no runaway vehicles today.
So, what's next?
All right,
so, we can stop it,
but the thing about it,
though, is, in the movie,
the bus got up
to 70 miles an hour.
How fast
can this bus go?
- As a matter of fact,
I have no idea.
- Well, let's test it.
Narrator: Of course, the speed
at which the bus is going
as it hits the top of the ramp
is crucial.
Let's find out what she can do.
So, this is full-speed test
in 3, 2, 1.
Hit it.
sh**ting off to the right.
Stay... yeah, you stay here.
Good.
It's going all over the road.
Come on, get over.
Get back, get back.
There you go.
We're at 58 miles per hour.
Looks like
that's all she's got.
With the bus swerving wildly
and the speedometer topping out
at 58 miles per hour,
the guys call it...
k*lling it.
...and bring the bus
and top-speed test to a stop.
Whoo!
Tory: In the movie, their bus
is going 70 miles an hour.
Now, we just did a speed test
with our bus,
and ours was going more like
Narrator:
The other significant result
was the obvious difficulty
Grant was having
maintaining a straight course.
What I'm about to do is paint
a chute the width the ramp.
Now, this is gonna be our
point-of-no-return zone.
Now, if the bus is not lined up
with the ramp at this point,
we're gonna abort the mission.
Narrator: Grant will have to
steer the bus up the ramp
and jump it to here.
This is the distance
of the gap in the freeway,
adjusted for the bus's slower
top speed.
But where exactly it'll land,
there's only one way
to find out.
With days and days of work
all leading
to this one final test...
Very nervous.
Narrator: Nerves are on edge
and frayed.
I've never seen him so jumpy.
So, this is the real deal.
I mean, we are going for it.
There's no more scale models.
I mean,
if we don't hit that ramp,
this is, like, totally ruined.
We only have one shot at this.
All right, so,
this is the real deal.
This is full-scale bus jump.
There's no turning back now.
You guys ready?
Grant: Ready.
- Born ready.
All right.
Let's do it.
[Laughs]
Here we go!
Let's get that bus
to jump.
Grant:
Further back, Jessi.
Going all over the road.
- Better, though.
- Get in the center.
Get in the center.
There you go.
There's your line
right there, buddy.
- Right there.
- 35 miles an hour.
Come on, get over.
Get back, get back.
- There you go.
- Good job.
We're at 50 miles an hour.
Come on, Grant.
k*ll it, k*ll it, k*ll it!
k*ll! k*ll! k*ll!
We are k*lling the bus.
We lost control.
That was close.
Oh, my God.
Tory: Tensions are running
a little high right now.
[Horn honks]
Uh, we just did a first test,
and Grant was all over the road.
All right, let's reset.
Tory:
It's not looking good so far.
I'm telling you,
you do not want to miss this.
Narrator:
Here's how it's going to work.
Adam will be holding
Newton's Law Mark 2
by the second handle.
There you go.
Like that.
Narrator: Jamie will pull
the trigger remotely,
maintaining that crucial
element of surprise.
Okay, Tex, if he blinks,
sh**t him.
And the b*llet will push back
on Adam's hand
with equal force to that
of a b*llet hitting the g*n.
First up is the draw position.
In this scenario,
I am just pulling my g*n
out of its holster
when Sheriff Buster there
takes a crack shot,
hitting my side arm on its top.
From everything
we've tested so far,
I think I'm gonna drop that g*n.
- Okay, the g*n is hot.
- Understood.
All right.
Draw position.
Fire when ready,
I guess.
h*! [laughs]
That is scary as hell.
[Laughs]
You didn't drop it, though.
Not even close.
And you weren't ready
for it.
I was totally
not ready for it.
Adam: It lacked all the shock
of the target p*stol hit
with a baseball bat.
It didn't have any of that
kind of pain aspect to it.
It was more like a dull thud.
So, uh, I didn't drop that g*n.
And, from everything
we've seen so far,
I totally didn't expect
that result,
so Jamie's gonna have a go
with it.
Adam: All right.
You ready, Jamie?
Yeah, I'm ready.
And then we'll see
where we stand.
[g*nsh*t]
He dropped it.
Narrator:
Yep, Jumpin' Jamie Hyneman...
It's a shock.
...was decidedly disarmed.
Jamie:
You can see clearly in this clip
how my hand
is being twisted by the g*n
as it receives the impact
from the b*llet,
and it's being pushed right
beyond the grasp of my fingers.
With Adam holding on and Jamie
surprised into letting go,
the draw position
ends in a draw.
Next up is the hostage position.
In this scenario,
I'm not pointing the g*n
at Sheriff Buster
but at Jamie here.
And, to protect
his friend Jamie,
Sheriff Buster takes a crack
shot at the side of my g*n.
And, from everything
we've seen so far,
I think I'm dropping that g*n
like a hot potato.
Me too.
All right,
hostage position.
You may fire
when I'm not ready.
[g*nsh*t]
I didn't let go.
I noticed that.
Admit it.
You're clenching.
I'm not clenching.
You got to have a turn.
Your turn.
Here you go.
Mr. Hyneman
in the hostage position.
When's it gonna be?
[Chuckles]
[g*nsh*t]
And he dropped it again.
This is fascinating.
What I'm seeing is that this
isn't so much about the force
that it takes to remove this g*n
from my hand.
It's about the reaction
that I have
to the jolt that I'm feeling,
and it makes me jump,
and I let go.
[g*nsh*t]
Editors, can I get
a split screen, please,
of that last test?
Thank you.
Now, you may be wondering,
looking at this,
why I'm holding on to my p*stol
while Jamie lets go of his.
This could be explained by the
fact that I endured so much pain
holding on to the target p*stol
that I built
while Jamie hit it
with a baseball bat...
- Aah!
- Yeah, like that...
that I'm inured to the shock
and pain of this new rig.
But, really, I think
it comes down to something else.
I think it's just the fact
that everyone's
a little bit different,
and that means
that this technique...
sh**ting a g*n
out of your opponent's hand...
is never gonna be
a surefire technique.
Narrator:
But they're not done yet.
Sheriff Buster...
...Jumpin' Jamie Hyneman...
And Adam "Clench" Savage
have yet to test
the shootout position.
[g*nsh*t]
Aah!
[g*nsh*t]
[Laughs]
[Blows]
We no longer need
the secondary handle.
This is very much like
naturally sh**ting a g*n.
I'll be pointing the g*n
directly at my cowboy
down there,
except the only difference is
Jamie will be activating the
trigger without my knowledge.
[g*nsh*t]
[Laughs]
That is terrifying.
[g*nsh*t]
Narrator:
And that just leaves Jamie.
[g*nsh*t]
Jamie: Yeah, I held on to it.
I mean, it's funny.
It shocks you the same way
the others do,
but it pushes itself
deeper into your hand.
Well, the g*n is built to take
force in exactly that direction.
I think of all
the sh**ting positions,
this one's the least likely
to be knocked out of your hand.
[g*nsh*t]
So, it's been
a Russian roulette of results,
but a result there is.
Jamie:
It's clear from our testing
that sh**ting a g*n
out of somebody's hand
should be your very last option.
For one thing,
that g*n is a tiny target,
and you pretty much
have to hit it on a bull's-eye
to have any effect.
Secondly, if you do hit the g*n,
the shrapnel, or ricochets,
are likely
to actually hurt your guy.
Narrator:
So, if you do ever find yourself
in a western duel, know this.
You might be able to sh**t
the g*n out of someone's hand,
but chances are...
Someone's gonna get hurt.
Narrator: But it takes more
than a wildly out-of-control
remote-control bus
to stop the Mythbusters.
Cue take 2.
- Come on.
- Over to the right.
All right, k*lling it, k*lling
it, k*lling it, k*lling it.
Oh [horn honks]
There it goes!
Oh.
That's not good.
Dang!
And we took out the fence.
That's an affirmative.
A sudden loss of power
to the steering
sent the bus into
an all-too-familiar obstacle.
But there is good news.
The bus is okay.
Just a little fender bender.
Not even a scratch.
Not the first fence
we've taken out here at Alameda.
Well, the k*ll switch worked.
That's good news.
What happened?
Ran out
of receiver battery.
- So, we just lost control of
steering and whatnot?
- Yeah.
There it goes!
I'm not eating
my multi-tool pouch just yet.
Tory: Oh.
And I get to choose...
How I eat it.
Maybe fried with a little bit
of powdered sugar.
Narrator:
While Grant contemplates
a multi-tool-pouch doughnut
and replaces
the steering servo's batteries,
the light fades,
forcing the team
to abandon the runway.
The following day,
after a full systems check,
there's renewed optimism
in the air.
Tory: We're back out here.
It's a new day.
I'm feeling confident.
[Exhales sharply]
I'm so excited!
Tory: We're gonna hit that ramp.
Are we gonna make the distance?
Don't know.
But we're gonna hit that ramp.
This is it.
This is full-scale bus jump.
This is not a drill.
In 3, 2, 1.
Hit it.
Stay on target.
Get back on.
Grant, where you going?
Whoo! Losing control.
k*ll! k*ll! k*ll!
k*ll! k*ll! k*ll!
k*lled it,
k*lled it, k*lled it.
Narrator:
And, chapter after chapter,
that's the story
for the next few hours.
If it isn't down to the extreme
difficulty of steering...
Oh, my God.
k*ll it, k*ll it.
Oh, my God.
[Laughs]
That could have been
disastrous.
...it's a mechanical failure...
k*lling it.
...or a radio-signal failure...
[laughs]
Grant: I thought I had it,
and then it wasn't responding.
Narrator:
...or an electrical failure
that leads
to an electrical fire.
I thought this was
a non-smoking bus.
No, apparently not.
And you could say
it's taking its toll.
[Horn honks]
Grant seems a little edgy
right now.
He's like one of those
old, grumpy bus drivers.
[Bell dings]
That's my stop.
Did you ring that bell?!
This ain't a stop!
Damn.
Get off this bus!
Get off!
Narrator:
But the team sticks at it.
And despite some
attractive-sounding advice
from Tory...
I say we just
load this thing up with C-4,
and, if it gets under 50,
we blow it up.
Then we have
a confirmed myth.
Grant: Copy that.
Narrator: They run through
the system once more.
And once again,
it's all down to Grant.
Can he conquer
the oversensitive steering
and guide the bus
going at top speed
onto what looks like
a very small ramp?
- Hit it.
- Come on.
Come on, dude,
get back on line.
Uh-oh.
We're losing it.
We're losing it.
Get back over.
Come on, Grant.
Hold it. No!
Oh, crap.
No return.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
[Gasps]
[Laughter]
Whoo!
[Laughter]
Well,
ladies and gentlemen...
Oh, my God!
I think that's it.
That was crazy.
Grant: Did that look easy?
'Cause it wasn't.
It was really, really hard.
The steering on the bus
is a little tricky
because you're following it.
All you see is kind of
the back end swerving,
and you have to correct
for that.
Trying to keep up,
keep correcting the bus,
keep correcting it.
And it got a little swervy
right towards the end,
but I saw the ramp coming up,
and I made the last move
to get us right on the ramp.
Yes, hit the ramp.
We caught air,
and that's the important thing.
Did the bus go the entire
distance of the gap?
No, unfortunately.
Oh! Okay.
I think that is where
the bus landed.
Look at that.
Impact zone.
God, that thing is huge.
That gouge is massive.
Yeah, but, I mean, lookit.
This is our target distance.
Dude,
that's a long way.
I mean, we didn't even
come close.
Jessi:
Not even halfway.
And you know what?
In the movie,
they didn't have a ramp.
Narrator:
Okay, the good news...
just like the movie, the bus,
before hitting
the safety barrier, at least,
was relatively unharmed.
But here's the "but."
Even with a ramp,
the bus failed by a long way
to clear the gap in the freeway,
which would have meant a tragic
and very un-Hollywood-like
end to the movie.
Tory: All right,
this one's looking busted.
Busted!
Busted.
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07x21 - Unarmed and Unharmed
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A weekly documentary in which two Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk urban legends by directly testing them.
A weekly documentary in which two Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk urban legends by directly testing them.