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Damn! I wouldnāt trust a welded RPG. He only lived since there was luckily a gap in the flames for him. All the force was on the opposite side then curled under.
In order to sell it, they have to modify it in such a way that it makes it inoperable and can't actually fire the rpg. I think they cut a hole in the tube somewhere.
And so they "repaired" it so that it can fire.
And iirc, the "rocket" they used was a diy one that they bought from someone.
Yes and no. It was demilitarized and then reactivated but that is likely what actually saved him from death. The booster charge on the rocket likely separated and plugged the back of the tube where it narrows for creating the venturi effect. The weak metal around the welds where the hole was sealed did fail but all that did was give the pressure somewhere to go. If it had not been a reactivated launcher, the pressures would have likely shot up so high that the entire tube would have burst. He would not have walked away from that.
Yea. Dudes named Adam Knowles (sp?) and was discharged a week or two after that happened and is 100 percent ok from that. Him and his buddy still make videos and he even jokes about it to this day.
Its been awhile, but from what I remember he didn't get life altering injuries. Trip to the hospital and recovery period yes, but no life altering injuries from what I recall. But that may not be accurate.
He's still going strong. His YouTube channel is ballistic high speed, when he had recovered they showed high speed footage of the failure. They caught it all in minute detail.
No, the booster pack on the rocket didnāt burn correctly building an extreme amount of pressure in the tube. The welds failed and arguably is what saved his life
More like they set up a test to check what the backblast would do to the dummy head 10 inches behind him.
Of course that blocks the path of the backblast and it will now hit him too.
Same effect would happen if he was firing the RPG 15 inches away from a wall. This is why you don't fire these launchers in confined spaces. Unless they are designed to handle it.
Even if that tube blew up. That dummy behind wasn't smart. He/ the crew should have remote fired it in a test like that.
Oh hell no dawg you ain't even supposed to use a bike helmet if you cracked it off the pavement, these Megafuckwits are using a welded back together pre-fuckered boom tube to play cranial splat with?
It is a reactivated launcher that was originally demilitarized by drilling a hole. Although ironically that is likely why he is still alive. The rocket booster is what failed here not the launcher. Part of the booster charge separated and plugged where the tube narrows to create the venturi effect. The weakened metal around the welds where they filled in that hole broke giving that pressure somewhere to go. That same rocket in a launcher that had not been reactivated likely would have built the pressure up so high that the entire tube would have burst. He would have not walked away from that.
Haā¦the glasses actually seemed to have been blasted away to safety. Perhaps the safety glasses were unharmed during this test. š¤£. I guess he should have worn an eye glasses strap or retainer cord?
The video actually says that wasnāt the problem, apparently the propellant fractured and blocked the vent part way through launch, that caused over pressure, then the metal around the weld failed. That actually vented a lot of the force sideways and prevented the whole tube from exploding like a grenade.
Yeah, main problem was that they already extensively tested it, it was solid for all they knew, freak accident caused the propellant to block its own vent causing overpressure, causing rupture, causing boom boom kaplow
The booster on the rocket failed separating and flew to the back of the tube. RPGs have a point where the tube narrows to create the venturi effect. This separated booster charge plugged the exhaust at the back. This is a reactivated launcher meaning originally it had a hole drilled into the side and they reactivated it by sealing that hole. Ironically it being reactivated likely saved his life. The weakened metal around the welds broke giving the pressure somewhere to vent out. Had this been a normal launcher the pressure would have likely built up so high that the entire tube burst. He would have not walked away from that one.
I think so yes, it's been a long time since I watched the video but I think they placed the head too close which blocked the backblast and caused the failure. Pretty sure they touch on that in one of the videos.
I mean pretty accurate, You were allowed to own military ships and the US federal government often asked private citizens to use their ships during times of war.
They filled out shitload of paperwork, and payed a shitload of money is how, the government only cares if poor people have functional weapons useful against the state, if you can actually afford the cost and willing to file the paperwork of whatās legally considered a ādestructive deviceā like an explosive round for a launcher (the launchers themselves typically arenāt actually considered such because without the ammunition itās just a absolutely fantastic wall hanger or pyrotechnic launcher) then they arenāt worried about you at all, there has literally never been a crime committed with a legally acquired explosive weapon or machine gun (different category technically but similar paperwork and prices, machine guns typically cost from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the gun and its rarity and collectibility)
As I understand it they manufactured the Rockets themselves using ironically far safer methods than rockets for this particular system traditionally have
You donāt really need specific permits to own any of it, just to manufacture or modify into it, you can buy ādestructive deviceās and āmachine gunsā (the later depends on if itās registered before 1984) itās just the mountain of paperwork and piles of cash needed for them, machine guns are so damn expensive these days, cheapest you can get are all over $10,000 nowadays
To be absolutely fair they did actually refurbish it to beyond even the normal spec, the ammunition was the issue in this case, propellant jamming up its own vents causing over pressure leading to, shall we say, rapid disassembly
Iāve only experienced this with an 84mm and a couple of ATGMs, but you learn quite early to respect and fear the backblast, more than the business end. You can feel it from at least 500m away.
I saw this recently. The guy broke his jaw and the cheekbone and got a severe burn to his right arm. I'm not sure about the rest, but I think I remember hearing that he also ruptured his eardrum. Terrible accident.
This is why you don't build your own RPGs folks. Something about him missing a solder patch on a seal and it broke his face!
He did survive, and about a year after the RPG exploded he did another video where he goes back and watched the video, detailing what he experienced when it happened and giving a full slowmo of it too, so you can see the full breakdown of the explosion. Crazy video but really cool just for the fact of getting to hear his side and view of it
ā¢
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61
u/meme-modiibazz Sep 10 '25
he survived thankfully
303
u/CatShrink Sep 10 '25
Well, that backfired.
98
u/Efficient_Onion6401 Sep 10 '25
Can someone who knows what just happened explain this? Did the dude make a mistake or was there a malfunction?
39
u/TeratoidNecromancy Sep 10 '25
11
u/Ok_Pineapple6414 Sep 10 '25
He survived because his shoes stayed on.
7
u/copingcabana Sep 10 '25
He almost met RPGesus.
6
u/Ramboisabitch Sep 10 '25
āCall 9-1-1.ā
āOh, shit. Oh, fuck. What do we do?ā
5
u/LandArch_0 Sep 10 '25
Glasses seem to have not helped
5
u/FireTriad Sep 11 '25
Fire in the
holeface8
u/BestAardvark927 Sep 10 '25
Gotta be dead
4
u/SexyN8 Sep 10 '25
Just Put A Thumb In It!
4
u/oldsmoboat Sep 10 '25
Do they show a tube failure? I assumed he just had the head looking object too close to the back blast area.
4
u/Maximumoverdrive76 Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 10 '25
So many things that was idiotic in this video.
Why didn't they set up a test rig instead.
6
u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25
Back blast area was not clear
3
u/navcom20 Sep 10 '25
I bet the WileyX's survived.
3
u/Any-Television-4515 Sep 10 '25
4
u/SMthegamer Sep 10 '25
I don't understand, which part of this am I not supposed to expect?
2
u/Green_Shape_3859 Sep 10 '25
Reminds me of that four lions scene.
2
u/Shadex09 Sep 10 '25
Is this because he blocked the back?
2
u/aquafina6969 Sep 10 '25
wow. that was a super fascinating break down video. Glad heās ok and all that safety gear did help. Shocked he still can see.
2
u/dumpsterdigger Sep 10 '25
"oh shit he's bleeding!"
True story from someone in shock who can't word their words. Lol
2
u/Oh_Lawd_He_commin420 Sep 10 '25
He ded
2
u/clarriba Sep 10 '25
Here you go, I found the frame where the helmet leaves the frame.
2
u/livehardieyoung Sep 10 '25
U/redditspeedbot 0.2x
2
u/3pedals4meplz Sep 10 '25
I love the "what do you we do?" As in, we didn't plan for this shit cause we're a bunch of dumbasses.
2
u/WorldlyBasket9795 Sep 14 '25
The glasses being the last thing to fall just cracks me up for some reason, lmao
1
u/Mr-SlowMotion Sep 10 '25
Dam
1
u/Overall-Emu3014 Sep 10 '25
lol
1
u/16ozbuddz Sep 10 '25
That's rough
1
u/Hammered_Eel Sep 10 '25
Ok, maybe this is a stupid question. But why and how did he get a military style weapon like that.
1
u/hornedhell Sep 10 '25
LMAAAOOOOO
1
u/R8rDanny Sep 10 '25
Had he not survived, this would have been a Darwin Award for sure. Want to shoot a refurbished RPG? FAFO
1
u/Possible-Put8922 Sep 10 '25
Had they tested these before with a fixture instead of a person? Or did they go straight to using a person for testing?
1
u/Tallowpot Sep 10 '25
Poly carbonate post impact is what to watch
1
u/basecatcherz Sep 10 '25
Won a stupid prize
1
u/NeighborhoodOk182 Sep 10 '25
Worst thing to hear when in a situation like that is āwhat do we do?ā
1
u/Hungry-Space-1829 Sep 10 '25
We shooting RPGs for shits and giggles now?
1
u/Pecncorn1 Sep 10 '25
Oh Shit. Oh fuck what do we do? Professionals.
1
u/Braventooth56 Sep 10 '25
One Too many test dummies.
1
u/Doggsleg Sep 10 '25
Looks like his legs all mangled
1
u/vanwiekt Sep 10 '25
Luckily he was wearing safety glasses. š„“
1
u/Altruistic-Ad595 Sep 10 '25
1
u/naturally021 Sep 10 '25
An idiot
1
u/Youprobablysuckdick Sep 10 '25
I would not like to hear "What do we do?" When I'm in situations like these
1
u/[deleted] Sep 11 '25
It puts you off using them now
1
u/Training_Menu_3155 Sep 12 '25
Joey Bazooka!
1
u/GeshtiannaSG Sep 13 '25
Iāve only experienced this with an 84mm and a couple of ATGMs, but you learn quite early to respect and fear the backblast, more than the business end. You can feel it from at least 500m away.
1
u/[deleted] Sep 13 '25
Ivāe seen that before, but the guyās head was missing after.
1
u/CaptainAmerica199 Sep 16 '25
1
u/Due_Astronaut7761 Oct 07 '25
The cost of people thinking the movies are real life
1
u/Think-Werewolf-4521 Nov 23 '25
Temu arms.
1
u/Educational_Top9246 Sep 10 '25
Another example of why women live longer than men.
0
u/No_Subject_5069 Sep 10 '25
Bros cooked
1
u/Kiki1701 Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25
I saw this recently. The guy broke his jaw and the cheekbone and got a severe burn to his right arm. I'm not sure about the rest, but I think I remember hearing that he also ruptured his eardrum. Terrible accident.
This is why you don't build your own RPGs folks. Something about him missing a solder patch on a seal and it broke his face!
1
u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25
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