OMG I just looked up "shooting a propane tank"

[RonSunn]

On you tube, that is some really scary stuff just the BBQ size can create a huge fireball.

NOTE: Be prepared to see stupid people do stupid crap if you look it up.

[liberal N proud]

1. It's amazing how many stupid people are doing it and posting to youtube

You cannot predict where those things go when they explode. Just knocking off the valve without and explosion can be deadly.

[ORDagnabbit]

2. mythbusters showed this was basically an urban legend...even with tracers...

they ended up having to blow it up with High Explosives...

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/33060-mythbusters-exploding-propane-tank-video.htm

[Oregone]

4. That sounds like my experience really

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. put a roadflare or ignition source near the propane tank,

No, the bullet itself would not ignite the propane.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. but did they try tying a flare to it, and THEN shooting it?

That's how they did it in 'Dawn of the Dead'.

[Warpy]

8. Yeah, you pretty much need to open the valve wide

and even then only what escapes into an enclosed area will really explode with any effect.

The goober had a busted out window in the back of that Pathfinder. Even if he'd had the sense to spill the gasoline and start that car on fire, it's doubtful if the internal temperature would have gotten high enough to burst those propane tanks. Those things are designed to survive stupidity.

[backscatter712]

15. I got a kick out of the experiments with them setting a propane tank on a gas stove burner.

They had to drill partially through the tank to get it to controllably fail in a hole through the bottom like a rocket (otherwise the tank just blows itself apart, but they got some spectacular fireballs and launched the tank a significant distance!

[Oregone]

3. My dad and I used to do this with the little torch tanks

I think they were propane...they make good targets with a decent rifle

Never made much of a boom. Actually, they were an utter disappointment (gas shot out of the holes really fast).

[ipfilter]

14. The outside gets really cold.

That's about it.

[slackmaster]

7. It's very entertaining and can be extremely dangerous when not done safely

The last one I witnessed in person was in a rock quarry in Nevada. There was nothing flammable anywhere near the tank, except for a burning highway flare behind it.

Dude shot it with a tracer round - KA-FWOOOOOOOOOOOOM! 20-foot ball of flame that kept burning for a loooooooong time.

[hlthe2b]

9. I believe that Klieboldt and Harris (Columbine shooters)

had propane tanks in place, planning a fiery explosion--didn't work, however.

[NNN0LHI]

10. We used to shoot these Railroad torpedoes with our BB guns and they'd make one hell of an explosion

When we were kids we would hang them on the side of a 55 gallon drum and when you would hit the thing it would blow a huge hole right through the can. Big booms.

Don

[Roon]

11. My buddy found one of those in his grandfather's garage

what are those used for? We never found out.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Put on the tracks during low visibility and or lack of communications to get the train to slow/stop

Basically for emergencies. They go off when the train runs over them and the engineer can hear it. The ones we had came out of a friends garage when we were growing up too. His dad worked for the RR and had them in there.

Don

[Roon]

16. ahhh! Kinda like an audible flare

cool!! Thanks for the info!

[melm00se]

13. got a newsflash for everyone here

putting propane tanks in a car and then opening the valve could create what the military calls an FAE (or Fuel Air Explosion) which is one of the closest things you can get to a nuclear explosion via conventional means.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/fae.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9xCgNdZPKk

[Xithras]

17. You think that's bad? Look up "acetylene bomb"

You can buy it at any welding supply store. Propane is for beginners :evilgrin:

[HopeHoops]

18. The Blues Brothers in the phone booth next to the propane tank at the Howard Johnson.

Add a chick with a flame thrower and BOOM - lots of spare change - at least seven dollars!