Golf Balls = Indestructible?

[Blain]

Today a friend and I were at the range shooting a wide variety of firearms. My friend found a golf ball and decided he wanted to shoot it. So he stuck a stick in the ground and proceeded to blast it at 15 yards away with a .40 handgun. He told me he hit it several times, but it did no damage! I said impossible, you were just hitting it near the ground, which is why it bounced up! If you hit it dead on it should be split right down the middle...or so I thought!

He kept complaining that he wanted to hit it because he wanted a trophy to take home.

"Alright, I'll demolish it!"

I heroically declared as I brought out the BIG GUNS, and took my M14 rifle over. I sighted it up with the ball and shot it. The ball went bouncing in the air. I ran over expecting to see a hole straight through but.....to my surprise there was just a budge and misshapen area on part of the ball. I set it up and shot it 3 other times. How could a bullet that can go through steel not effect a golf ball??

I shot the ball with a 12 gauge slug and buckshot (which sent it flying the farthest) but it still only had dents on it and what looked like 2 slight small cuts in it....***? No way?

Another weird thing, upon inspection of the ground where we were shooting the ball, we found one of the 180 grain .40 fmj bullets.....WHOLE! It wasn't deformed, it wasn't split, or misshapen in any way! It had a slight indentation at the tip of the bullet. It was as if it was just dropped there. How the heck does that happen?

How the heck does a simple golf ball withstand armor piercing ammo?


What is going on here?

I wanted to murder that golfball, but after shooting it with buckshot it went flying into the brush and was not found...... All golf balls shall pay!!! They can't stand up to my guns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banghead:

 

[10-Ring]

Sounds like the challenge has been thrown down! Death to golf balls everywhere! I'm w/ a bro

 

[C.R.Sam]

Yet a bad stroke with an iron can cut one in half.

Sam

 

[Chuck Dye]

We used to play shooters' golf with actual golf balls but found other target because we tired of the cleanup chores. After being hit enough, regular golf balls, the ones that are built of rubber windings around a core, would come apart and scatter hundreds of rubber band segments. Were you shooting the solid practice balls?

 

[Blain]

I don't know *** I was shooting, man! All I know is that it was one tough motha!

Sounds like the challenge has been thrown down! Death to golf balls everywhere!

GET THE .50s!!!!!!!!! GET THE .50s!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ExpatGator]

The wife, kids and I shoot them all of the time. The solid core balls swallow .22's like nobody's business. Rounds from my son's .44 mag pass thru, but only leaves holes that look more like cuts. When you cut the shot up balls open you can find the .22 slugs inside and the .44 bullet channels are not nearly as damaging as we thought they would be. I guess that the incredible density of the modern golf balls accounts for their near indestructablility.

 

[xenophon]

time for bullet proof vests made out of golf ball core/covering, where's muh patent application

 

[sm]

7 iron

Disclaimer : Safety dealies and thingys apply ...Take one apart. Explains a lot.

Sam you and I sound like we were pretty good at chasin' the white balls. Just every now and then I figured I'd take the scenic route- you know to break up routine, get my green fees worth. Like alternate routes...

Oh with a firearm go for "cutting" the ball...45 ACP, and .357, work best...easier to tote 2 irons than a bagful ... I birdied that game

 

[Sisco]

Shot a liquid core one with a .357 once. It took off spinning and spewing a mist of whatever liquid they fill 'em with. Looked pretty cool.
Have never been able to repeat the phenomenon though.

 

[Mark Tyson]

The sphere is an inherently stable design - that's why nature's eggs are shaped the way they are, and why the ceilings of tunnels are circular. Back when they were testing nuclear weapons they found that titanium spheres could survive fairly close to the center of a nuclear explosion. There's a company out there that manufactures earth shelters in the shape of spheres and eggs.

The golf ball is probably designed to fly far with a minumum application of force, so it doesn't offer much resistance. This would also explain why the bullet isn't deformed. The ball is sturdy but not indestructible - it flies away before damage can be done. Try securing the ball against something - burying it in an earthen berm or sandbag wall for example.

You know, this is the kind of thing only guys would do . . .

 

[Bigjake]

WHARS ME BARRET?? ARR

 

[Glock_PhD]

With nothing holding the ball in place it will usualy just allow the bullet to slide off the side as it it launched in the opposite direction. Keep in mind that the area you would have to hit to not be hitting an angle is miniscule.

 

[Black Snowman]

Mike is on the right track. The balls are designed for as close to a true elastic collision as possible and convert most energy into movement. If they ball isn't secured penetration is very difficult. The jackets are made out of an extremely durable polymer called Surilyn. It will deform but return to it's molded shape even after some very severe impacts. Golf club head velocities can hit 200+ MPH and they can wieigh a half pound or more. That's a lot of energy to transfer and why the balls are made so tough.

 

[Red Label]

We mix golf and trap, One guy with the ball and club, the other guy with the shotgun

 

[Dave T]

I am told, or perhaps I should say "rumor has it", that either a 22-250 or a 220 Swift loaded with the 45-50g "Blitz" type bullets will devistate a liquid filled golf ball with a good center hit. Supposedly putting a golf course in good varmit country produced some targets of opportunity that couldn't be resisted (smiley face goes here).

 

[Tamara]

Rumor has it that the next-generation MBT will be armored with golfballium.

 

[whitebear]

If you really want to kill a golf ball, give it to my youngest Labrador Retriever - It'll last about 2 minutes!

She had a LOT of fun with a wound-construction ball - she peeled off the cover, then as the rubber band windings began to pop, the ball started rolling around and growing legs. She went nuts! Must have thought she'd run across a bionic spider or something...

 

[4v50 Gary]

Golf courses - a fine waste of a rifle range

Xenophon beat me to it. Golf-ball suits.

Bectcha if you had that ball secured so it couldn't fly away, a bullet will go through it.

Brings a whole new meaning to "fore!" Golf will never be the same.

 

[natedog]

Golf balls everywhere beware: THR has a bounty on your head.

And while we're on the subject of golf, I saw a bumper sticker that was pretty cool the other day:

Would I rather be driving a Titlest?
Nah.
I'd rather be driving my 1911

 

[El Tejon]

Golf balls tough?

Hah, sissy golf balls. They don't even last the morning with El Tejon.

Some golf balls are so cowardly they run off into the woods or dive into ponds to escape my wrath.

 

[C.R.Sam]

Golf ball trap should be played with two guns; not club n gun.
first shooter pops ball lower 1/8...
Ball goes nearly straight up....
Second shooter pops ball with shotgun....lessen he named McGivern.

Same rules for frog trap.
Cept first shooter aims barely behind and a tad low.
Second shooter.....green mist.

Sam

 

[Chipperman]

Indestructible Golf Balls-- Now you know your answer when a MMM asks why you need armour piercing ammo.


"If you really want to kill a golf ball, give it to my youngest Labrador Retriever - It'll last about 2 minutes!"

Be careful! I've had to slice open more than one dog to retrievea Golf Ball!!

 

[sm]

El Tejon, Good one !

CRSam, my "golf load" handicap ( 3dr) 1 1/8 oz of #8...for onery white dimpled variety loaded up the pheasant/golf load...forget the 7.5 shot...3 3/4 dr, 1 1/4 oz of hard # 5 shot. This "golf" load worked on ducks too.

" one may never know the when or where of next white dimpled orb encounter"


Me wonderin' if "caddy" evolved from "gun bearer"...both carry "iron" and advise what "iron" and how to approach and take objective...

 

[Kruzr]

Maybe Gaston Glock needs to look into this.

 

[Jason Demond]

I blew one in half with a S&W model 25 in .45LC, it was really quite neat. The inside was some kind of yellow plastic type material. One shot with a full power .45LC was all it took.

Now bowling pins make me mad, I have one that I have been shooting for two years now. My 200gr .45ACP target loads just bounce off it, it's like it is laughing at me! I thought I would get the last laugh though, when I broke out the AR10. The .308 went right through it, and just left a small hole. I was hoping it would disintegrate, but was left wanting.

I think I may burn this mocking bowling pin.