Your Bullets Are Useless

I would come to my senses pretty quick if there was a crossbow bolt sticking out of my chest.

FYI, unless a person's wearing a ceramic plate under their body armor, an arrow or bolt will go right through a bullet proof vest.

While not impossible to set off ammo with microwaves, the cartridge case itself would act as a shield to the energy. It would reflect off.

Also, there isn't much water in gunpowder, which is what microwave energy needs to be absorbed.


So I think ammo is safe (from microwaves, anyway)

reply to post by ALLis0NE


Yes, a standard, 2-3 inch thick lead box should keep them safe. Not positive, though.

reply to post by Ex_MislTech


I have read the patent application myself and a patent was granted to the DOD in 06.

It also said that the system was capable of nuetralizing space vehicles, I cant remember the exact language but it was clear that it would be used against satellites and warheads, and locating and destroying explosive materials
And from the application it seemd as though the orbital system was already deployed.
if it is what it appears to be its an "Ace in the hole" for us and wont be used publicly till we really really need it.

Originally posted by mazzroth
I just put a couple of homemade bullets in my microwave ( I was positive this is a load of garbage ) and wollah...nothing after 10 minutes.

Well Heath won the posthumous oscar...someone give this guy a posthumous Darwin.

I would think that any energy weapon with enough power to cook off ammunition or explosives would fry whatever people were in the area along with the explosives. It's not like somebody could drive down a street in a Humvee, sweeping a beam weapon across the houses and detonating all of the ammunition inside, thus disarming the populous. That would indiscriminately fry any people in the houses. You know what happens when you put a frog in the microwave? Froggie dies, fast and painfully.

Sweeping a beam weapon across a crowd of people to detonate their ammunition would burn the people before it set anything off. Such weapons would be large and expensive, and there likely won't be enough of them to matter anytime soon. Beam weapons are in development, but battery and capacitor technology just doesn't exist yet for them to be practical. Beam weapons require a lot of energy.

Lets say that that your ammo does explode despite the metal casing due to microwaves, all you would have to do is put you ammo in an old broken microwave. If a microwave can keep microwaves in, it can keep them out.

problem solved