The Paper Crossbow Experiment! | Season 4 Episode 5 | Full Episode

Adam and Jamie explore a myth about a prisoner crafting a crossbow out of everyday items.

Using science as a tool, Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk rumours, urban legends and popular myths that have captivated the minds of many individuals.

#MythBusters #FactOrFiction

on this episode of Mythbusters Adam and Jamie unleash a deadly myth from super max prison are we going to try and shoot him in the head find out who’s the origami Swami in a buildoff to make a lethal crossbow out of paper you can’t keep me in here copper I’m going to get out and while they Slug It Out Tor Granton Carri knocked them back that’s terrible they’re drunk as they get the measure of some more vodka myths can I get a little privacy jeez who are The MythBusters Adam Savage Jamie heinan aren’t Trac rounds illegal Tori balachi science is fun Carrie Byron guess what I did today and Grant Imahara you guys ready for this between them over 50 years of special effects experience that’s what I’m talking about they don’t just tell the B they put them to the [Applause] test I’m this one straight from the fan site and I am indebted to the fan site this is an awesome myth uh The Story Goes that at the federal supermax prison in in Marian Illinois an inmate fashioned a crude crossbow using only newspaper parts of his food tray for the tip and the elastic from his underpants as a bow string and he’s able to use this crossbow to shoot and kill a fellow inmate from across a hall yeah I like this myth too I mean I’ve always had a fascination with crossbows I’ve had this one since I was a teenager that’s why there are no cats left in the neighborhood I can I could just see you why why thank you Father at any rate the first thing we need to do is uh find a list of the kinds of things that inmates actually have access to because there are limitations I’m sure absolutely before they get rocking with this jailhouse myth they want to see if it’s even feasible So Adam volunteers to spend a day behind the wire at notorious supermax facility San Quenton good morning you’re verell I’m verell you are Adam Savage I see your ID sir oh yes there you go okay well thank you welcome to San Quinn thank you very much shall we go take a look at what you guys let’s take a walk on inside all [Music] right this is our little one horse town I wanted to show off to you San Quinton this is the all of this I’m looking at this is the prison we sit on 440 Acres this is just a small part of it it’s only about 120 Acres you can see some of the new arriving inmates down there in Orange they just arrived at prison that tall building with the stripes and the small set of Windows across the top of it that’s your traditional death row with all the security weapons are rare behind bars right wrong a trip to the prison museum shows just how wrong I know it’s a personality flaw on my part but I really enjoy this part of the uh the area this is our uh the area where we keep the various types of creative Contraband that inmates have created inside the isn’t my God I’m just looking at it without any explanation I’m astonished by the the level of Ingenuity for starters how about a gun made entirely from plumbing parts fires a 32 caliber round it’s a semi-automatic bolt action and that device you see on the front that’s actually a flash guard oh my God Adam’s impressed inmates will use anything and everything to Fashion a weapon including you’ve guessed it newspaper now that looks like a paper spear like newspaper am I right well exactly it is newspaper and what they did is they created it made it into a shaft on the end that’s actually yeah that’s a styrofoam cup no tempered styrofoam arroe heads candy wrapper blow darts restroom revolvers perhaps a paper crossbow is not beyond the bounds of reason I’m looking at this news paper spear and I’m looking at that crossbow have you guys ever had anyone build a a crossbow or Arrow weapon out of paper only well paper crossbows I have seen but not not as common uh they will normally take the underwear elastic they’ll braid it together tie one end each of the cell bars and then pull it back and wait for you to walk past and then shoot the projectile at you so confirmation of one part of the myth underpant powered weapons are used in prison not surprisingly high-risk inmates at San Quenton are no longer sporting tidy whes so the very myth that we’re investigating here is actually the reason that you guys restrict elastic waistbands to a portion of the prison population we restrict those inmates that have proven to be a threat to staff safety because they will create dangerous property from it Vernell really I thank so much for showing me around do you uh do you have the key to let me out of here I do have the key yes I have can you get the key I could have le can you get the key right now Freedom tastes sweet and Adam’s taste buds are tingling for this murderous myth meanwhile his partner in crime is on the hunt for some killer briefs so Tim I’m looking for some prison style underwear now do you know what that would typically be I would think it would would be the most basic of Basics no drums no whistles um so I would think that would be what you’re looking for for prison I mean I have some other styles but I don’t think the government is going to give it to prisoners while Tim searches out his most AER unies Jamie rummages among some styles that prisoners can only dream about got your camo underwear oh and that’s lovely as well that certainly makes a statement I’m not sure what exactly wa but you think we could call this standard prison issue well you might get locked up for wearing them but prisoners go plain yeah I don’t know how we’re going to separate the elastic out of these strips but I guess if you’re in prison you got lots of time I would say and necessity also being the mother of invention well I think we’re all set Tim There You Go sir we came here to get some prison style undies and that’s what we got unfortunately all of the underwear seems to be made of lots of little fine fibers of elastic instead of some some big Butch strands which was kind of what I was hoping for but hey it’ll take a little more time what are you going to do Jamie makes tracks back to M5 where he finds that another lethal crossbow component has been delivered wow prison issue dinner trays now we can only use these for making the tips the myth is called paper crossbow you can’t build the bulk of it out of this thing I don’t know it’s kind of springy so they’ve got the materials for both bow string and arroe head now for the sticky bit you know there’s one aspect of this myth that we have yet to deal with and there’s no information on it it’s glue yeah if they had super glue they could make something equivalent to fiberglass even well I mean I think in order to maintain the Spirit of the homebuilt crossbow we really should look at some kind of home brew glue something we made with readily available materials sure there’s got to be something out there if the glue doesn’t hold the paper crossbow will fall apart add with it the myth so the guys decide to try out four different homemade varieties there’s cassine glue made from milk vinegar and baking soda I haven’t really ended up with a glue it’s more of a paste then there’s glues made from plain flour oh not too much not too much white flour and the hot favorite gelatin and glycerin I like this the best I mean personally I think that’s the most promising to test their stickability Adam whips up some simple rigs I want to test the relative strengths of each of them so I’ve made up a test rig which is comprised of two pieces of wood a handle and a sheet of newspaper in between he glues each of the four rigs together with a different glue then leaves them to set in a drying cabinet I think my glue tests have dried and now it’s time to do some strength testing on them first up on the fish scale flour and [Music] water that was 25 lb of force that’s actually kind of impressive test number two flour water and sugar two three also 25 lb this is the cassine glue yeah 21 lb I mean it was more like a past than anything else it just really didn’t do it last but not least my personal favorite the gelatin glue 36 lb we have a winner I couldn’t quite hang off of that but that’s pretty darn good um it is a book binding glue and it definitely looks the nicest finally there’s the control test wood glue it’s been a while since Adam heard himself on the show but this setup has potential yep business as usual 60 lb of force across the knuckles is going to sting a little that [Music] hurt vodka is an ancient Russian beverage long popular for keeping up the spirits in a hostile climate but many a tall tail has been spun around the legendary drink and over several weeks The MythBusters are testing some out oh yeah that’s good okay in previous episodes they proved that vodka can remove even the worst foot odor and that it’s a match for the foulest breath the birds yeah cinnamony actually now they’re testing some more vodka Ms first up vodka smoke [Music] remover I’m working on a vodka myth the myth is that you can make a vodka water solution spray it onto your clothes that smell like smoke and it should take the Smoky smell out anybody who has dated a smoker or knows a smoker knows that their clothes really smell bad so this might be a really nice cure for them down the years washing powders have promised more than just clean clothes they’ve promised a kind of Heaven on Earth that’s the promise what a wonderful sight when but can vodka work miracles with smoke infested laundry car’s going to try and get more from her wash with a splash of the hard stuff one of the links in this though is that you’re supposed to spray the Vodka mixture and then lawn under your clothes I kind of think that washing your clothes would get that smell out anyway but maybe this will get it out better to kick things off Carrie creates an automated smoking machine I’m going to use a little siphon and make a little airtight tube drill some holes put some cigarettes in it we live in California so they don’t they don’t H they still smoke in California you just have to go into the secret back rooms not that I know where any of the secret rooms are in the bars speakes may be making a comeback but Carrie’s got the makings of her own smoke filed room this is an airtight box that Tory built for another myth we were doing a little experiment with explosive decompression it’s just big enough to hang two sweatshirts inside get them saturated with smoke so that we have something to test sounds like a plan Ino the shirts followed by carry and a [Music] lighter that was N I should have wor a respirator for that before her lungs can recover there’s an outbreak of passive smoking last thing I want oh no o got a leak over here too what happened to tor’s airtight Box by the time she’s done taping her Smoke Box looks like yil Brenner’s bedroom oh they’re almost down to the filter I can still see some little red glowing lights right there I can barely see anything smell like Bingo night some French Foreign Cinema kind of old lady bar and according to the myth vodka’s just the job to remove that stubborn smell 2 days later and the shirts are ripe for the big they both smell like ashtrays I’m going to take him to the launder mat quickly God that is horrible [Music] okay there we go that would be one part vodka to three parts water just one jacket will be sprayed with a vodka spritzer the other will be the control that’s horrible well it’s just it’s just Smokey it’s like you would you know spent the night in a bar yeah that reeks spent the night on the floor of a bar a quick product test at its wash time okay the vodka is going to be on the and this one the Smokey will be to the left and now it’s a waiting [Music] game so here’s a few tips on how to pass the time while the soap suds do their thing no we’re just working we’re going to be here can I get a little privacy jeez and here some more highlights of the drying cycle German the realest painter starting with z or Q because you’re the one who said is it done yet done guys look it’s done done with the capital E yay okay you know what I’d like to do for this one I’d like to do a blind smell test so I’ll have you turn around and then Tor and I will s good idea all right grant is well established as the myth by ‘s old factory expert this one has a slightly oy smell yeah shirt sniff number two and watch the verdict so this is the better smelling one right yep and it’s the one hey now not that much better smelling I want to say but a little better a little better The MythBusters are investigating the myth that an inmate at a supermax prison was shot and killed by a paper crossbow when some intriguing footage arrives check this out Jimmy a official within the California prison system sent me this video of an inmate in the prison constructing and firing a crossbow like weapon check this out the video was shot at Pelican Bay prison in Northern California where Modern cells are designed for maximum safety even so some inmates find ways to hurt staff or each other here an inmate shows how he constructed a sophisticated crossbow type weapon from materials the state is required to give him elastic from underwear a barrel and darts from writing paper rolled tightly a plastic spoon sharpened as a lethal point the weapon is engineered to fit through the door making staff or other inmates a Target oh that’s nasty I think that the very first step is just to try and replicate that thing it’s a tantalizing glimpse of a paper weapon in action but is it a crossbow there’s only one way to find out to stay true to the myth Adam uses the homemade bookbinding glue and the bow string comes courtesy of their State issue underwear which is disappointingly low on power yeah it doesn’t look anything like what it does in the video I think it’s because the fabric is really dampening it yeah Jamie thinks that separating the rubber from the fabric will give more power I just have a hard time believing an inmate could pull all the rubber out of this sort of thing I don’t have any problem with that at all I mean it’s just a matter of time and patience of which Adam has precious little just a common so while Jamie does the painstaking stuff he bolts to make an arrow from plastic Cutlery where I’m using the sand or just picture someone rubbing it on the window sill for a few hours all right and this being the world of Television by the time he’s done so is the rubber Band Man round two with the liberated underwear elastic yay Daman that was pretty good man that looks exactly like what the video showed maybe but it doesn’t fulfill the myth this is a pretty serious Little Weapon however it’s not what I would call a crossbow uh this is more of a spear gun so what we have to do now to follow the letter of the myth is actually build something that is a crossbow in other words one of these plenty powerful enough to kill one of [Music] these in the myth of the paper cross Adam and Jamie are at archery only in Newark they want to know more about what exactly they’re going to be building a paper version off the main difference between a crossbow and a regular bow is that on a regular bow the Archer or the shooter is actually going to pull it all the way back to full draw and hang on to the weight physically on a crossbow you physically the mechanism back and you can actually walk around with the weapon cocked and locked and ready to shoot almost like a firearm pretty good have you heard the myth of a prison convict making a paper crossbow out of newspaper and shooting and killing another inmate with it I have not no do you think something like that would be possible I believe it is possible but pretty unlikely well it’s they call it a paper crossbow so I think I’d like to do some tests and see how uh accurate and how much force this thing can apply so they know what they’re a in for they want some hard data about crossbow performance in terms of accuracy velocity and penetration that’s pretty good jammie but first they need some info about the ammo and Adams found a new toy there’s always a question of what I’m going to get for my toolbox before I leave and this is it today a scale that is sexy I am measuring the weight of uh crossbow bolts if you know the weight and velocity of a missile you can work out its kinetic energy one of the measurements for assessing a weapon’s killing capacity and it’s 28 G now for the velocity Jamie fires off some bolts through a chronograph which clocks their speed in feet per second that was 259 on that first shot 259 shot 59 So Jamie your average on those three shots was 251 ft per second that gives a kinetic energy of 61 ft-lb enough to bring down a black bear let alone an inmate rest 2 51 what Happ are you ready for some penetration heiny to find the most lethal arroe head they’ll fire a variety at a block of ballistics wax from a distance of 15 ft about the width of the prison car in the paper crossbow myth for starters they’ll use a standard Arro [Music] head all right let’s uh bring the tape measure over so with a Target tip it penetrated 6 in yeah 6 in of penetration not bad next they try a four bladed razor tip used for hunting this one went 6 and 1/2 in next a cut on contact Broadhead all right it’s a traditional hunting tip as old as the Stone Age oh that went a lot farther man so about 8 in about 8 in that’s good cuz that’s the easiest one for us to make mhm with a plastic food tray so what’s the verdict just thinking this one through from a mechanical standpoint I’d be totally pleased with 2 in of penetration generally I prefer for a little bit more there’s no way a paper crossbow will achieve this much penetration so to be lethal it may have to be deadly accurate the final test just how sharp can a crossbow shoot so jimy the key is here is just tight grouping okay from 15 ft the distance specified in the myth this should be a walk in the park yeah look at that nicely done wow ain’t going to get much closer than that no I don’t think you are three bolts one hole not bad so what do we know we know a crossbow can produce 61 footb of kinetic energy enough to bury a hunting tip 8 in into the eye of a deer from 15 ft a real crossbow is lethal so the question is how lethal can we make one out of paper the pen may be mightier than the sword but could paper really be a match for a [Music] crossbow time for another vodka myth what if you’ve got an infestation of bees and no commercial Beek killer according to one myth vodka Could Be Your solution one of the other vodka myths that we’ve heard of is that vodka could be used as a be killer so what I’m going to do I’m going to build a b box basically a clear Plex box that will keep the Little Critters in so they don’t come out and start stinging us uh we’ll fill this up with vodka and then spray it in there and see if it does in fact kill the bees for Tori knocking up a b box is as simple as ABC breathing holes will ensure that the bees don’t suffocate no point in trying to kill bees that are already dead all right see that this see the screen right there that’s so these little buggers won’t get out and try to sting me there you go we got a box throw the bees in close the lid close the latch I’m probably going to tape it up just in case and then uh we’ll start killing bees Splendid now for a spot of bee wrangling our ID Trio have come to Marin County to collect some unsuspecting subjects from be enthusiasts Lynn and Jim Archer we actually um working on a myth have you ever heard of vodka being sprayed as a bee repellent no no but I’m interested that would be nice do you think it’ll work I don’t know that’s okay answer I’m curious as you are what do you think honey uh it’ll get him drunk you think they’ll get a buzz well should we suit up now I think so definitely yes those bees are just waiting for you that’s exactly what the bill team are worried about so they’re not taking any chances all right worst case scenario like a whole bunch of bees get into the suit and they start stinging the heck out of us what do you do well what you might want to remember is bees always fly up so like when I’m up there with my overalls you you you open up the top part and let them fly up and out up and out you know run first run zip you know pull off everything and they’ll try to fly up so now you know we are ready take us to your leader take us to your leer laughing in the face of Terror our amateur aurists are led to a busy Hive whoa yeah and you can see how there this is all filled with honey nectar that hasn’t quite formed into honey at the moment dead bees walking now we’re just going to put a few of them in the box just didn’t get when is a bee a guinea pig when it’s unlucky enough to end up in tor’s B box is that good you want more that’s 12 okay that’s good do I take too many the rest of the hives seem none too happy about donating their siblings to science I think these guys are calling for help they’re starting to sound they’re ring up the rest okay they’re getting rasty you can start hearing the difference when they get a little upset I hear them getting excited they’re upset yeah there sound pretty pissed off yes thank you little babies that was very kind to you we done with this trying to poke into my head breathe through your nose dude before things get to the running and unzipping stage they make a quick exit back at the shop the bee Governor has failed to Grant a last minute reprieve so tar gets down to work I have one spray bottle filled with water one spray bottle filled with vodka and so now I’m going to test the myth what I’m going to do is I’m going to spray five times into the be box with the Vodka spray five times into this be box with the water and see how the bees respond to each okay here we go vodka [Music] first the bees are starting to um roll around that’s terrible they’re drunk It’s the B Bender from hell it looks like they’re climbing the walls to get out of the liquid so you know if it’s going to kill them it could be that they’re just drowning in it and that would work with any liquid while they wallow in WKA tar sprays box two with an equivalent volume of plain water then he leaves the bees to sink or swim for a quarter hour which in B time seems like an [Music] eternity in the myth of the paper crossbow Adam and Jamie have researched Contraband prison weapons no constructed a replica of a paper spear gun and performance tested a real crossbow now they’re ready for a MythBusters buildoff I know you don’t like the competition thing but we’re going to do a buildoff here and we’re going to each build our own crossbow using only newspaper underwear Elastic Plastic food tray and homemade glue and then we’re going to test them and see who’s made the most potentially lethal and accurate paper crossbow well you know the first thing I’m going to do cheat yeah here’s the news with just two days to make their deadly weapons they’ve got a tool shop amnesty we can use any tools we want we’re not scraping this against the jail bars or anything we’re assuming there’s enough time to shape and cut pretty much anything the homemade glue is brewed and it’s on your marks are you ready I promise not to look around the barrier you’re welcome to look atam it’ll be fine I know I’ll be looking here we go Adam and Jamie rarely use paper as a building material in special effects so it’s a case of trial and error normally when I build a project I have a pretty good idea of the largest mechanical problem I’ve got to solve but this one I’m completely making up as I go along uh I have no idea from one minute to the next what the structure is going to do or be no idea in its early stages this build is basically origami which is like watching paint dry so let’s cover the first few hours with a music montage and remember don’t try this one at home Leave It To The MythBusters okay that should do it let’s check on progress I’ve gone with a really a classic approach uh it’s very much the shape of a crossbow I’m hoping that works it could all just crush the moment I start Jamie’s design is slightly more complex what I’ve decided to do is make a couple of things that are basically the same shape and they pivot on a on a central axis point their main problem is that newspaper has zero tensil strength Adam compensates by adding tightly rolled support struts while Jamie’s gone for cone shape reinforced with crumpled paper it’s sort of like a honeycomb aluminum made out of paper by the end of the day Adam’s simple design has grown arms legs and wings I call this the Red Baron Andie thinks it’s pretty fly if it all goes as I think it might um it’s going to have a fair amount of power to it but uh you never know what Jam’s going to come up with Jam’s lagging behind but he’s Aiming High with his ambitious design and may start like this and and then I’ll it back like so we shall see whether it actually works they leave their crossbow Contraptions to dry overnight and hit the showers and remember kids working with newspaper can be dirty tor’s testing the sting in another tall tail vodka Beek killer he sprayed one sample with vodka and another with water and he’s back for a health check we’re about 15 minutes into this experiment um it looks like the water bees are doing a lot worse than the Vodka bees and I don’t know why that is perhaps they’re hard drinking worker bees you know my feeling is if the Vodka was going to work as a you know an insect killer it would have already taken effect the ones that are dying are actually the ones that are drowning in the vodka I think what I’ll do is just let this uh each of the Box dry out and then come back and then do a death count what a fun myth this is even if the Vodka doesn’t kill them tomorrow they going to wish it had hey so how’ it go with the vodka and the water with the bees the two things that I noticed when I started the experiment is one when I sprayed the vodka in the bees jumped out of the Vodka onto the sides of the wall so they got out of there as soon as they could when I sprayed the water they didn’t move they just kind of stayed there so the Vodka was more foreign to them like maybe they were used to the water but the vodka is like oh my go we got to get out of here makes sense but even so it is surprising that the water bees have come off second best I mean maybe they’re not dead I mean you know until we do till we do a full B autopsy I think we can’t decide if they’re dead yet look look at that guy I think I think he’s still alive I watch you do some you know bcpr BPR all right we’ll pull these guys out see if we can revive some of them and then uh then we’ll count the bodies sounds like some kind of b-grade horror movie with the water bees in need of immediate attention they get the hair dryer treatment did it come out with a little beehive hair do oh beehive at first all seems lost but Grant and tari keep leaving and slowly a little miracle starts to unfold hey I got two more survivors apparently bees have a waxy coating on the thorax so though drenched they weren’t drowned that’s pretty amazing all but two came back to life your bcpr was truly a thing to behold like a bee Whisperer why thank you and while the water bees were toing off the VOD cabes were sobering up hey check out these guys these guys are kicking ass I mean aside from maybe a little bit of a hangover they seem to be doing just fine they’re looking a lot better than I do after a hangover wow dude that’s amazing I thought the ones that we sprayed with water were all dead we got all but two revived yeah and the Vodka ones we didn’t even need to revive them we didn’t lose a single bee so vodka is a Beek killer totally busted busted with a capital [Music] be it’s day two in the paper crossbow buildoff and The MythBusters are up right and early to see how their Creations have fared overnight Adams raring to go I’m psyched I don’t think I should have any problem being ready for a test fire either Jamie’s playing the tortoise to Adam’s hair or he’s just playing slow either way he’s talking a good race these things have had time to dry overnight and they seem pretty strong they’ve got good compressive strength strengthwise First Rate but Jam’s having second thoughts about his ambitious design the main thing that I’m worried about at this point is the mechanical complexity of this because there’s every possibility that these things are going to tend to want to go Every Which Way but where I want them to go while Jamie struggles on Adam shoots ahead he braids his bow string from the underwear elastic then and moves on to the boat construction stage I don’t expect my newspaper shaft to do any of the penetration I think that all the penetration is going to be done by this my impossibly long Lune Trey killer are you ready jamy put simply no he’s not this thing’s turning out to be a little bit unstable I’m not really sure what to do about it so basically I don’t have anything to say about it I’m trying to fuss with it while Jim’s in a flap Adam’s flying with time to spare he uses the remains of his dinner tray to add a Bonafide firing [Music] mechanism a genuine crossbow in under two days made only from newspaper underwear and a prison food tray no wonder he’s pleased I can’t wait to shoot this thing meanwhile Jaime’s been forced into a retreat and he’s locked down all moving Parts with time running out he adds support struts to strengthen his now rigid four cone structure I’m just having one La go at it to see whether I can’t optimize the the performance of it and reduce the likelihood of some kind of uh General collapse I’m pretty sure at a certain point um this whole thing’s just going to be a l of [Music] paper Adam’s already at work on the set it is the perfect prison color I call this uh lock down green one prison door you can’t keep me in here copper I’m going to get [Music] out with only minutes remaining Jamie fashion a plastic bolt and attaches the bow string well time to walk away according to the myth the paper crossbow killer Unleashed his deadly missile from behind his cell door 15 ft away it struck and killed its Target played by inmate Imahara all right well where are we supposed to are we going to try and shoot him in the head yeah I mean I think if you’re going to try and hurt somebody you know shoot in the face no sooner said than done for a control Adam fires off a head shot from a regular crossbow 3 2 1 nice shot I shot Grant in the face the chronograph measures 251 ft per second and at 61 ft-lb of force that’s a carbon copy of the archery shop results I got it right in his left [Music] nostril dude that is so going right in his nose you got to come here and check this [Music] out what are you doing there Grant that’s some hard stuff oh that only going in that far out this ours are just going to bounce off that sucker well 3 and a/4 in of penetration so a fatal shot with a commercial crossbow inmate Imahara would definitely be cold dead that’s the Benchmark so how will the MythBusters paper versions measure up time to lift the veil on their closely guarded contenders I have not yet seen JB’s design um I’m always fascinated by uh our different approaches problems like these actually I’ve been watching what Adam’s been doing the entire time in spite of the rules against doing that um you know without having rules to break there’d be no particular interest in the competition for me I think it’s time to see what each other’s [Laughter] built dude if you when if the full draw of the bow makes it collapse is candy going to pour [Laughter] out I’m sorry I’ve already tried it I’ve shot it a few times it’s oh really no kidding wow that’s pretty good could Jamie be staring down the barrel of a rare defeat Adams you could like use as a club and it’ probably be just fine you could still shoot it this thing I could just go like that and break it in half with my hands so uh I have my doubts about this Jamie are you ready to shoot I’m going to shoot [Music] don’t sound so thrilled about it you’ll freak people out strictly speaking a prison assassin would have just one shot Jamie takes dead aim through his Cello’s dinner hatch are you ready on high speed ready ready all right seems to be holding up okay when you’re ready jimy 60 60 well I ain’t half bad really no a real crossbow was what 250 yeah 60 ft per second arrows flying nice and straight watch it hit the target W yeah the bolt bounced off inmate imahara’s head before hitting the target behind it’s an unexpectedly impressive result a bolt from the blue you might say I was actually pretty pleased with the first shot on this thing I think it did considerably better than the one that we saw that the prisoners had made so far so good I think we can get a little bit more speed out of it and uh I think it’s actually kind of deadly if you hit somebody in exactly the right [Music] spot time for a quick vodka [Music] myth to help keep my family’s bathroom fresh I fight B stains and odors with dependo automatic toilet bowl cleaner keep pass me tow thanks T’s found himself in a nasty mess you get a shot on that floor what the hell is that and yes it’s his job to clean it what did you do today I cleaning the producer’s bathroom right what I did you’ve guessed it it’s vodka versus a commercial cleaning agent Tori divides the bath in two first up the vodka and some elbow grease then the commercial cleaner oh my mom’s going to be proud job done so what’s the verdict you know to say one is better than the other I would have to say the commercial brand is better however if all you had was vodka to clean your bathroom I think you’d be all right Jim’s paper crossbow has confounded the critics his very first shot struck inmate Imahara at 60 ft per second people were giving me a hard time time saying you know W is candy going to fall out of that thing it looks like a pinata um but it has actually held up with a little bit more practice maybe a little refinement on the device uh it could quite possibly do some serious damage to somebody Happy Days Jamie tightens his bow and loads another bolt good ah let’s go again 68 ft per second okay it hit his head it looked like it hit just to the left of his right eye that’s still went sideways okay I think this is done you can see the crinkle starting to form here we actually got quite a few shots out of it though and close to 70 ft a second is it that’s not half bad Jam’s crossbow has shot its bolt so what’s the verdict while I can’t say that this particular device is lethal based on what I’ve seen today I can tell you that I would not want to get hit in the eye with one of these things and if I did I might die he might but calculations show that the kinetic energy of Jim’s fastest bolt was just 4T lb compared to 60 ftlb for a real crossbow time for a scientific time [Music] out I found a chart that lists the kinetic energy in foot pounds of the average amount that you need to take down certain kinds of game um less than 25 foot- PBS of kinetic energy is only good for small game 25 to 41 medium game like deer or analou 42 to 65 footb large game like elk and black bear and above 66 footb we’re talking the toughest game Grizzly Buffalo and that kind of thing well I would say that a human would qualify as medium game actually because you know a full-sized deer can weigh as much or more than a human so according to the official numbers Jam’s paper crossbow could only bring down small game not withstanding a one in a million right in the eye shot over to Adam our second would be assassin all right I am ready to fire my crossbow which I have nicknamed the dream catcher oh yeah dream catcher sounds about right for this myth to be plausible Adam must combine more power with deadly accuracy and he must do it with his very first shot all right grant going for the neck in three 2 1 [Laughter] hey good shot woo 85 ft per second baby yay it hit him right in the net man oh man look at that right in the jugular that’s a full inch of penetration there yeah and if anything this is more dense than a human as as far as I’m concerned good shot good aim and it actually went in quite deeply I’m totally psyched that was awesome I think if I were going to try and hit somebody that would in a place that would kill him that would be one choice yeah right in the regular would be near the top of your list it’s an amazing result but how about the kinetic energy was it enough to be a killer bolt I also come out with a total amount of foot pounds expended by the projectile of 7.5 which is pretty much by the what I’ve been reading good for small game not necessarily good for bringing down a full-size human yeah but you hit that guy right in the jugular and you know that’s enough to kill somebody it went in a solid inch oh yeah a small game weapon or not if you hit somebody like that uh they’re gone there we go in the interests of Science and shooting stuff 91 Adam pushes his paper crossbow to the Limit what did I hit you shot the Apple box all right going again going again yeah I think we’ve exhausted all of the the power of this thing but it got up to 91 in the end like Jamie he could never quite match the high of that very first [Music] hit I think it’s notable that both his and my crossbows performed much better on their first and second shots than they did ever again um that’s real key part of this myth making a paper crossbow it’s a One-Shot deal I mean maybe you can hide this somewhere but as soon as you shoot it they’re going to know you have it so you better get it right on the first shot which is exactly what he did making Adam the Undisputed paper crossbow Champion Adam what do you think we should call this one I mean we can’t call it confirmed because we couldn’t find a single case where somebody had actually been killed by a paper crossbow uh we couldn’t even turn up one where someone had been seriously injured by a paper crossbow I’m actually super impressed with the amount of power we got out of these on our first attempt at it I mean 7 and 1/2 foot PBS granted that’s far under the 25 foot lbs that was recommended for bringing down medium-sized game but still my shot at inmate imahara’s throat I think would have brought him down I’m really leaning towards plausible yeah that was a lucky shot I guess you know accuracy is the key here and uh you get a small sharp object going pretty quick it’s it’s plausible yeah I think it’s plausible unlikely one [Music]