Rock blasting with a 7.62x39 round

[1$Chuck]

Here's an interesting alternative ammo usage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=93_5eFzK71c

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

Very cool. After 9/11, this and black powder pellets became a popular alternative for "digging" and "exploring" too.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Microblasting and microshaving techniques have evolved over the last decade or so as lighter and more powerful drill/battery combinations have become available, but these guys in the video are yahoos. Electrical or pneumatic initiation and using powder directly instead of bullets is the most efficient. In reality though, given that they are using a non-battery powered rotary hammer drill and can drill as many holes as they want as quickly as they want (as opposed to being somewhere where battery life is critical) they could have broken the rock much more safely using wedges and feathers, bull pins, or expanding cement products. Of course that's not as "cool."

I also find irony in the folks who have discovered this "new" way of breaking rock when we've been mining rock in similar fashion for about 400 years now