Magic Bullets

[Sigs Pig]

This was asked of me by a buddy who thought if I didn't know (which I don't), I could ask some of my weekend warrior comrades. I thought I would ask here.

Thanks for answers in advance.
ME

In the movie The American, George Clooney makes some 'exploding' bullets (5.56mm) using mercury.
In the movie, Day of the Jackal, he also has exploding bullets. The first couple he zero's in on a watermelon, the last he shoots with one of his exploding bullets which of course blows it up.

Does the mercury aid the projectile to fragment and transfer all it's energy to someone's cranium quickly, or does the projectile slow rapidly allowing the mercury to continue on for a for another millisecond or so at 1000fps+ and impart that energy to the contents of the cranium?
And, is there actually enough resistance in the watermelon rind to cause an exploding bullet to do its thing or should the bullet just pass through like the other bullets?

I saw a video of a guy shooting a 455 magnum blowing the crap out of various fruits and vegetables as well as cans of paint. This might be different in that the sheer size would impart enough energy to blow apart just about anything.

I had sent him this to whet his appetite.
Three Kings

 

[Loachman]

I am entirely uncertain about the physics involved, but this also works well with light oil (honing oil, in my experiment in the mid-seventies). The difference between 5.56 mm ball and 5.56 mm oil-filled hitting coconuts is spectacular.