In the movie Whistler shows off a “Hypervelocity Stake Gun” that supposedly shoots a stake at 6,000 feet per second. If we’re assuming a full size stake, how much more gunpowder vs say .223/5.56mm round would it take to fire such a weapon, and could Blade handle the recoil? Any math wizards wanna take this on?
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Somewhere around 3-4 times the amount of power needed to propel a deer slug. He’s likely talking hyperbolic though and firing just a pointed silver slug. Only a handful of vampires can outrun a gunshot and even fewer are going to shrug off having a silver slug ripping through them if it misses the heart.
The ratio of muzzle energy to propellant weight in the cartridges that I’ve read data for varies from 1,100 to 1,700 joules per gram. The K279 Improved APFSDS cartridge for 120mm tank cannons, which has almost the same muzzle velocity, has a ratio of 1,562 J/g. Not sure if the extremely short barrel would mean less efficient use of propellant.
I’ll be generous and assume the stake is hollow. It looks roughly 18x180mm; A 1mm thick silver tube of these dimensions would be almost exactly 100 grams. 100g at 6,000 fps(1,829 m/s) has a kinetic energy of over 167,000 joules, which at the same ratio as the K279 would require 107g of powder.
Assuming the propellant gases exit the barrel at the same speed as the stake(they’re probably faster), that’s a recoil of 372 Newton seconds, somewhat higher than a 25mm autocannon round.
So yeah, taking the claim at face value this would probably not be fireable from anything that doesn’t have wheels and could destroy a reaper through impact alone.
Also paging the following users u/YairJ, u/Thoraxtheimpalersson just for fun and purposes of discussion.
Not an math wizard.
But I never understood the hypervelocity stake gun or the stake launcher in blade 1
Right so we know silver causes an extreme allergic reaction and in the heart or head it can kill them.
Exposure to silver seemingly burns them judging by how the rescue mission to save Hannibal king involved pumping in aerosol/atomized silver into the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
What was the purpose of the hypervelocity stake gun?…to kill the reapers or previously some massive body builder type or an natural massive dude who is an vampire that Blade might just run into in the field.
Silver hardness is 2.5 on the Mohs scale while lead is 1.5 and steel used in steel core penetrating rounds would between 4 and 4.5 on the Mohs scale.
So what do we know well….mongrel vampires without body armor seemly die to pistol caliber rounds such as 9X19 and 45ACP provided they are silver hollow points to the head or heart.
Which ends vampire biological processes since these vampires aren’t exactly magical…..except Drake and the blood god maybe.
But weakness to silver in mongrels stemmed from Drake’s evolutionarily advanced genes becoming recessive over time becoming less pure due to being watered down.
So in regards to mongrels the larger surface area of silver that comes into contact with them the more affected they become to the effects of silver.
But I think it’s what u/Thoraxtheimpalersson is implying that the hyper velocity stake gun is just that hyperbole.
Because 6,000 feet per second is Mach 5.
That’s insane as the silver stake would probably begin to melt or shatter not to mention that the barrel would be impractical needing replacing.
And because the stake is 2.5 seemingly going at Mach 5 you can probably forget trying to use that to penetrate something like steel or concrete as the projectile would deform immediately on impact.
I think maybe Blade should stick with regular cast silver projectiles etched to splinter into hollow points filled with garlic
Or use silver hunting slugs that are 12 gauge, similar to what u/Thoraxtheimpalersson suggested.
Least it’s one solid projectile with a caliber circumference close to an 20mm round.
That’s bigger than an elephant gun though the elephant guns used the black powder less advanced gunpowder at the time to propel their projectiles at shorter distances.
Which is why I don’t exactly understand the stake launcher under the 12 gauge shotgun,
Maybe the stake is a bit more aerodynamic then an 12 gauge silver slug but I think the stake launcher is just in the film because it looks cool.
Sending Quin the vampire across the slaughterhouse floor and staking him into the ground.
I think Blade should’ve used 12 gauge silver flechettes for vampires at range.
Though separately I can understand the efficiency and effectiveness of using the various types of silver buckshot.
Speaking of alternatives.
The vampire mace given to Karen in the first film used liquid silver nitrate and essence of garlic.
So it’s possible Blade uses regular lead hollow points filled with silver nitrate or essence of garlic going against mooks.
I suspect that he also uses Kevlar thread soaked in silver nitrate for his garrote.