At 02:48 AM 11/13/96 -0600, Travis Butler wrote:

From:        Sebastian Weinberg, bastian@enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de

On Tue, 5 Nov 96 13:44:44 -0600 Travis Butler wrote:

It's kinda like sticking your fingers into the barrel of a
shotgun: "Yes, I know that my fingers are gonna look like charcoal
- but it's *your* face that's gonna look like swiss cheese."  (I'm
not quite sure if that would actually work or was just a bluff,
but when I saw that scene in a film, I laughed so hard that I gave
the film an additional +5 bonus points on coolness.)

I dunno; I'm not so optimistic about the containment force of fingers vs. 
a shotgun breach... I'd have to see a bit more convincing evidence before 
I'd buy it even as a bluff.

Fingers would not be charcoal, they would be gone.  Unfortunately, only an
older gun barrel (lower grade steel or even iron, possibly compressed woven
wire, cannot withstand modern smokeless powder even w/out an obstruction)
would blow out the breach.  A more modern shotgun, *if* there were any
effect, would be more likely to burst the barrel near the middle or muzzle.
Since it is possible to burst a barrel with just a bit of mud or an insect
nest, fingers would have just as great of chance to do the same thing.
Personally, I'm rather fond of my fingers, but then if the alternative is...

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