Submerging an AK 47 gun and firing it underwater appears to make it work better, according to high speed footage. In an experiment posted online, a team put one of the automatic machine guns into an water-filled aquarium and filmed it using a high-speed camera. When the footage was slowed down, they discovered that not only does the weapon still fire while under water, it actually reloads itself faster. The AK47 assault rifle is based on a gas recoil system. It uses the hot expanding gases of a bullet being fired to automatically rechamber the next round, Gizmodo reports. The gas flows up through the chamber and back to the gun’s bolt, which forces it back. The video was uploaded on the Smarter Every Day channel on YouTube. The film shows the hosts build a tank to put the rifle in and then modify the gun to allow it to be fired via a long piece of string. They then remove the stock, build a replacement in the static underwater rig, then attach the gun to it, Geek reports. After first testing the gun outside of the tank, the AK47 is placed in to the water-filled aquarium and is fired, forcing the tank to explode. Surprisingly, the gun still works perfectly after the experiment. The team show the two high speed videos of the gun firing, slowed down, and played side by side. The gun appears to fire better under water, because, they conclude, the chamber reloads faster because H2O can not be compressed. However, although the gun’s mechanisms operate more efficiently underwater, the speed at which the bullets are released is slower.
