Hunting Lionfish Underwater With Suppressed Glock 9mm? Unbelievable!

[DougGuy]

I thought this was a joke until I watched the video. Very cool way to rid the reef of these invasive fish. I finally see something I would use a Glock for!



http://www.youtu.be/watch?v=6lG-snJZIV8

[Bzcraig]

Very cool!!

[Thekid]

That was awesome!

[tdoyka]

well i'll be. there is a use for glocks after all.;-)

[Earlwb]

Impressive. I would have not thought of doing that. But now that I see it, it works pretty good.

[FergusonTO35]

I saw one of those little devils while snorkelling in Hawaii. I'm glad he kept his distance as I was only armed with a lockback knife due to Hawaii's Dark Ages gun laws.

[white eagle]

does he pick up his brass
or leave it to add to the reef

[MrWolf]

That was pretty cool. Was going to comment about people complaining about the lead but he used lead free ammo.

[HarryT]

I thought people were only impressed with long range sniper shots.

[Tackleberry41]

Guess its not so much suppressed. The slow mo showed it looks more like a vented sleeve. Those fish can really make a mess, that one spot had like a dozen of them, think they would starve to death pretty quick, once they ate everything.

[fortysomething]

... that one spot had like a dozen of them, think they would starve to death pretty quick, once they ate everything.

They have a fairly slow metabolism, they really only need to eat once or twice a week to survive. I have personally seen one in captivity that survived more than a month without eating. Also, I have heard there are some restaurants in Florida that will cook them for you if you bring lionfish in, I here they are delicious.

[matrixcs]

They have a fairly slow metabolism, they really only need to eat once or twice a week to survive. I have personally seen one in captivity that survived more than a month without eating. Also, I have heard there are some restaurants in Florida that will cook them for you if you bring lionfish in, I here they are delicious.

They are a regular item on the menu at several local restaurants here.....

[Earlwb]

does he pick up his brass
or leave it to add to the reef

I saw him picking up his brass in the video. So he is being environmentally friendly, even using lead free bullets.

[Ola]

That was pretty cool. Was going to comment about people complaining about the lead but he used lead free ammo.

well... copper is highly toxic to some water animals.. like snails or "mollusc" (or what ever you call them).

[9.3X62AL]

Interesting stuff. The freshwater version on carp in lakes would be a nice spin-off, and the copper might do in zebra and quagga mussels. Win/win.

[dragon813gt]

I can only imagine what the salt water does to the metal parts. Good news is that they're all cheap and you can rebuild the pistol in no time.

[Tackleberry41]

Copper in solution is lethal to invertebrates, stuff with no spine, like crabs, shrimp, etc. Its sold in pet stores...as a liquid. Bullets are not going to dissolve and poison a reef. Only way solid copper is lethal is same way it kills people, kinetic energy. Everybody is starting to sound like environmentalists 'but those bullets will contaminate the ecosystem'.

I would imagine lion fish is like any other fish, tastes great fried. No idea on how you would clean one tho.

[MT Gianni]

Andrew Zimmerman did a thing on lion fish in his Bizarre Foods.
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/florida-keys-horse-conch-and-hogfish

Invasive species that taste good should be solved more often than they are.

[hp246]

We head to Aruba every winter and do some diving down there. They have a roundup where divers pitch in and eradicate as many as they can. We've been told that they are very good, and they will prepare them for you if you go in to certain restaurants.

[Earlwb]

I saw one of those little devils while snorkelling in Hawaii. I'm glad he kept his distance as I was only armed with a lockback knife due to Hawaii's Dark Ages gun laws.

Have they outlawed sharp pointy sticks yet?

[Half Dog]

That was interesting. I wonder what kind of accuracy and distance one could expect from a 30-30?

[Gibbs44]

That was a pretty interesting video. He did another video that explained the different stages that the development of the underwater suppressor went through. One of them was just a sleeve with holes drilled in it. They pretty much ended with a two chamber system, not unlike a typical suppressor, just without the baffles. It sounded like the deeper underwater you went the quieter the report was, he also explains why they needed a suppressor underwater anyway. Here is the video if it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL5pD6iwAe0&list=PLETjS0nT_VeUbfahYnzcdvTtFmUHRC-4m

As far as the 30-30 underwater, I'm not sure that increasing the velocity will necessarily increase the range. Here is a video that I saw a while back about shooting an AK-47 underwater, it was mainly about the cavitation seen during a previous experiment, which is pretty cool on it's own, but I seem to remember the bullet trailing off and slowing down pretty quick. Hopefully it works as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp5gdUHFGIQ

[Tackleberry41]

Mythbusters did a show on bullets underwater. More velocity had the opposite effect. Iit was the big slow muzzle loader ball that went the furthest underwater. A 50cal had so much energy, the bullet just came apart soon as it hit the water. So a 30-30 would only create much more blast to deal with, and no extra range or killing power. How much do you need to kill a fish at that range?

Years ago my dad had a machine shop, and made those bang sticks, think they only used 38 spcl.

[reed1911]

Neat idea, but it seems to be an expensive solution looking for a problem. Since they can get that close to the fish, why not just use a spear or gig? Don't get me wrong it is completely 'James Bond' and I applaud the invention and quality of the film.

One would think that they could easily be over fished, but I'm betting the only way to get them is by hand thus making it an expensive fish for those that do not harvest themselves. I've never had it, but yes I'm told it is delicious.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

177344


This picture is my own, and does credit to my ability to swim with knees knocking together, as I was unsuited at the time. I wouldn't want to kill one in any way that could have loose spines floating around, unless totally suited, masked and gloved. It is seldom fatal to humans, but like many other marine poisons, extraordinarily painful. It wouldn't take much of it to have you drown, either, if help isn't close by.

The danger is exclusively in the spines, and it should be safe when those are removed. I have eaten the greater weever fish in a bouillabaisse in Marseille, although the stakes are marginally lower if you meet one of those alive. It isn't like the Japanese fugu puffer-fish, which is deadly unless prepared by a trained and licenced fugu chef. A policy of rigorous fugu control has greatly reduced the death rate since it ran at around a hundred per annum in the 1950s.

Firing a more powerful firearm underwater might pose some risk to the eardrums. I don't believe that is a conventional suppressor, which would surely impose much extra resistance to the bullet. I think it is just to channel the muzzle blast.

Guns will fire underwater, but the bullet can't be rifling-stabilised. According to Greenhill's formula the rifling twist must be proportional to the square root of the specific gravity of the medium. As water is 900 times denser than air, the rifling twist would have to be 30 times faster. Soviet underwater saboteurs were said to have a cartridge-powered underwater gun with a moderately long range, considering, but I believe they must have fired a fin-stabilised dart.

General Hatcher achieved quite good results at tin cans etc. with a .22 short rifle, when totally immersed. The interesting thing is that the range, while not long, was more than would suffice to protect a man from a .30-06 bullet fired into water. Impact seems to change things.



I have an interesting collection of .22 L.R.bullets fired into water. Solid-point bullets retained their shape but invariably tumbled, I believe because their twist became inadequate in that denser medium, and impacted side-on against a rock at up to about 16in. from the surface. As they remained almost equally side-on, after travelling long or short distances in water, they must have assumed that attitude and remained in it, rather than commenced tumbling end over end. After about sizteen inches' penetration the abrasion by the rock was in a diagonal direction, indicating that rotational and longitudinal movement both were low, but persisted. At the closest distances the abrasion was approximately radial from the center of that little lead pancake, as lead was driven away from the point of impact in all directions.

High-velocity hollow-points mushroomed admirably from the water alone, with virtually perfect weight retention, but did not penetrate as far. Their impact, at around 9in., was light and always nose-on, perhaps because their expansion, shortening and widening them, brought them closer to fulfilling Greenhill’s formula for water. I think this must also have applied to the shorter length of General Hatcher's shorts. I mean his .22 shorts.

[Tackleberry41]

I can see why they went with the pistol, quick follow up shots. Most spear guns are not exactly fast to load. Even those cheap 'hawaiian slings' my dad used to make, you still had to put the shaft thru the handle, the end in the socket and stretch it back. That was after getting the shaft back, even if it never left the handle the tip was still lodged in the target, and had to be pulled thru with the barb on it. That 9mm you could pop 17 of them real quick if the need came up.

The Russians did have some special underwater gun. But designed for that use, I doubt you could find a barrel with enough twist to stabilize a bullet under water if it needs to be 30x faster. A 9mm is what 1-16? I have no idea the math but 1-1 might not even do it. A long dart like the Russian gun would self stabilize.

[Finster101]

I have a few friends that spearfish for them. I hear they are flakey, white, mild and quite tasty but I have yet to try any myself. They are all over the place here.

[35remington]

I would agree in this case a gig pole would excel a spear gun or pistol. Equal to better than alternatives and no cleaning of guns afterward, no sound or pressure wave to deal with.

Reloads are inherent.....stab till the fish sticks.

[FergusonTO35]

Have they outlawed sharp pointy sticks yet?

I studied up on Hawaii's laws before I went over. From what I understood, CCW licenses are extremely rare, probably reserved for those who make large contributions to the right election campaigns. Obviously they don't honor any other states' licenses. You can carry any edged weapon you want open or concealed as long as it doesn't have a double edge blade Their courts have held that diving knives and hunting knives are perfectly legal to carry. I carried a sharp Buck lockback.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Hawaii is currently 46th in the list of US states, ranked in descending order of homicide rates per 100,000 people. I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but for sure chicken and eggs are close relatives.

[ReloaderFred]

Hawaii is a chain of islands. If you commit a crime, there's no place to run to without hitting water........

As for shooting lionfish, it looks like fun, but I have a personal policy of not entering bodies of water where there are large critters that consider humans as food. At least on land I have a fighting chance to survive.....

Fred

[FergusonTO35]

Hawaii is currently 46th in the list of US states, ranked in descending order of homicide rates per 100,000 people. I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but for sure chicken and eggs are close relatives.

Hawaii is an Asian/Pacific Islander country that just happens to be a U.S. state. To say that their strict gun laws=low homicide rates is an oversimplification, to say the least. New Jersey's gun laws are actually worse and their homicide rate is twice that of Hawaii.

[white eagle]

Hawaii is an Asian/Pacific Islander country that just happens to be a U.S. state. To say that their strict gun laws=low homicide rates is an oversimplification, to say the least. New Jersey's gun laws are actually worse and their homicide rate is twice that of Hawaii.

that because you don't need to paddle to get away

[Tackleberry41]

Going to venture a guess as to why the gun laws have different results than New Jersey is its pretty dang easy to bring guns from other states into NJ. You not going to just drive to Hawaii with a trunk full of guns, they would notice them on a commercial flight, not just going to load up a few in a fishing boat for a day trip from the mainland. So its pretty easy to restrict guns in Hawaii.

[FergusonTO35]

Yes, it would be alot easier to bring guns in from free states to NJ than HI but I would venture to say that NJ's situation is mostly due to things such as urban decay, unemployment, and flourishing gangs and drug trade. You will find these things everywhere, but NJ has several particularly bad hotbeds for them. Ditto for California, New York, and Northern Illinois.

[Whiterabbit]

I've been stung by a small one. Not fun. i have also eaten them. They are a mild flaky whitefish, like any snapper or seabass. not much meat on them for the size.

[FergusonTO35]

I saw a poisonous Toadfish also when I was there. Those are particularly hazardous because they are drab looking and sit motionless on the sea bottom like a rock, waiting for prey to come by.

[Bullwolf]

Amazing video!

It was very interesting to watch. I've kept salt water reef aquariums for a while myself and had Lionfish in tanks with groupers and sharks (Sand Shark) and other smaller reef fish like clown fish, and damsels.

Lionfish can easily become quite tame. Mine would follow me around like a pup from once side of the tank to the other when I come home hoping for a treat. They would literally eat of my hand like Koi do, with little kissing sounds. They are able to consume a surprising number of feeders or bait fish if you fed them live food and can put on quite a bit of size in larger tanks. I've seen really some really large Lionfish in public aquariums.

Despite many acclimatizing to only eating live food, mine would eat both live feeders and frozen foods like shrimp, prawns, scallops, etc. These fish really have voracious appetites.

Lionfish-Eat-Everything
http://lionfish.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lionfish-Eat-Everything-Stomach-Contents.jpg

My Lionfish were tame enough as to let me clean the tanks (by hand) and not sting me. You could gently shoo them out of the way easily. That took quite a bit of trust on my part. I was always under the impression that only the dorsal spines were venomous, erroneously apparently

http://www.lionfishhunting.com/images/lionfishspineswithlabels.jpg

I'd really hate to step on one in bare feet. I've read that if you accidentally get stung, to immediately expose the affected are such as your hand to heat or hot water (100-114 degrees F. or 38-46 degrees C.) for 15-20 minutes to break down the venom. Expect some swelling to occur.

Lionfish in my tanks would leave other smaller (mouth sized) fish alone if the other fish were already established in a tank they were newly introduced to.

However, anything added to a tank with a Lionfish already established in it was instantly considered food... And they can open their mouths surprisingly wide

http://lionfish.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lionfish-Biting-Off-More-Than-He-Could-Chew-by-Erin-Cziraki1-300x225.jpg

They tend to gulp down anything that can fit - even if they shouldn't.

A few very expensive salt water fish, became unintentional feeders before I learned this important lesson.

I was surprised to learn that Lionfish are edible, although to me it might feel somewhat like eating a pet. It seems that divers really hate them.


- Bullwolf

[FergusonTO35]

Very interesting! Those boogers are well protected, gun turrets at all positions so to speak. Do they have any natural predators? I know sea turtles can eat jellyfish no problem.

[DougGuy]

No natural predators, this is both the problem and the reason for their prolifertaion.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Very interesting post from Bullwolf, and probably a safer hobby than motorcycling. When we try to imagine the lionfish without the spines, it is actually rather like the grouper, though not so well adapted to burst of speed or living in tight crannies. But then, it doesn't have to. I'd expect a similar diet and similar eating qualities.

The toadfish is very similar, although a different species, to the stonefish, which is even more dangerous than the others named. Despite what Ian Fleming says, you more often survive, although for a while you might prefer not to. While I think most of them can be found on bare sand, and I know the weevers can, there is no way I would walk on submerged coral without shoes.

My little friend here is a European adder. Even a full-size one is about equivalent to the least venomous of rattlesnakes. Despite myths, there is no verified instance of one killing a healthy adult. I started her with thick gloves, then thinner, then latex, and finally none. She actually preferred my hand to my slightly damp aquarium tank. One day my mother scared her, and she started to fall, then bit, just to save herself I think. I saw the classic two tiny beads of supposed venom, but never felt a thing, either due to her size or her not having developed the active ingredient in infancy. But I'm told cobras do.

177621

[Whiterabbit]

Very interesting! Those boogers are well protected, gun turrets at all positions so to speak. Do they have any natural predators? I know sea turtles can eat jellyfish no problem.


No natural predators, this is both the problem and the reason for their prolifertaion.

I dunno, in the video it looked like they were falling prey to small 9mm diameter hunks of copper. Very predatory copper, there.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Lionfish can easily become quite tame. Mine would follow me around like a pup from once side of the tank to the other when I come home hoping for a treat. They would literally eat of my hand like Koi do, with little kissing sounds. They are able to consume a surprising number of feeders or bait fish if you fed them live food and can put on quite a bit of size in larger tanks. I've seen really some really large Lionfish in public aquariums.

Despite many acclimatizing to only eating live food, mine would eat both live feeders and frozen foods like shrimp, prawns, scallops, etc. These fish really have voracious appetites.

Lionfish-Eat-Everything


My Lionfish were tame enough as to let me clean the tanks (by hand) and not sting me. You could gently shoo them out of the way easily. That took quite a bit of trust on my part......


Lionfish in my tanks would leave other smaller (mouth sized) fish alone if the other fish were already established in a tank they were newly introduced to.



Rattlesnakes rattle because there is no way they can do serious harm to a buffalo until after it has retaliated, and it is better to frighten him off. It may be that the lionfish has an evolved instinct not to attack anything large as long as it can get out of it.

Some say they have proliferated because of overfishing of the groupers and snappers which are their main competitors. In the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf they weren't at all common. You might think that as long as there are a lot of small fish, the competition isn't starving them. But more mobile predators sharpen up the small fish's reactions.

[FergusonTO35]

Ballistics in Scotland, you are an interesting chap!

[Big Dangle]

Coolest video I've seen in months!!! Thanks for sharing.

[MT Gianni]

No natural predators, this is both the problem and the reason for their prolifertaion.
I understood they had predators in the Pacific but not in the Atlantic where they were introduced illegally.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

From my cerebral memory banks there has emerged the surprising fact that the deeper a submarine goes, the closer a depth-charge must be to penetrate the pressure hull.

There is a British patent for a sort of transverse rotary cage mounted thwartships in a warship, with two cannon which look like the 64 pounder smoothbore, counterbalancing one another. While one was being reloaded, the other, totally immersed, would fire into a nearby enemy, below the waterline. It appears coincidental that yardarm-to-yardarm duels vanished from history at around the same time. The inventor, Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, also designed what could have been a rather good turret-armed steam ironclad if she hadn't been fully rigged as well and she sank with the loss of 480 lives, including Coles.

An extremely elderly friend in my childhood remembered a soldier trying to commit suicide, in an Indian barracks before air-conditioning and electronic communication. As a soldier he knew a person will survive a bullet in the brain once in a while, so he filled the barrel with water. Becoming reconciled to this world at the last moment, he tried to move the muzzle away, but was so nervous that he blew off most of his ear.

When he woke up in hospital he found the dread figure of the Regimental Sergeant-Major by his bedside. The RSM told him he wouldn't be prosecuted (suicide being a crime at the time) or dismissed the service, but he would be put under stoppages for £5 10 shillings to pay for the rifle.

The interesting thing was how little damage was done by that projectile (610gr. with the SMLE and MkVII bullet, and more for the Long Lee Enfield and its heavier bullet). His eardrum wasn't burst, and although the rifle was surely damaged, it wasn't anything obvious. But we all know what can happen if the careless reloader decides to chance his arm, among other body parts, with a bullet twenty or thirty grains overweight, and encountering first air and then water in the bore is almost sure to produce a catastrophic burst. The ability to hold water by capillary action is a major argument against very small military calibres.

So if I wanted to experiment with underwater guns, I would never try what Captain Coles did, by excluding water with parchment caps. The water must come all the way to the bullet.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Ballistics in Scotland, you are an interesting chap!

Thank you for that kind remark. Some say rattlesnakes have evolved an instinct for not rattling, since the arrival of firearms in the Americas have turned it into "Shoot me!" rather than a useful deterrent. As mother rattlesnakes don't give lessons, it is surely an evolved instinct.

The behaviour of the European hedgehog appears to have changed too. I can remember when many were flattened on the roads, because curling into a spiky ball seemed like a good defence against an approaching automobile. Those hedgehogs didn't procreate, while those that ran for the verge did, procreated and passed on their instinctive preference.

[ReloaderFred]

Rattlesnakes rattle as a warning to "stay away", but when actually hunting prey to eat, they don't rattle. They either lie in wait, or sneak up on their prey and then strike. They also don't rattle when startled, such as stepping over a log and onto their bodies. In that case, they strike out of defense. There are also many species of rattlesnakes, from the little sidewinders to the big diamond backs.

The most venomous is the Mojave Green. They live in the same environs as the sidewinders, the deserts of the southwest. I used to see them all time when working nights in the desert. The ugliest are the Pacific Black rattlesnake, which has a high ridge down it's back and is just plain ugly. Timber rattlers can also get ugly, and turn almost as black as the Pacific Black rattlesnake.

And they taste like chicken!

Hope this helps.

Fred

[gwpercle]

I knew Glock's were good for something...shooting fish underwater !
The flashlight attachment is cool.
Here in Louisiana the game warden would run you in for "fishing" like that ! We got law's !

[FergusonTO35]

I knew Glock's were good for something...shooting fish underwater !
The flashlight attachment is cool.
Here in Louisiana the game warden would run you in for "fishing" like that ! We got law's !

"Wonder where'd the Louisiana sheriff go to? You can sure get lost in the Louisiana bayou!":)

[contender1]

As a retired diving instructor, and having dove in Florida a lot,,, I found this interesting. I have a good friend who now actively hunts the lionfish and eats them. I haven't had the pleasure yet.
Invasive & a problem.
Who do we blame? Humans.
While the use of a modified Glock is an interesting way to hunt them, I'll stick to my tried & true methods.

[matrixcs]

Maybe They can add another take method for next year...

http://www.flkeysnews.com/news/local/environment/article100206977.html

[Hickok]

"Get some!"

That is a video a redneck can enjoy!

[762 shooter]

I've heard that rattlesnakes in Texas don't rattle as much because it let''s the hogs know where they are. A pig WILL eat a snake.

762

[Hickory]

I would think that the concussion from the gunshot would have to be hard on your ears while under water.

[contender1]

Actually the concussion from a firearm underwater won't hurt you. Divers have been using "bang sticks" for decades w/o any effect. Not big enough to be a problem.

[Whiterabbit]

Maybe They can add another take method for next year...

http://www.flkeysnews.com/news/local/environment/article100206977.html

As I don my tinfoil hat....

Step 1: open season
Step 2: restrict other game species. Claim they are threatened by the invasive species. If that doesn;t work, manage them by adding size restrictions, or tagging them. Increase license fees and steal the money for general funds.
Step 3: Hire professional trappers to deal with invasive species.
Step 4: Use sportsmen's inability to handle the entire invasive population as justification to restrict sport fishing for lionfish. Increase fees to pay for more professional trappers.
Step 5: Restrict sport fishing for lion fishing. Maintain new restrictions or bans on alternative sport fishing. Hand over population management to sierra club. Increase licensing fees even more to pay for the additional programs needed for population control.
Step 5: pivot to next useful species to restrict NR management by sportsmen.

Ok, I'll take my tin foil hat off.