Having done some slow-motion studies of firearms with my Chronos 1.4 highspeed camera, my friend reached out to me asking if I would be willing to help him film his unit’s PAN Disrupter in slow motion. I did not know what that was but when he described what it is for, I was very excited to check it out and help them in any way I could. Hint . . . it kills bombs.
Slow Motion @ TFB:
PAN Disrupter
Not your typical barreled action.
The disrupter is a breach loaded 12 ga with a massive barrel. It is rifled and designed to shoot some very special 12GA rounds that would cause a regular shotgun to blow up.
The PAN Disrupter shoots slugs and other various rounds. One of the slugs is steel and moves at 2600 feet per second! Another device he has at his disposal is a type of water disrupter. It shoots water out so fast that it disrupts electronics and kills bombs.
My friend Vic actually threaded one of their disrupters back when he was the gunsmith for Spartan Precision. The EOD unit used a SilencerCo Salvo12 to try and suppress the PAN Disrupter. Unfortunately due to the high pressure of some of the rounds, the Salvo12 did not survive. This is a new Salvo12.
Interestingly they use a variety of different breaches. The one above uses a shock tube (I mistakenly thought it was DET Cord). My friend told me the “spark” (I don’t know the actual nomenclature) travels at 6,500 fps down the line and you can see it in slow motion. The other PAN Disrupter used an electronic breach.
My friend needed my help to try and film the PAN Disrupter in slow motion. The rounds were hitting 0.5″ high and he wanted to see if the slow-motion footage could help him figure out why that is. Due to the way these work, you cannot Kentucky windage to make the shot. Seems like the simplest solution but I don’t work in EOD and he says that is just how they have to follow procedure. Given they are trying to kill bombs, I say do whatever it takes to succeed. In the photo below, my friend is setting up the PAN Disrupter to his target.
The blue box is a special target stand that holds these metal targets.
The target above is different from the one below. See how the one above has the shot about 0.5 inches high and a little to the right? Also, the round deformed the metal target a bit. Now compare that to the target below. Not sure if the copper is from the target or some form of jacket material from the projectile but it was not on the other target. The target below was shot with one of those 2,600 FPS projectiles. Less deformation of the metal and it punched a clean hole nearly dead center.
Here is a video with various clips I shot along with one filmed by my friend Vic. Yes, the PAN Disrupter launches backwards due to recoil. My friend has done this so many times he knows where to lay a yoga mat to catch the barrel when it flies backwards and hits the ground.
The barrel is definitely moving rearward before the projectile has left the barrel. Possibly this might be causing the slight rise in POI? Also, if you watch carefully, you can see the barrel is rotating, but it only seems to show up after the projectile has left the barrel.
Big thanks to my friend Vic and my EOD friend for letting me come and help film this rather interesting not-shotgun. I hope I can see the water disrupter another time.
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