Can You Actually "Curve" A Bullet Like In the Movie Wanted? | MythBusters

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:08]Okay. So, what's with the hardware?

[00:00:09]>> Well, we have a new movie myth that has Mythbusters written all over it. And since this movie's come out, we have been inundated with requests to do it.

[00:00:16]In fact, it is the most requested myth of the year.

[00:00:19]>> You're talking about the movie Wanted, right?

[00:00:21]>> Exactly. And in that movie, a secret society of assassins shares the ability to curve a bullet.

[00:00:27]>> That's right. Just with a little bit of a flick of the gun, you can curve the bullet around an obstacle and hit your target.

[00:00:34]>> This should be fun >> or really dangerous.

[00:00:38]>> Do I get to play gun two?

[00:00:39]>> When we're done when your target's hidden behind a side of pork and Angelina Jolie, what's a secret assassin to do?

[00:00:50]>> Shoot the target.

[00:00:52]Well, supposedly with a swing of the arm and a flick of the wrist in obligatory action movie slow motion, the bullet curves around the obstacle, saving your bacon.

[00:01:06]>> Okay. So, how do you want to test this?

[00:01:08]>> I say we just go for it.

[00:01:10]>> Exactly. I mean, in the movie, James Makavoy was able to curve a bullet after only a few tries with minimal training, which makes us perfectly qualified.

[00:01:18]>> Okay. But let's say on the off chance that none of us are fifth generation secret superhuman assassins, maybe we could break it down, look at the rifling, aerodynamics, and I don't know, throwing a robot for good measure.

[00:01:31]>> Okay, you got a point there. What's wrong? You guys feeling ballistically challenged? I say we just let our cold-blooded assassin instincts take over.

[00:01:39]>> Okay. Um, how about you hand me the gun and then we'll go with that plan.

[00:01:43]>> How about you get your own gun?

[00:01:45]>> Just give me the gun. Nope.

[00:01:47]>> All right.

[00:01:49]But before the team lock, load, >> and hit the road.

[00:01:56]>> Oh, yay.

[00:01:57]>> Carrie knocks up a trio of villainous targets.

[00:02:01]>> Bad guys are done.

[00:02:03]>> And one pretty and pink poor kind obstacle.

[00:02:06]>> In the movie, James Mackoy is trying to learn to curve a bullet by shooting around a pig to hit a target on the other side. Now, as a vegetarian who's pretty grossed out by raw meat, I don't think we need to use real pig. This is what we got. Cute little silhouette of one.

[00:02:22]>> And the location for our guntoing trio to potentially bend their bullets is deep in the heart of wine country, Napa Valley, Northern California. So to start out testing our curving bullet myth, we're actually going to try it ourselves. But because this involves swinging a live gun around, we need a lot of open space. Okay, so for our first test, we just need a control. Well, target practice to make sure we can all hit the target.

[00:02:51]>> Yeah, cuz there's no point curving a bullet if we can't hit our target.

[00:02:54]>> Yeah, sounds good. And >> it looks like I'm the first target.

[00:03:00]>> So, our trio of wouldbe assassins select their weapons, line up, and let loose.

[00:03:06]>> Let her have it, Carrie.

[00:03:16]Look at that. Four in the black.

[00:03:25]>> Love that smell.

[00:03:27]>> Well, it looks like we're all hitting the target. You guys ready to start curving bullets?

[00:03:31]>> Sure.

[00:03:32]>> Let's do it.

[00:03:33]>> Now, to get our bullets to curb, we're going to have to put spin on it, just like putting spin on a ball. So, the question is, what technique do you use?

[00:03:40]to use the old top spin lob, maybe a a slider or the old bowling shot. I don't know. I guess I'm just going to see what feels comfortable.

[00:03:52]>> And first up is Grant, >> who volunteered to put in a few extra hours studying Angelina Jolie's technique.

[00:04:01]>> I think you must have been practicing in the mirror. You've got some moves.

[00:04:05]>> It's kind of like an aerobics workout.

[00:04:19]Little early on the draw. James Makin didn't get it on his first one, >> but neither Grant Imahara nor Tory Beliche got it at all.

[00:04:36]>> It's really interesting. It happens very fast. The characters in the movie have this ability to speed up their heartbeat and you know that makes everything else slow down. Apparently I don't have that ability. It just goes boom and then you know it's gone.

[00:04:51]>> Next up is Carrie and Co.

[00:04:54]>> As I am 6 months pregnant, I will be wearing a bulletproof vest protecting for two. You see? I do have to say though, freakiest thing in the world.

[00:05:04]You shoot a bullet, baby kicks. weird.

[00:05:13]>> As I suspected, I don't have superhuman strength, abilities, or shooting capabilities. What are you going to do?

[00:05:21]I'm just a regular girl.

[00:05:24]>> With none of our gung-ho gunslingers coming close to the target, never mind curving a bullet, it's quite clear that imitating the movie just isn't going to cut it.

[00:05:36]But before heading back to the shop to move this myth along, there's the small matter of leftover ammo. Now for something completely gratuitous.

[00:05:52]>> Well, that was easier than curving a bullet.

[00:05:58]It's a fil McFable that has the Mythbuster message boards in a spin.

[00:06:04]Can you really bend it like Brelina?

[00:06:11]Well, so far, despite the team's best efforts, there's been no sign of a bullet bending shot.

[00:06:19]>> That's looking pretty straight to me. It doesn't look like it's curving at all.

[00:06:22]>> Swinging a miss.

[00:06:25]>> Fact is, most of their shots went nowhere near the target.

[00:06:29]>> Little early on the draw.

[00:06:33]So to test this properly, they need to match the movie characters superhuman speed, strength, and accuracy.

[00:06:42]>> So needless to say, we failed miserably at trying to curve the bullet ourselves.

[00:06:46]But you know what? We're only human. And the characters in Wanted have superhuman abilities. So that's why we're resurrecting this. It's a sword swinging robot.

[00:06:57]>> Became a bat swinging robot.

[00:06:59]>> That's the hit. It became a hatswinging robot and it's about to become a bullet curving robot. It can swing its arm at superhuman speeds and what's more, it can fire the gun at precisely the moment we wanted to. Take off some of the rust, change it around, and we're good to go.

[00:07:18]>> Not only will Grant's gunslinger shoot straight every time, it'll impart the arm swinging action that's supposedly responsible for curving the bullet.

[00:07:30]But not in the shop. It won't >> going down. We need a completely controlled environment to test our crazy gunsling and rig. So, we've come down to the South San Francisco Police Department. They have a firing range and they're going to let us use it.

[00:07:44]>> And while Grant gets ready for action, Tori and Carrie prepare to get the results down on paper.

[00:07:51]>> We need to find out whether or not these bullets are curving. But in order to do that, we need to be able to track the path of our bullets. So, we've set up five frames of paper down the gun range eight feet apart. That way, when the gun goes off, the bullet will punch a hole in each one of those sheets of paper.

[00:08:05]Science is body.

[00:08:08]Now, the bullets are flying straight, those holes should all line up. We should be able to see that by pointing a laser pointer down the hole.

[00:08:15]>> Hey, it works. Now, if those holes are not lining up, then we're curving bullets.

[00:08:21]So, the first test is at regular human speed. Now, I know we've already done this test ourselves, which qualifies as human speed, but the robot is capable of perfect execution. And that's what we need to do is take out any differences in our timing or our aim and do it perfectly. Normally here on Mythbusters, we're pretty safety conscious, but on this experiment in particular, because we got a gun going a full 360° around, we have an extra set of precautions.

[00:08:47]Exhaust valves open. Open. Open. Check.

[00:08:51]Now, because Tori and I are going to be in the danger zone here, we're wearing full bulletproof right here.

[00:08:56]>> Return elbow to home. Pin is in.

[00:09:00]>> Trigger cylinder is out. You ready to load the gun? Almost. Check. 10 more steps. Damn.

[00:09:08]>> Secondly, I've got a 25point checklist to make sure that we can load and discharge the weapon safely. Okay, >> your flies down.

[00:09:15]>> Check. And when we load the weapon, we've got this safety tape right here to keep us out of the horizontal plane. And finally, we've got a full wall of ballistic shields closing off that entire side of the range from this weapon.

[00:09:30]That ought to cover it. Here we go. We are loading the gun.

[00:09:34]All right, we are loaded and hot.

[00:09:36]>> Okay, pull the elbow pin. Pin pulled.

[00:09:39]>> Pressurizing the shoulder.

[00:09:44]It's supposed to be a name.

[00:09:46]>> Ready?

[00:09:47]>> Ready.

[00:09:48]>> Safety pin pulled. Let's go. Get out of here.

[00:09:50]>> With Grant's 25point plan complete, the gunslinger is locked, loaded, and ready to unload.

[00:09:57]>> Okay, this is going to be human speed.

[00:10:00]>> Here we go. 3 2 1 >> Nice.

[00:10:06]>> Check it out.

[00:10:07]>> Good shot. Let's go see if we curve that bullet.

[00:10:13]I can see two and three.

[00:10:15]>> Remember, if the bullet did curve >> fourth, we got all five frames. That was a good test.

[00:10:20]>> The holes in the five sheets of paper, the physical evidence of the bullet's trajectory won't line up.

[00:10:26]>> Here's the laser and lined with the hole. Can you see it all the way?

[00:10:31]>> Science is so unforgiving.

[00:10:33]>> The bullet didn't curve. We can see the laser down at this end.

[00:10:37]>> Straight shot at human speed.

[00:10:42]Now, for us, this confirms that human speed is not going to curve a bullet. We did it ourselves. We tried it with the robot. Now, it's time to ramp it up and see if superhuman strength is going to curve it.

[00:11:02]Carrie Grant and Tori have discovered that if you simply mimic the movie Wanted, you won't bend bullets.

[00:11:12]>> Too early.

[00:11:16]>> Have to look at the high speed, but I'm pretty sure I curved that one.

[00:11:19]They've even built a deadly accurate gunslinging robot, given it the exact same sidearm action as the myth and still failed to get anything but a straight shooter.

[00:11:33]>> The bullet didn't curve.

[00:11:35]>> So, next up, they're raising the bar and ramping up the robot.

[00:11:39]>> So, the great thing about this test is that the characters are superhuman, not supernatural. I mean, they're not vampires. They don't use magic. They don't have telekinetic powers to curve the bullet. All it is is superhuman speed and strength. And that we can do in abundance. We've calibrated the rig to twice what a normal human can do.

[00:11:58]Loading the gun with the live round.

[00:12:00]Twice as fast. We'll see how that goes.

[00:12:04]Ready? All right. Let's get out of here.

[00:12:07]All right, so it's all ramped up. Now it's time to see if we can cover a bullet.

[00:12:10]>> This is what it all comes down to.

[00:12:12]>> All right, live round at superhuman speed.

[00:12:16]>> You ready? Let's get it on. Here we go, you guys. In three, two, ONE.

[00:12:25]Center shot. And the paper trail once again neatly illustrates the path of the projectile.

[00:12:32]>> It's made it to the second frame. Yeah.

[00:12:34]Third. Yes. Fourth, and the fifth frame.

[00:12:38]This is a good test. Let's check the alignment.

[00:12:41]>> Okay.

[00:12:42]You see the laser?

[00:12:45]Uh, I see the laser. It's a straight shot. There's no deviation whatsoever.

[00:12:50]>> Superhuman strength. And we still have a straight shot.

[00:12:53]>> Yep. Despite flicking the robotic arm around at superhuman speeds, when the bullet leaves the barrel, it leaves in a straight line. And that leaves this part of the story done and busted.

[00:13:06]>> I know what you're thinking. You're sitting at home thinking, "Ah, the Mythbusters gave up too soon. It was only one shot." But look, here's the reality. This robot's capable of swinging its arm harder and faster than a major league hitter.

[00:13:21]Maybe if I saw 3/4 of an inch, half an inch, maybe even a/4 of an inch, it would be worth continuing on. But you know what? We're not seeing any deviation at all. It's time to move on.

[00:13:37]Carrie, Grant, and Tori have ramped up their robot to superhuman speeds, but the sidearm action used to bend bullets in the movie just doesn't work in real life.

[00:13:50]>> Nothing. This is more fake film physics.

[00:13:52]>> Wo wo. We can't go busting this myth yet. I mean, they did have a cool collection of customized guns and special engraved bullets.

[00:14:00]>> Okay, I see where you're going with this. Maybe it's not just the sidearm flick that gives us the curving bullet.

[00:14:04]Exactly. Maybe it's a function of altering the bullets and guns themselves that's giving the bullets that curve.

[00:14:09]>> Yeah, I mean it seems logical. You change the surface of the bullet or its balance that could affect the trajectory.

[00:14:14]>> Okay, but what about the gun?

[00:14:15]>> Well, the main thing that makes the bullet go straight is the rifling in the barrel.

[00:14:18]>> Yeah, the helical grooves cause the bullet to go into a self-stabilizing spiral.

[00:14:22]>> So, I guess the next step, take the rifling out of the gun, alter the bullets, and see if we get a curve.

[00:14:28]>> So, in their final bid to bend the bullet, Carrie takes on the task of smoothing out the gun barrels. rifling.

[00:14:35]>> That should do it. We have a smooth barrel.

[00:14:38]>> Meanwhile, Tori has been attempting to upset the bullet's finally balanced aerodynamics.

[00:14:44]>> Now, the three sets of bullets are done.

[00:14:46]The first set, I've changed just the aerodynamics of the bullet. And the way I've done that is I've taken a hacksaw and cut grooves along one side of the bullet. The other set, what I've done is I've changed the weight. And the way I've done this is I've drilled out half of the bullet and then I filled it with car body filler so that way it's unbalanced. Now, finally, the third set of bullets. I've incorporated both where I've drilled out half the bullet. This way, it is no longer balanced and it's no longer aerodynamic.

[00:15:10]>> And with the ammo altered and their gun barrel smooth, >> I got to make some arrest.

[00:15:15]>> It's back to the South San Francisco Police Department.

[00:15:18]>> Calling all car.

[00:15:19]>> Can I get my bike back? Sorry.

[00:15:22]>> Inside the firing range in order to capture the allimportant high-speed camera shots, the team is reverting to a stationary shooting position.

[00:15:32]At first up, the team fires off a few shots with a regular gun and the altered bullets, but on each occasion, there was no bend to the bullet's flight path.

[00:15:42]>> Got it. That's a straight shot. No curvy.

[00:15:48]>> It seems the rifling in the gun's barrel can keep any old bullet on the straight and narrow.

[00:15:54]>> Straight shot, no curving whatsoever.

[00:15:58]But I think when we switch to the barrel that has no rifling, all bets are going to be off and that bullet is going to do whatever it wants to.

[00:16:06]>> And from the very first test with a grooved bullet.

[00:16:10]>> Okay. Groove bullet, drifle gun.

[00:16:13]>> It's clear how important rifling is.

[00:16:16]>> Wa!

[00:16:17]>> Look at how wild that bullet went without the rifling.

[00:16:24]>> Yep. One look at the first pane of paper and you can see the bullet must have gone through sideways.

[00:16:30]>> That was >> What the heck happened?

[00:16:33]>> But despite the headover heels flight, it's still traced a straight line through the air.

[00:16:39]>> Look at that.

[00:16:40]>> It's a straight path.

[00:16:42]And no matter how the bullet is altered, grooved, unbalanced, and a combination of both, the result is the same every time.

[00:16:55]>> Wa! Look at how unstable the bullets are now that there's no rifling.

[00:16:59]>> Yeah, it's like going, >> but still it's not curvy. No, >> it's clear that the massive forward momentum of a speeding bullet >> n straight path >> simply overrides any minor adjustments to its aerodynamics or balance.

[00:17:16]>> So, it's looking like no matter what we do, physics are working against us. We cannot curve a bullet.

[00:17:21]>> Doesn't matter if the barrel's rifled or not. Doesn't matter if the bullets are altered or not.

[00:17:25]>> So, this one's busted.

[00:17:26]>> Busted.

[00:17:26]>> Busted.