I heard that if you shot a 357 magnum at a 350 V8 motor it would go through. Has anyone heard or seen the same thing?

no, never.
ALthough, a .357 has a chance of cracking a bit of the engine block, causing the engine to fail.
The .357 magnum was mainly ment to take people down, not cars.

A Little bit of interesting history about the .357 Mag.:

http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/l/aasthandguncara.htm

You have to scroll down a little, but worth the read.

Hey thanks is there any gun that could penetrate that kinda motor.

Having been in police work since 1968, I can recall the "armor piercing" ammunition that was available for the .357, which was always a very popular weapon with law enforcement.

Quite a lot of officers carried alternating rounds in the cylinder of their revolvers; armor-piercing and regular soft-point rounds. Back then, you could shoot at cars....

I never saw the results of anyone using such ammuntion, but the stuff I saw was not impressive in appearance. Most had a sharply-pointed bullet with a steel or tungsten core.

When we talk about penetrating an "engine block", remember that most engines back then were of cast-iron. The block assembly itself is pretty thick, and you'd need some serious horsepower to get through same. However, the channels that are cast in for coolant to flow through are quite thin in spots, it's conceivable that a lucky hit could crack the metal here and allow coolant leakage and subsequent engine failure.
However, the bullet would have to get through:
1. the sheet metal of the car
2. the various bits that surround the engine.

You'd do better to hit the radiator or a hose.

quote:

Originally posted by papermate:
Hey thanks is there any gun that could penetrate that kinda motor.

I looked up the Boys Anti-tank gun, used by the British at the start of WWII. It fired a round slightly larger than the .50 cal. According to Wikipedia, the most effective round had a penetration of a little less than an inch at 100 yards. It might be more effective against cast iron at a closer range, but penetrating an engine block completely seems to be doubtful.

quote:

However, the bullet would have to get through:
1. the sheet metal of the car
2. the various bits that surround the engine.

The sheet metal of a car was shown on MB to be incapable of stopping bullets.

There are only two places on a car that are bullet proof - the engine block and (possibly) the brakes.

the main gun on the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) will certainly put a round through an engine block.

I can't think of a hand or shoulder "gun" that I'D want to fire that could do so. (and I shoot a 10 gauge shotgun)

http://demigodllc.com/articles...a-rifles-trg42-awsm/
Short of using a .50 BMG I would take a look at the .338 Lapua round it is about halfway between a .308 and a .50 BMG in terms of power I have herd of the English using this for light anti-material work. With the right ammo (a good AP round) I would think that it would take out a 350 block provided there were no accessories (radiator, altenator, ect.) in the way. Check out the above article for some good info.

The .50 cal round is not magical. It is also not capable of going through an engine block. Armour penetration for this round is 12mm. Even your lawnmower has an engine thicker than this.

Small arms will not do significant damage to an engine block. They can, however, damage fuel lines, control cables and of course the radiator. Damage to any of these can stop an engine - eventually anyway in the case of the radiator.
Bare in mind that during the battle of Britain there were several occasions when Spitfires and Hurricanes took 20mm explosive shells in their engines without the engine stopping. If the engine did pack up it was because all the coolant was lost and the engine seized up.

quote:

The .50 cal round is not magical. It is also not capable of going through an engine block. Armour penetration for this round is 12mm. Even your lawnmower has an engine thicker than this

cybermortis the question was

quote:

Hey thanks is there any gun that could penetrate that kinda motor.

A lawn mower may have an engine that is thicker than 12 mm however the cylinderwall are not nearly that thick and that is all a round would have to penetrate to be considered sucessful at penetrating the engine block. Paper mate did not specify what year 350 block he wanted to penetrate but most of the 350 engines in circulation including the crate motors available from GM performance parts have cast iron blocks making them more brittle than standard steel. Eventhough the cast iron block are quite thick you are not talking about having to penetrate more than 1" of solid metal. See the link below for a picture of the effects of different types of .50 BMG ammunition. Cybermortis I totally agree with you that the .50 BMG is not magical in any way with the right ammo is is still incredibly effective and powerful. Here are some different mediums and the resultant penetration associated with the .50 BMG as well as the Cheytac .408 another round more than capable of penetrating a 350 block.
.875" face hardened armor steel plate @ 100 yds.
.75" face hardened armor steel plate @75 yds.
(wikipedia)
1.8" nonarmored steel@ 100 yards
(From "The Ulimate Sniper"
by Maj. John L. Plaster, USAR (Ret).
page 222)
1" Allegheny Technology WAH CHANG 425 armor @50yds
(see US patent 7520224 issued on April 21,2009)

The cheytac .408
1" Wearalloy 550 armor steel plate @100 yds
1" Allegheny Technology WAH CHANG 425 armor @ 300 yards
(see US patent 7520224 issued on April 21,2009)

http://forum.pafoa.org/gun-pic...est-steel-plate.html

All I know is that on my ambulance, there were only two things that could stop even the smallest caliber bullet - and we definately preferred to get behind the engine block! Somehow - hiding behind the Oxygen tank didn't make much sense....