OMG: Meet Dustin Ellermann, the guy who cooks bacon with a machine gun

You’ve heard of cooking rashers on a car engine, now you can sizzle some bacon on the end of an assault rifle, thanks to the culinary exploits of one gun-toting Texan. Dustin Ellermann, a competitive marksman from Zavalla, a city in the east of the state, wrapped a couple of strips of bacon around the suppressor of his M16 automatic weapon and proceeded to fire about 90 rounds out in a shooting range. The heat from the fired gun left the piece of pork cooked. “I was pleasantly surprised with the crispy perfection,” says Ellermann, 32, whose video of the feat has garnered over 750,000 views on YouTube.

Why did you decide to cook bacon using a M16?

I can’t claim to be the first to do it, but I had always wanted to try it. A few friends and I were recently on a hog eradication mission complete with a M16A1, suppressed rifles and night vision, and decided after lunch we should give this a whirl while we had all the ingredients on hand.

What are you trying to prove with this?

Freedom. Sure I could go inside and cook on a grill like any other pansy. But this was about fun and freedom.

Why did you use a M16 specifically?

Automatic machine guns are highly regulated and restricted in America. This lower-end rifle is the only one I have like this. To get another would cost several thousand dollars, months of waiting and more government paperwork. You could certainly do it with a semi-automatic and less regulated firearm, but that’s boring. Mag dumps with a machine gun are priceless.

Describe your method of cooking.

I simply wrapped two strips of bacon around the suppressor, covered it in foil to keep it from falling, then we dumped one mag through the gun, started to hear it sizzle, waited a minute. Shot another mag through. Waited about two more minutes. Checked the foil, decided it probably needed one more mag, that’s the one where the foil flew off, then after unwrapping it was cooked to perfection. The advantage of using the M16A1 lower receiver was also being able to use a shorter barrel which in turn heats up the suppressor faster due to the faster transference of heat.

Does it taste different from regularly-cooked bacon?

It tasted perfect. I was pleasantly surprised with the crispy perfection.

How much money did you have to spend to cook it (bullets etc.)?

Ammo isn’t cheap, and this used around 90 rounds. That steel-cased ammo I used is probably $0.28 a round so you are talking about $25 in heating. But hey, I also got to shoot three mags through a machine gun!

Is what you did legal?

Completely legal with the proper paperwork – which I have of course have tax stamps [permits] from the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. – Ed.) for both the M16 lower and suppressor – and completely safe on our closed range to which we owned the hundreds of acres behind the treeline you see in the background.

Do you have plans to cook other meals this way?

Yes, we do have a few brainstorm sessions coming, so stay tuned to my YouTube channel to see it in action.