History Main / ShootTheFuelTank

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' had a warhead that could be shot to explode and get a NonstandardGameOver, and at least ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and the episodes have ExplodingBarrels.

* ''VideoGame/SniperElite'': You can cause enemy trucks and tanks to explode by sniping the caps on their fuel tanks; it's pretty much the ''only'' way to defeat a tank. As with the San Andreas example, this is despite the fact that you can very clearly see the entire fuel tank on all these vehicles, though in this case, the fuel tanks in question all seem to be made of metal thick enough for bullets to bounce off harmlessly. It's also how [[spoiler:Karl destroys the last V2 rocket. You even have to wait for the enemies to finish fueling it because only a full tank will create an explosion big enough to wipe out every last trace of the deadly chemical agent it's carrying.]]

* ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'': Subverted. While you could shoot the gas tank cap on a car stage, doing so only caused flames to shoot out for a while instead of destroying the car.

* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'': Played straight (and in slow motion) by Morpheus during the freeway chase. Strange, when you consider this is averted in the first movie, though that was with a helicopter and not a car. The only effect shooting the fuel tank had was an empty tank a few moments later. Hell, it was averted a few minutes earlier when Morpheus' Cadillac was shot about 1500 times from all directions during the car chase, which must have hit the fuel tank at least once, and nothing happens to it.

* ''Series/HogansHeroes'': In one episode, Carter attempted to shoot a German fuel truck with a flaming arrow as it passed by the camp. [[spoiler:He shot the arrow into the wall beside the window instead. Newkirk took the bow from him and did it properly.]]

* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar1'': The first game has the player shoot propane tanks to light paths to get around the Kryll. The second one has the first battle against Locust take place near a pile of these, shooting these will usually clear the area of any enemy (and you are far enough away from them when this battle happens, anyway...).

* ''VideoGame/MadMax'' uses this as a gameplay mechanic. Pulling your shotgun on an enemy vehicle is a good way to destroy it more easily. Helps that most vehicles have very exposed fuel tanks. The only real drawback is that shotgun ammo is hard enough to come by until you develop ammo benches for strongholds and have a bandolier large enough to carry more rounds. It may be justified to some extent in this case, as the post-apocalypse vehicles are running on very crudely-refined "guzzoline," which might be closer to avgas than unleaded.

This myth was [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters busted]] by ''Series/MythBusters'' as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4n--xOOoWE they proved]] that in most cases it simply will not work. A real-life fuel tank explosion was only possible when they used a ''[[GatlingGood minigun]]'' armed with [[IncendiaryExponent incendiary rounds]] which, suffice to say, is generally unlikely. Besides, if you have a minigun then you're not going to need to shoot the fuel tank anyway. Even if (against all odds, logic, and reason) the fuel tank ''does'' explode, the result is rarely the spectacular car-flipping fireball that Hollywood promises. An ordinary passenger car's gas tank with unleaded gasoline will produce a "POP" and a quick (and anticlimactic) flash of flames underneath the vehicle with all four tires remaining firmly planted on the ground, though the resulting fire may consume the vehicle pretty quickly. Diesel pretty much won't blow at all unless you light a fire under it and keep it burning until it causes a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion), which will take a while to accomplish. Jet fuel's extremely-high ignition temperature causes it to behave a lot like diesel. Avgas (aviation gasoline, the super-high-octane blend used in piston-engined aircraft) can blow up like this (with a very Hollywoodish fireball), which is why airplanes since the 1920s have things like self-sealing fuel tanks and inert-gas-pressurization for their tanks.

* ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightPart2'''s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRBlzttL6Jo Bingo!]]" scene (which immediately follows the infamous "[[MemeticMutation GARBAGE DAY!]]").

* ''Series/HogansHeroes'': In one episode, Carter attempted to shoot a German fuel truck with a flaming arrow as it passed by the camp. [[spoiler: He shot the arrow into the wall beside the window instead. Newkirk took the bow from him and did it properly.]]

* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar1'': The first game has the player shoot propane tanks to light paths to get around the Kryll. The second one has the first battle against Locust take place near a pile of these, shooting these will usually clear the area of any enemy (and you are far enough away from them when this battle happens, anyway...)

* ''Literature/RatedR'': Sid destroys Lily's car this way. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when she outright tells him Mythbusters proved you can't blow up a car like that. Then he does it anyway. He just uses a regular .45 handgun.

*** Indeed, the plane with the worst reputation I know of for catching fire when hit was the Zero, Japan's famous WWII fighter. To save weight, the designers forwent the self-sealing fuel tanks that many other warplanes had, making it quite vulnerable to incendiary rounds.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Quite possibly justified, since Cyclops is a pretty good shot with his eye beams. However, he does discuss it, saying that blowing up a car is a lot harder than movies make it look.

* The Kalashnikov Group of AK-47 notoriety [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIo_0qBR8nU did similar tests]] to the MythBusters above, with different types of fuels and bullets. And as wit the MythBusters, the results were far from explosive.

* ' ''ComicBook/XMen'': Quite possibly justified, since Cyclops is a pretty good shot with his eye beams. However, he does discuss it, saying that blowing up a car is a lot harder than movies make it look.

** In ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', he shoots a tanker with a shotgun in an attempt to stop a harvester. [[RealityEnsues It doesn't work]]. However it did cause the tanker to start leaking, and he then uses a flare on the puddles of fuel, which proved to be MUCH more effective.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': {{Subverted|Trope}}. In the episode "The Rules of Extraction", Archer tries to shoot a gasoline tank with an M-16 in order to set a fire to scare some alligators. [[RealityEnsues It doesn't work]], the tank just end up with some holes in it.

In fiction, shooting a fuel tank makes it explode. This makes for an effective tactic in battle, as [[MadeOfExplodium it's filled with nitro]], [[HairTriggerExplosive in addition to the gas]].

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* ''Literature/{{Dreamcatcher}}'': this is how Henry blows up one of the two Hummers to kill the final shit-weasel. Double-subverted, since at first nothing happens and Henry even laments that in real life this kind of thing apparently doesn't work the way it does in Hollywood movies, but then fuel tank explodes after all.

* [[Literature/RogueWarrior Richard Marcinko]] maintains that it can be done, using special tracer ammunition, but in real life, it's more effective if there is something in the vehicle that can spark and blow the fuel tank that way, much like the trick in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''.

* The ''VideoGame/FarCry'' series of games have this as a gameplay element, usually to show off the dynamic fire effects in-game. Dotted around enemy outposts and towns are a variety of tanks to shoot, ranging from the standard ExplodingBarrel to a large propane tank. It should be noted that some of the tanks don't immediately explode when shot; they rather emit gouts of flame from the bullet holes, or in some cases fly around like rockets before exploding. While EveryCarIsAPinto, they don't blow up when the gas tank is shot, curiously.

** A particularly egregious example ofShotgunsAreJustBetter. You might ding the paint on a propane tank with shotgun, but that’s about all you could do.