DUBUQUE, IA (KWWL/CNN) - Who needs fireworks when you've got a bunch of friends, an assault rifle and a washing machine full of explosives?
One Iowa family that joked about blowing up an old broken washing machine decided to go for it on the Fourth of July weekend.
"This little platform at the bottom now is it," Natalie Hall said of the appliance's remains. A pile of junk is all that remains of what used to be a washing machine after a loud blast.
Hall, 18, took the shot that led to the explosion. “And I took the first shot, and I didn't make it. And I was like, should I do it again? And I was like, sure, might as well. Then it took me a while to get lined up, then it blew up and everyone was kinda in shock. We weren't expecting it to happen right away,” Hall said.
The washer, which quit working about six months ago, was filled with 16 pounds of binary reactive, a completely legal explosive.
Hall took the shot from about 120 yards, and was in awe of what happened when she the target. “It was really big. You could feel it from all way back here. I was just in shock looking at it," Hall said.
And just as impressive is that it was Hall's first time shooting an assault rifle. It wasn’t bad for her first time. "I've only shot guns three times down here. So nothing big, nothing with an assault rifle,” she said.
Natalie recently finished high school and the family was also celebrating her graduation. In all, 16 people were going to try to hit the wired washer, but she was first up and beat them all to it.
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