Buckshot penetration?

G

GalilARM

New member
I did a bit of internet browsing, but I was hoping to get some insight from you guys about the penetration of buckshot loads. I know round ball ammo isnt a good penetrator, but I'm sure at close range it does alright.

At close range, would buckshot go through a human body or stay inside?
How does buckshot fair against car doors/windshields/etc at different ranges?
At what ranges would buckshot penetrate/not penetrate a wooden door or drywall?

Just curious, any insight or links to good pages would be great!

**EDIT: I found this cool Box o' Truth site, but anyones advice would still be helpful!
 
Depends on the shot size. 00 buck (9 pellets) is by far and away the most common defense load you will stumble across. You should probably anticipate some overpenetration with this load, but it's definitely going to get the job done.

#1 buck is the absolute best for 2 legged critters - consisting of 16 pellets, #1 buck causes 30% more wound trauma than 00 buck and carries less chance of overpenetration. The IWBA has deemed #1 buck the top performing load because it is the smallest shot size that will consistently penetrate the FBI minimum of 12" in ballistic geleatin.

#4 buck is a good choice for people who are greatly concerned with the possibility of overpenetration. Roughly half of the pellets will penetrate the FBI minimum in gel, and overpenetration is much less likely than the other 2 mentioned loads. Anything smaller than #4 should not be considered appropriate for defense.
 
OO buck is the most common and used. Next up is no 4 buck, then no1 buck being the hardest to find but probable the best for defense at close range. As for shooting at cars, which is probably not a good thing to do IMO, OO buck would be the best penetrator. If I had to shoot at a car or truck I would be selectively loading slugs.
 
Did the same thing to an old car hood. Think it was a hood from a Buick circa 1960's or so, so you know it was all steel. Slugs went straight through and penetrated deep in the dirt bank behind, buckshot went through the steel hood and flattened out to about the size of a dime. Found them laying on the dirt and some penetrated dirt to 2 inch or so. This was a mix of 00 and 000. It was the 000's that penetrated deepest.
 
Saw an interesting show on TV the other night (but, of course I've forgotten what it was). Any way, they showed an X-Ray of various bullets/loads from shootings. To say the 00 buck was devastating was an understatement. Shot was to right side of the chest, and each pellet left a different "trail" through the chest area, penetrating 8-10 inches. Looked like 10-12 9mm rounds together, all from one shot.

P.S. I have some old appliances on my backyard shooting range--00 buck will go completely through 2 layers of sheet metal (and any plastic junk in there) and still penetrate 3-4 inches into my wood (stump) backer.
 
I use 3" #1 buck in my shotgun. I think there are 24 pellets in the 3" load. I saw a tape a guy had several years ago of some guys shooting through car doors, windshields etc. and I was amazed how buck shot penetrated, of course the slug was top dog, it penetrated both doors through and through.
 
This is my topic of expertise ;) J/K

Here's facts from experience...

From close range:(accross the street 1 car length behind), target shots will dent the !!!! out of a late 90's German luxury car door but will not penetrate or make any holes

Target shots will not even dent a filing cabinet from 25 yards let alone penetrate it.

000BK will penetrate the same filing cabinet (clean holes/minimal deformation) from 25 yards away.

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Here's my guesses:

000BK (8Pel) can penetrate inside a person and from close range will quite possibly come out the other side. Obviously bones are harder to penetrate than muscle and some of the pellets will penetrate further.

Ordinary slug is pretty much guaranteed to penetrate any ordinary animal (I obviously I'm not a biologist so I'm talkin about typical mamal animals we see in the zoo) but momentum is more so it can keep it's speed a lot longer and therefore penetrate at longer ranges. Penetrating out the other side is the most likely w/ a slug at even further distances. The aerodynamics of it are VERY important when it comes to penetrating through... Flat-headed bullets are obviously more likely to stay inside the body.

BTW:Hollowed tips aren't supposed to penetrate THROUGH so they don't count

The metal they make the shots out of matters too cuz some are softer and some are harder.

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What I suggest is buy your favorite brand for shotshells and buy 1 of every type of shot and conduct ur own experiment like that guy on book of truth or w/e
 
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