Interesting shotshell loads

[Slater]

Most of us have heard of flechettes and other exotic types of shotshells. This is one development that I'd not previousy heard of. From the book "Streetsweepers", by Duncan Long:

"Other types of projectiles were also developed during this period. One of the more interesting was the SCMITR which was dubbed the "flying razor blade". This thin projectile was developed by AAI Corporation and consisted of a nearly flat, stamped piece of sheet metal with small fins on it's lower area and a chisel blade at it's nose. Being nearly flat, the projectiles could be placed side by side in a very small space so that fourteen of the flying blades could be placed inside a 12 gauge shell. Although the individual projectiles were much more lethal than the flechette loads, patterns were not nearly as dense so the SCMITR design appears to have been abandoned."

Sounds like a particularly nasty load.

 

[stinger]

When it comes to shotgun loads, I don't think the shape or texture of the shot has quite as much to do with lethality as the fact that it is leaving the barrel at the speed of sound.


Stinger

 

[artsmom]

I know this is an old thread, but I know of a Marine vet who used these loads in Vietnam (he got them from some SOG spooks in trade). He said you could shoot a guy with them and they would run away, and then you would find them dead down the trail, with blood blisters on their skin where the little razor blade flechettes had worked their way to popping out.

He was sent out to snipe, and insisted on carrying a shotgun instead of a .45 1911 as a secondary weapon.