What can You Use For Shot?
- Thread starter ninjatoth
- Start date
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
Little round balls of lead, steel or sometimes bismuth is usually the safest....
alternatives
Some "specialty loads" in 12 gauge use plastic or hard rubber balls as crowd or animal control rounds. I tried to duplicate such a load - for chasing bears off the deck behind the house. I took apart a factory load that used hard plastic "buckshot". I measured the shot and weighed them and then weighed the charge and took a long look at the wad. I was able to duplicate the load at way less than they normally cost. They are as safe as I can make them and exhibit no odd behavior.
The military loaded 12gauge hulls with flechettes (small darts) for use in jungle warfare. They may still use them.
Pete
Some "specialty loads" in 12 gauge use plastic or hard rubber balls as crowd or animal control rounds. I tried to duplicate such a load - for chasing bears off the deck behind the house. I took apart a factory load that used hard plastic "buckshot". I measured the shot and weighed them and then weighed the charge and took a long look at the wad. I was able to duplicate the load at way less than they normally cost. They are as safe as I can make them and exhibit no odd behavior.
The military loaded 12gauge hulls with flechettes (small darts) for use in jungle warfare. They may still use them.
Pete
Ruthless4christ
New member
Hot wax! Makes great anti feral dog ammo!
At one time or another, practically EVERYTHING has been tried in a smoothbore, ranging from spikes in slugs, screws, nails, lengths of chain, etc. etc., but none of them will actually do any more damage than the tried and true buckshot and slugs. Unless you're interested in "casualty-testing" your shotgun to see how badly you can treat it, I'd stick with factory loads or responsible handloads.
While in high school we had a farmer test some of his rock salt loads out on us (a bunch of kids out partying on his land). From about 50 yards or so (from what I remember) it went through my t-shirt and into my back enough to were I had to go to the hospital to get it cut out....man does it burn.
Didn't go in far enough for me to use it for HD duty.If you manage to blast a full load of rocksalt into the eyes of an attacker it should stop him immediately, but you'll loose the following lawsuit. Fake eyes are expensive!
And dont forget earmuffs to protect your ears from the screams of the attacker.
What about loading copper ''shards'' instead shot?
And dont forget earmuffs to protect your ears from the screams of the attacker.
What about loading copper ''shards'' instead shot?
speedsixman
New member
An old guy told me that when he was growing up on the farm (which was on the edge of the city) they had an old shotgun in the barn that they used for "pest" control. He would dump out the pellets and load the shells with any old bolt nuts that were laying around. Said they made a "whoosh, whoosh" and whistling sound when fired over the head of trespassers.
Wonder he didn't blow up the gun.
Don't try this at home, boys and girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Myron
Wonder he didn't blow up the gun.
Don't try this at home, boys and girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Myron
4thPointofContact
Moderator
Flechettes....bad idea
The military may, at one time, have experimented with flechette ammunition for 12-gauge shotguns. The fact that the military now uses buckshot should tell you something about how effective it was.
There are four main problems with loading the commonly available flechette into a shotgun and trying to use it for offensive/defensive purposes.
1) Flechettes are light, there were between 19 and 20 in each of the 10 cut apart shotshells we evaluated. That's not a lot of weight per projectile.
2) Flechettes are pointy. Icepicks are pointy, but few people rely on icepicks for combat.
3) Flechettes have fins. You wouldn't think of it as a drawback until you combine that with 1) and 2) above. You wind up with a projectile that doesn't have a lot of momentum to begin with and then has little fins on the back that act like very effective brakes to keep the flechette from penetrating very far.
4) Flechettes, to gain whatever weight advantage they can are packed with half of the payload pointing forward and half to the rear. As soon as those rearward flechettes reach open air they lose any stability they may have had in the barrel and fly off ..... well pretty much like any unaerodynamic, non spinning projectile. Picture trying to throw a broadhead arrow backwards and you'll quickly get the idea.
How horrible are they? In the testing we did, at 15 yards the pattern was 6-7 feet in diameter. A 6-foot diameter pattern has over 4,000 square inches. To hit that you have at most 20, inch-long flechettes that will penetrate about an inch and a quarter...at most. In reality, the great majority of those flechettes will hit broadside, without a bit of penetration and probably not even causing a welt on bare skin.
If I had to face someone carrying a shotgun loaded with flechettes or someone carrying a shotgun loaded with birdshot..... there's not much choice in who I'd rather be charging.
If anyone is curious to see the test and the pictures, head over to GeorgiaPacking.Org and do a search for flechettes.
The military may, at one time, have experimented with flechette ammunition for 12-gauge shotguns. The fact that the military now uses buckshot should tell you something about how effective it was.
There are four main problems with loading the commonly available flechette into a shotgun and trying to use it for offensive/defensive purposes.
1) Flechettes are light, there were between 19 and 20 in each of the 10 cut apart shotshells we evaluated. That's not a lot of weight per projectile.
2) Flechettes are pointy. Icepicks are pointy, but few people rely on icepicks for combat.
3) Flechettes have fins. You wouldn't think of it as a drawback until you combine that with 1) and 2) above. You wind up with a projectile that doesn't have a lot of momentum to begin with and then has little fins on the back that act like very effective brakes to keep the flechette from penetrating very far.
4) Flechettes, to gain whatever weight advantage they can are packed with half of the payload pointing forward and half to the rear. As soon as those rearward flechettes reach open air they lose any stability they may have had in the barrel and fly off ..... well pretty much like any unaerodynamic, non spinning projectile. Picture trying to throw a broadhead arrow backwards and you'll quickly get the idea.
How horrible are they? In the testing we did, at 15 yards the pattern was 6-7 feet in diameter. A 6-foot diameter pattern has over 4,000 square inches. To hit that you have at most 20, inch-long flechettes that will penetrate about an inch and a quarter...at most. In reality, the great majority of those flechettes will hit broadside, without a bit of penetration and probably not even causing a welt on bare skin.
If I had to face someone carrying a shotgun loaded with flechettes or someone carrying a shotgun loaded with birdshot..... there's not much choice in who I'd rather be charging.
If anyone is curious to see the test and the pictures, head over to GeorgiaPacking.Org and do a search for flechettes.