Wouldn't that jack up your shotgun?

[87th PVI]

watch the clip from 40 seconds to 56 seconds time stamps




First of all why would anyone load a gun with silver discs instead of round pieces of lead? Secondly, wouldn't that mess up the gun?

I can't remember what movie it was but I also remember one where a character in the movie loaded broken glass & small nails into shotshells.
(yes I know these are MOVIES... I'm just wondering)

Then there are the stories I've heard about the farmer who drives off the corn thieving kids with rock salt loads.


So what would the effect be on a shotgun?

[Brick]

watch the clip from 40 seconds to 56 seconds time stamps




First of all why would anyone load a gun with silver discs instead of round pieces of lead? Secondly, wouldn't that mess up the gun?

I can't remember what movie it was but I also remember one where a character in the movie loaded broken glass & small nails into shotshells.
(yes I know these are MOVIES... I'm just wondering)

Then there are the stories I've heard about the farmer who drives off the corn thieving kids with rock salt loads.


So what would the effect be on a shotgun?

Ever hear of the term "langrage"? It was all of the scrap iron and junk aboard a ship loaded into the ships' guns and fired at an enemy vessel to rip up sails, rigging and personnel. All they were doing was using the cannons as big shotguns.

As long as the dimes are loaded over a wad, why not? There is no rifling to be engaged or to strip metal from the dimes (rock salt, nails or other stuff) that get sent down the barrel and as long as the total weight of the charge does not exceed the usual or maximum shot charge weight what's the difference?

For that matter how about the buck and ball loads used by both hunters and soldiers in the muzzle loading era? A smooth bore musket is as much shotgun as any thing else and a fowling piece of that era is only a fowling piece because of its' shape.

[762xIan]

Ask and you shall receive... The guys at the "Box of Truth" website have been testing all kinds of gun stuff like this and posting results online.

Box of Truth #35...load of dimes in shotgun.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot35.htm

BOT #33 will answer your rock salt question.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot33.htm

Link to the BoT main site with all the original chapters/testing:

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/theboxotruth.htm

I recommend a lot of reading over there, I have learned a lot and a LOT of myth's get dispelled on penetration testing on what bullets can and can't do.

[max384]

Ask and you shall receive... The guys at the "Box of Truth" website have been testing all kinds of gun stuff like this and posting results online.

Box of Truth #35...load of dimes in shotgun.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot35.htm

BOT #33 will answer your rock salt question.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot33.htm

Link to the BoT main site with all the original chapters/testing:

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/theboxotruth.htm

I recommend a lot of reading over there, I have learned a lot and a LOT of myth's get dispelled on penetration testing on what bullets can and can't do.

Well, that's about as good an answer as possible. Rep incoming (as soon as my button is fixed).

[Brick]

Hey Ian! Your Box O'Truth references were very interesting reading.

The OPs' main concern was possible damage to the shotgun, BoT proved it was possible to load and shoot both dimes and rock salt with out damage to the gun.

[Kaos]

Box of Truth #35...load of dimes in shotgun.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot35.htm

Mythbusters did this one too at some point

BOT #33 will answer your rock salt question.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot33.htm

I think they screwed up on their test by not using real rock salt, like...street grade salt.

[Hawk]

I would think a load of dimes would loose it's energy much faster than buckshot. I would also think, depending on how the dime hit you & and the distance traveled, whether it would penetrate enough to do any serious damage. (I haven't looked at the B.O.T. films)

If I recall correctly, in the movie "Young Guns", there was some significance to him using the dimes. IIRC, he was shooting at about 20-30 yards. I'm willing to bet the spread of dimes was pretty large (maybe 20-30 inches).

[Flash]

I would think a load of dimes would loose it's energy much faster than buckshot. I would also think, depending on how the dime hit you & and the distance traveled, whether it would penetrate enough to do any serious damage. (I haven't looked at the B.O.T. films)

If I recall correctly, in the movie "Young Guns", there was some significance to him using the dimes. IIRC, he was shooting at about 20-30 yards. I'm willing to bet the spread of dimes was pretty large (maybe 20-30 inches).

In the historical era in which that movie was set, there were NO "clad" dimes, like today's slugs. Real dimes then were all 90% silver, and consequently they were more dense (= more weight per dime, = more weight per charge). And as we all know, denser projectiles perform better on target and hold their velicities at distance better; if this were not so, marshmallow bullets would perform the same as lead ones.

I wonder if BOT would do that experiment with sixteen SILVER dimes (at current silver prices of $16.27/oz, that brings a single shot of sixteen dimes to about $26.00 in dimes). I'll bet Tman would be picking them all up for sure.

Flash

[762xIan]

I think they screwed up on their test by not using real rock salt, like...street grade salt.

I agree there, they should have used the larger chunks of salt, like you find with a water softener or something.

[Hawk]

In the historical era in which that movie was set, there were NO "clad" dimes, like today's slugs. Real dimes then were all 90% silver, and consequently they were more dense (= more weight per dime, = more weight per charge). And as we all know, denser projectiles perform better on target and hold their velicities at distance better; if this were not so, marshmallow bullets would perform the same as lead ones.

I wonder if BOT would do that experiment with sixteen SILVER dimes (at current silver prices of $16.27/oz, that brings a single shot of sixteen dimes to about $26.00 in dimes). I'll bet Tman would be picking them all up for sure.

Flash

It boils down to a projectiles mass and wind resistance.
1. Silver is half the atomic mass of lead.
2. The dime will not present the same cross section during it's flight, it will most likely tumble and become unstable. At least sometime during it's flight it will present a much larger cross section than the oo buck, where air resistance will suck the energy out of it. This is only my hypothesis, not having actually run the experiment or examining empirical data.