Sign in or 
Shotgun Ammo |
Version 86 - view current page
There are lots of different types of shotshells available. I will discuss them below, but you need to understand that a shotgun shell is a "load carrying" round. That means it is designed to carry a "payload" of lead shot (different sizes), Incendiary material, lead slug, rubber balls, lead power "bags" or just about anything that will fit in this area.
Components:
There are 5 components of a shotgun shotshell.
* Here's a quick link if you want more clarifications on them - Parts of the Shell
Components are:
1) Primer - provides the ignition
2) Case - holds all the components
3) Powder Charge - pushes the load
4) Wad or "Cup" - space filler or a spacer with a plastic cup.
5) Shot, Slug or "Payload" - projectile or payload to be fired or launched.
There is another "component" and that is the brass base or brass "head" of the shell. This is more of a designator for the power of the load than a true component.
Low brass = light loads.
High brass = heavy loads.
Shot
Shot are small ball shaped pellets loaded into a plastic wad "cup" of a shotshell. They can be steel, Bismuth or most commonly lead. It is designated by a number like "#6" for size 6 shot. The smaller the number the larger in size of the shot. For reference, see .177 Air Rifle BB on the steel shot chart (left).
Shot comes in different sizes depending on the "job" you want to do with your shotgun.
Recommendations for hunting are:
Rabbit, Squirrel - #6, #7.5
Quail, Dove, Grouse - #8, #7.5
Turkey - #4, #5, #6, Duplex (#4 & #6)
Pheasant - #5
Duck - #2, #3, #4, BB
Geese - BBB, BB, #1
Deer - 00 Buckshot
Slugs
Are a single large projectile fired from a shotgun like a bullet from a rifle to give it better range for large game hunting. They are very large and heavy with the 12g slug being .75 caliber and approximately 1 oz. (425 grains) in weight.
There are two factors to consider when using slugs:
1) type of slug
2) type of slug barrel
Types of Slugs:
Foster Slugs (in green left) - looks like a big hollow dome shaped bullet with rifle grooves ON the outside of the slug. These are fired through a smooth bore barrel and are the most common available. Range is short - max 50 yards.
Brenneke Slugs (in red below) - look like Foster Slugs except it's solid and base of slug has plastic stabilizer fins that stays on during flight. Range improved to medium range - max 100 yards. These are also fired through a smooth bore slug barrel.
Sabots - looks like a heavy rifle bullet encased in a plastic "carrier" designed to be fired through a rifled bore barrel. They are the most modern and very accurate when fired through a rifled barrel. Long range - max 200 yards.
Types of Shotgun Slug Barrels:
Slug barrels are specifically designed to fire shotgun slugs. They differ from the "regular" shotgun barrel in that they have rifle type sights, instead of the "bead" and can have a rifled barrel.
Slug Barrel (Smooth Bore) - These have rifle sights and are used with Foster & Brenneke type slugs as well as shotshells. These make for a good combination barrel for defensive purposes as the rifle sights allow better accuracy over the CQC short barrels and the ability to switch between shot at close range and a slug for longer range can sometimes be important. They usually come in 20" and 24" barrels.
Slug Barrel (Rifled Bore) - These are dedicated slug barrels for use with Sabot slugs for large game hunting. They are as accurate as a large caliber rifle in ranges out to 200 yards with ballistics are similar to the .45-70 rifle cartridge. Most of these barrels can be scoped as well as using rifle sights. These will not fire shotshells as the rifling "spins" the shot pellets wildly out of control and quickly defuse the pattern of the shot making it useless at anything over point blank range. They usually come in the same 20" and 24" barrels.
Specialty Types of Shotshells:
Specialty shotshells take advantage of being able to load a different "payload" into the shell. These are wide in variety and usage with many of them designed to be non-lethal or less-lethal that normal ammo. Note that less-lethal ammo can still be lethal at point blank range.
Rock Salt (less-lethal) - literally rocks of salt loaded into a shell for non-lethal work. Traditionally employed to "scare off intruders or predators" without hurting them. Any abrasions from the impact are exacerbated by the salt in the wound giving this round it's reputation for "stinging the hide".
Pitbull (Dual Load Projectile) - Six 00 Buckshot pellets backed by a 3/4 oz. Slug. Also called "Buck & Ball". Gives the benefits of heavy impact of the slug with spread and impact of buckshot. Very effective CQC round.
Armor Piercing (AP) - High velocity slug with a steel core. Boosts it will penetrate 1/4" steel plate. Designed to penetrate vehicles or disable their engines.
Door Buster (Breaching) - 325 gr. slug of compressed copper powder. Explodes on impact with a solid object and delivers 100% of it's energy into the target. Designed to quickly damage or destroy the hinges of a door or door lock to allow for quick entry. Here's a video link for nice series of videos showing how to breach a door.
"Dragon's Breath" (Incendiary) - Incendiary "flamethrower" round that uses titanium flakes that burn at 3000 degrees in a wall for 100 ft.
Dragon's Breath Video 1 - Awesome!
Dragon's Breath Video 2 - Note better look at "pattern"
Flechette (Projectile) - Loaded with 25-30 small dart shaped projectiles. Not generally used as much due to the tendency of flechettes to rotate in flight and strike targets ineffectively sideways. (see pic right)
Pepper Blast (Less-lethal) - When fired, creates a thick cloud of pepper spray that can fill a 1000 sq. ft. building.
CS gas (Less-lethal) - A small, gravity bomb shaped capsule filled with CS gas. Designed to penetrate a single layer, such as a thin interior door or a car windshield, and release a payload of teargas inside the space.
Flash Bang (Less-lethal) - Round fires a small explosive on a timed fuse. Explodes with loud noise and flash. A variant of these is called the "Bird Bomb" and uses a M80 size explosive to scare pests from a farmer's field.
Rubber Baton (Less-lethal) - Contrary to popular belief, "rubber baton" shells actually fire a plastic projectile. Designed for (non-lethal) trauma at ranges of 10 to 45 feet for crowd control. Dangerous and possibly lethal if fired at ranges less than 10 feet, typically they are only fired at limbs.
Bean Bag (Less-lethal) - A sack filled with shot that opens up after being fired. Used to subdue (Less-lethal) behavior modifications. Ranges of 7-10 yards. Can be very dangerous if the bean bag fails to open up and acts as a slug. Bean Bag Video Link
Rubber Buckshot (Less-lethal) - Fires 20 Buckshot size rubber balls for crowd control.
Bolo or Strung Buck (Projectile) - Two large balls connected by a 4" - 6" piece of wire that spins in flight. Generally unstable in flight and rarely used.
Duplex Load (Dual Load Projectile) - Shotshell with two different sized pellets for increase spread and power. Usually used for hunting large birds.
Flare (Signal) - Flare round made for a shotgun. Some 20mm flare pistols can accept an adapter to use 12 gauge shells.
TASER XREP (eXtended Range Electronic Projectile) / (Less-lethal) - Essentially a self-contained TASER within a shotshell. It requires two points to produce a current, the electrodes on the projectile and the streamer or the connecting wire. Runs for thirty seconds. Mossberg designed a less lethal shotgun only capable of accepting the XREP, but the shell will work in any smooth bore shotgun. Two versions are made, a finned model for smooth bore shotguns, and another for rifled bores. Video Link
Practical Information:
Excellent 18 minute Video on Shotgun ammo - for information purposes, but VERY informative. This is a good overview of shotgun ammo, it's effects on hard targets, body armor, ballistic gel and covers exotic rounds at the end.
Ironhand
Components:
There are 5 components of a shotgun shotshell.
* Here's a quick link if you want more clarifications on them - Parts of the Shell
Components are: 1) Primer - provides the ignition
2) Case - holds all the components
3) Powder Charge - pushes the load
4) Wad or "Cup" - space filler or a spacer with a plastic cup.
5) Shot, Slug or "Payload" - projectile or payload to be fired or launched.
There is another "component" and that is the brass base or brass "head" of the shell. This is more of a designator for the power of the load than a true component.
Low brass = light loads.
High brass = heavy loads.
Shot
Shot are small ball shaped pellets loaded into a plastic wad "cup" of a shotshell. They can be steel, Bismuth or most commonly lead. It is designated by a number like "#6" for size 6 shot. The smaller the number the larger in size of the shot. For reference, see .177 Air Rifle BB on the steel shot chart (left).Shot comes in different sizes depending on the "job" you want to do with your shotgun.
Recommendations for hunting are:
Rabbit, Squirrel - #6, #7.5
Quail, Dove, Grouse - #8, #7.5
Turkey - #4, #5, #6, Duplex (#4 & #6)
Pheasant - #5
Duck - #2, #3, #4, BB
Geese - BBB, BB, #1
Deer - 00 Buckshot
Slugs
Are a single large projectile fired from a shotgun like a bullet from a rifle to give it better range for large game hunting. They are very large and heavy with the 12g slug being .75 caliber and approximately 1 oz. (425 grains) in weight.
There are two factors to consider when using slugs:
1) type of slug
2) type of slug barrel
Types of Slugs:Foster Slugs (in green left) - looks like a big hollow dome shaped bullet with rifle grooves ON the outside of the slug. These are fired through a smooth bore barrel and are the most common available. Range is short - max 50 yards.
Brenneke Slugs (in red below) - look like Foster Slugs except it's solid and base of slug has plastic stabilizer fins that stays on during flight. Range improved to medium range - max 100 yards. These are also fired through a smooth bore slug barrel.Sabots - looks like a heavy rifle bullet encased in a plastic "carrier" designed to be fired through a rifled bore barrel. They are the most modern and very accurate when fired through a rifled barrel. Long range - max 200 yards.
Types of Shotgun Slug Barrels:
Slug barrels are specifically designed to fire shotgun slugs. They differ from the "regular" shotgun barrel in that they have rifle type sights, instead of the "bead" and can have a rifled barrel.
Slug Barrel (Smooth Bore) - These have rifle sights and are used with Foster & Brenneke type slugs as well as shotshells. These make for a good combination barrel for defensive purposes as the rifle sights allow better accuracy over the CQC short barrels and the ability to switch between shot at close range and a slug for longer range can sometimes be important. They usually come in 20" and 24" barrels.
Slug Barrel (Rifled Bore) - These are dedicated slug barrels for use with Sabot slugs for large game hunting. They are as accurate as a large caliber rifle in ranges out to 200 yards with ballistics are similar to the .45-70 rifle cartridge. Most of these barrels can be scoped as well as using rifle sights. These will not fire shotshells as the rifling "spins" the shot pellets wildly out of control and quickly defuse the pattern of the shot making it useless at anything over point blank range. They usually come in the same 20" and 24" barrels.
Specialty Types of Shotshells:
Specialty shotshells take advantage of being able to load a different "payload" into the shell. These are wide in variety and usage with many of them designed to be non-lethal or less-lethal that normal ammo. Note that less-lethal ammo can still be lethal at point blank range.
Rock Salt (less-lethal) - literally rocks of salt loaded into a shell for non-lethal work. Traditionally employed to "scare off intruders or predators" without hurting them. Any abrasions from the impact are exacerbated by the salt in the wound giving this round it's reputation for "stinging the hide".
Pitbull (Dual Load Projectile) - Six 00 Buckshot pellets backed by a 3/4 oz. Slug. Also called "Buck & Ball". Gives the benefits of heavy impact of the slug with spread and impact of buckshot. Very effective CQC round.
Armor Piercing (AP) - High velocity slug with a steel core. Boosts it will penetrate 1/4" steel plate. Designed to penetrate vehicles or disable their engines.
Door Buster (Breaching) - 325 gr. slug of compressed copper powder. Explodes on impact with a solid object and delivers 100% of it's energy into the target. Designed to quickly damage or destroy the hinges of a door or door lock to allow for quick entry. Here's a video link for nice series of videos showing how to breach a door.
"Dragon's Breath" (Incendiary) - Incendiary "flamethrower" round that uses titanium flakes that burn at 3000 degrees in a wall for 100 ft.
Dragon's Breath Video 1 - Awesome!
Dragon's Breath Video 2 - Note better look at "pattern"
Flechette (Projectile) - Loaded with 25-30 small dart shaped projectiles. Not generally used as much due to the tendency of flechettes to rotate in flight and strike targets ineffectively sideways. (see pic right)Pepper Blast (Less-lethal) - When fired, creates a thick cloud of pepper spray that can fill a 1000 sq. ft. building.
CS gas (Less-lethal) - A small, gravity bomb shaped capsule filled with CS gas. Designed to penetrate a single layer, such as a thin interior door or a car windshield, and release a payload of teargas inside the space.
Flash Bang (Less-lethal) - Round fires a small explosive on a timed fuse. Explodes with loud noise and flash. A variant of these is called the "Bird Bomb" and uses a M80 size explosive to scare pests from a farmer's field.
Rubber Baton (Less-lethal) - Contrary to popular belief, "rubber baton" shells actually fire a plastic projectile. Designed for (non-lethal) trauma at ranges of 10 to 45 feet for crowd control. Dangerous and possibly lethal if fired at ranges less than 10 feet, typically they are only fired at limbs.
Bean Bag (Less-lethal) - A sack filled with shot that opens up after being fired. Used to subdue (Less-lethal) behavior modifications. Ranges of 7-10 yards. Can be very dangerous if the bean bag fails to open up and acts as a slug. Bean Bag Video Link
Rubber Buckshot (Less-lethal) - Fires 20 Buckshot size rubber balls for crowd control.
Bolo or Strung Buck (Projectile) - Two large balls connected by a 4" - 6" piece of wire that spins in flight. Generally unstable in flight and rarely used.
Duplex Load (Dual Load Projectile) - Shotshell with two different sized pellets for increase spread and power. Usually used for hunting large birds.
Flare (Signal) - Flare round made for a shotgun. Some 20mm flare pistols can accept an adapter to use 12 gauge shells.
TASER XREP (eXtended Range Electronic Projectile) / (Less-lethal) - Essentially a self-contained TASER within a shotshell. It requires two points to produce a current, the electrodes on the projectile and the streamer or the connecting wire. Runs for thirty seconds. Mossberg designed a less lethal shotgun only capable of accepting the XREP, but the shell will work in any smooth bore shotgun. Two versions are made, a finned model for smooth bore shotguns, and another for rifled bores. Video Link
Practical Information:
Excellent 18 minute Video on Shotgun ammo - for information purposes, but VERY informative. This is a good overview of shotgun ammo, it's effects on hard targets, body armor, ballistic gel and covers exotic rounds at the end.
Ironhand
