User Panel
Posted: 3/16/2005 3:48:44 AM EDT
Something I have wondered about is, just how far out can a shotgun blast be considered effective.
A few major components here would be gauge, shot selection, and choke. For practical purposes, I propose a test with a 12Gauge. Vary the loads from buck shot through skeet shot, lead to steel, etc. I would love to see the damage done to a manequin at say 25 yards, 50 yards, 100 yards.....and beyond if applicable. I am mostly interested in penetration. A cardboard cutout wont show anything other than pattern. Maybe a plywood cutout, like a silloutte would do the trick. Perhaps sheetrock? If this has already been done, anyone have a link? |
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You also need to make sure you use a choke-less barrel like most 18" defense shotguns have.
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A Marine buddy of mine did pretty well with his 12 gauge shotty at 75 yards in a simulated combat course.
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Ripley: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant? Gorman: Thirty eight... simulated. Vasquez: How many *combat* drops? Gorman: Uh, two. Including this one. Drake: Shit. Hudson: Oh, man... |
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Better off with an accurate handgun. Shotguns are heavy, carry few rounds and are just better suited for bird hunting.
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I hope that was a tongue-in-cheeks remark |
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You can't be serious. |
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I was shooting buckshot at 50 yards the other day, and it did surprisingly well.
I was quite surprised how high I was at about 10-20 yards though. With my 500, you would need to aim low at those ranges to ensure a hit. |
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You take the accurate handgun, I'll take my 12 Ga., then you can come around my house late at night uninvited and trying to get in. Edited for $#itty grammar. |
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Sounds interesting. But first, I'd have to get permission from Brouhaha, danonly, and the other guys that think I am not "scientifically accurate" enough. |
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To me after about 50 yards with an 18" type barrel, it's just suppresive fire.
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Well, at 100 yards, I can put every round I fire from my Glock 35 on a 8.5x11" piece of paper. Your little shotty might get there, but it might sting me a little. My .40 is gonna puch through you. Your scattergun is better a close range(within ten feet), but my pistola is more versitile. Not planning on breaking in and I am not a criminal. |
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You must be a world class shooter. But you don't know much about shotguns. |
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:) "Scientifically accurate" is amusing when touted by those firing into the "simulated" flesh of ballistic gelatin. Especially when it's missing bones,denser organ structures and air voids among other variables found in real bodies. I'll lean on what I've seen in animals that I've shot. That's good enough for me. Your impromptu research on penetration of various household mediums has been quite useful,OP. |
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I have worked incident scenes where a shotty was used. One case was where a man was shot with a long barreled shotgun through a screendoor in the head at 20 feet. He looked like thguy from Hellraiser that had the grid on his head. Pellets went just under the skin. You could see the bumps all over. He was a light skin black guy with a bald head. He was sitting up and speaking to the medics. I was not impressed. Seems the shape and softness of the buckshot just does not cut the mustard. Most cases I saw, the shotty just wounded. For the .40, I saw where two gang bangers were shooting across a 300 yard field. One had a Glock .40. he shot the other guy in the chest at 300 yards. Dropped him like a sack of potatoes. Center mass to the chest. I think your shotgun would have "peppered him" like a New Orleans thunderstorm. |
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The shotgun effectiveness issue has already been tested pretty thoroughly in the gun press if you care to do the digging for the information. Practical application for standard 00 buck is limited to out to 20 yards or so. Beyond that you start to lose pellets off a man sized target ( liability). Slugs, use out to 50-60 yards to be SURE you stay on target, although that largely depends on what sights you have on the shotgun. Beyond 60 yards, you should be transitioning to or deploying your centerfire rifle as your primary long gun.
*post contains personal opinion only* |
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Incident one, if he was shot with BUCKSHOT at 20 feet he would be dead. Obviously, it was much further away or it was low powered BIRDSHOT. Incident two, I will bet a million dollars that nobody in the world ever got shot by anyone else at 300 yards with any handgun, let alone gang bangers with a glock. That is complete bullshit. So now I call into question your claim of being able to hit a piece of paper with your gun at 100 yards. No offense, but I call BS. Your previous posts in this thread, IMHO, demonstrate that you lack some basic knowledge of firearms (difference between buckshot, birdshot) and have made some outrageous claims (shooting a piece of paper at 100 yards consistently and a thug HELL ANYONE hitting somebody in the chest with a handgun at 300 yards). NOT TO START A FLAME WAR BUT |
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Exactly. Why limit yourself to 20 yards all the while lugging a bulky shotgun around. Does not make sense. |
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Just as a side note, that is a refreshing admission. Perhaps I ought to add it to my sig line. |
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Yeah well I was ready to go with the shotgun w/ slugs at 100 yards (especially after Gunsite "Tactical Shotgun") but at 300 this is getting pretty far out for someone with my limited skill with firearms. For 300 I would be thinking AR not 40 cal Glock. I am just not there yet. |
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I've just about decapitated a turkey at 50 yds with duplex loads....
I would say that shot to COM with buckshot and a tight choke would require a trip to the ER stat. |
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I counted the pellets and group size on the guy. 00 buck. incident two remarks: I have the reports to prove it. Granted it was a lucky shot, but the .40 penetrated and killed the gangbanger. Busted his heart by the way. I have a wtiness on hitting 5 out of five with my 35. 2 shots were touching. It is not that hard once you get the swing of it. You need to be able to qualify expert before being any good at 100 yards though. .40 does not drop at all up to 100 yards out of a Glock 35. |
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He was not shot on the first shot. I think 10 or so shell casings were recovered from each side of the field. It was a luck shot, but proved a .40 is lethal at least to that distance. |
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This is a good article.
home.sprynet.com/~frfrog/shotgun.htm The table below shows the average results of firing at fifty and seventy-five yards at a full length human silhouette with #4, #1, 00, and 000 buck from cylinder bored, rifle sighted, riotgun. Note: most of the hits at 75 yards were very "marginal." Loading Avg. Number of Hits (Full sized humanoid target) 50 Yards 75 yards 27 pellet 4 buck 10 3 34 pellet 4 buck 6 2 16 pellet 1 buck 6 2 20 pellet 1 buck 7 4 9 pellet 00 buck 3 1 12 pellet 00 buck 4 2 8 pellet 000 buck 1 0 |
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Having used reduced-power buck (both #1 and #4, 2-3/4", 12ga) to kill feral and nuisance animals, I know that even the lighter buck loads will penetrate hard bone (read: skull, shoulder, pelvis) and penetrate at least several inches into dense flesh. Does just fine at 25 yards on any living thing I've ever shot with it. I've gotta second the , Cheeks. Flame on. (edited for spelling.) |
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Let's go easy with Cheeks. He confirmed that the long range hit was a fluke, after many shots fired. certainly possible. Just really, really bad luck for the gangbanger. I, however, have a difficult time believeing that 00 Buck from 20 feet only made a flesh wound. Must have been Superman. |
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Hey O P...
Not to stray off topic, but did my "care package" arrive safely ? |
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You obviously learned ballistics at a high school in either AL or MS, judging by that post. Bullets begin to drop as they leave the muzzle....period. And since when was hitting a sheet of paper at 100 yards a real feat? Since when was it of any practical importance, either? |
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Never said, shottys were ineffective, just that an accurate handgun is better. The pellets may hit something out past 25 yards, but the effectiveness will suffer greatly. Speed of shotgun pellets slow down like a cop's baton when the cop sees a camera, after they leave the barrel. |
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At 20 feet they would do a little more than cause bumps in the head. |
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Can you say "Shotgun slugs"? |
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".40 does not drop at all up to 100 yards out of a Glock 35."
I did not want to comment on this topic, but .40 out of my Glock starts to drop the moment it leaves the barrel. Of course I went to high school and college in Alabama. |
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Nah, I can believe in a chance hit, OP. But I cannot believe that buck won't penetrate the cranium at close range. Too much first-hand varmint experience. |
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I seem to recall an incident where a man's goose-down coat stopped 00 Buckshot enough to make only a flesh wound and he was completely fine. It happened inside one room, like 10 feet away.
So I think it may be plausible that a screen door could have stopped the pellets enough. |
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Ok, you know what I meant by it not dropping. My point of aim to get POA hits at 25 yards and 100 yards are exactly the same. No holdover.
Too many folks limit their handguns to 25 yards. Get good with a handgun, and you will be able to hit things at greater distance with repeatability. It is not a real feat, but being able to do it almost every shot is not something to look over. |
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I saw a deer killed at 25 yards with #2 steel shot once. (useless, yeah, but since we're throwing out useless anecdotes, why not share.....) |
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*yawn* I shoot handguns at 100 yards and beyond on an almost daily basis....you're preaching to the choir....like I said, it's no real feat. As for as 'you know what I mean'.......sorry, I have no use for 'you know what I mean'. All I know is what you SAY and if you screw that up, don't expect to get taken seriously. <---paging doublefeed to chime in here on the latter point. |
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I had kind of a shotgun eye opener at our last 3 gun match. I don't know if you are familiar with a Texas Star... here's a vid of someone shooting one with a handgun. Texas Star A 12 ga improved cyl shooting federal 2 ¾", 3dram eq., 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot... Will "NOT" clear the steel plates off a Texas Star at 18 yards, even when the plate is in the center of the pattern. Even 6 and 4 shot had problems doing this out of an improved cyl. It takes a full choke before non-magnum shot shells could even begin to knock the plates off. I was shocked... I've been a shotgun guy all my life... If this had been a real defensive situation... the bad guy would have eventually bled to death... but not before he could have emptied his Glock into the good guy... several times. Just to put this in perspective, 9mm WWB will knock the steel plates off a Texas star every time at 25 yards. |
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IM inbound. |
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I can Bust Clays at 50 Yards with #7 Shot.. Do I get a Trophy?
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Most everyone knows a bullet drops as it leaves the barrel. I was speaking of "Not enough to make two shits" difference in 20 and 100 yards drop. Folks start to criticize others and correct them on minor shit when they are losing an arguement. So, I did not take you seriously either when you started being technical and a smarty pants about my less than technical response to about the ballistics of a handgun at 100 yards So, yes a bullet does drop when it leaves the barrel. But a .40 at 100 yards is not enough to even notive when fired with open sights. |
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I guess this is all you have to say after getting a spanking. Just laugh it off eh? No time for a more indepth response huh? Oh, that's right, you need to clean your shotgun from all the long range shooting that you have been doing. edited to add the animation |
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He sure don't. I'll take the shotgun over a pistol anyday. |
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Interesting and relevant.
Gunsite "This five-day course will give you command of one of the least-understood weapons systems available. The shotgun can act as a breaching device, a gas-delivery system or an effective fight-stopper out to, and beyond 100 yards. The shotgun’s flexibility demands a special set of manipulation skills, making it a “thinking person’s” weapons system. " "You’ll have plenty of indoor and outdoor simulators where targets range from five to 120 yards." The thinking person bit is why it appeals to some people I guess. Maybe the effective part, too. |
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Oh, I forgot about another angle to the shotgun bashing.
They(shotguns) are designed for either bird hunting, or folks that can't shoot. I guess that is why dove hunters and cops use them. Seriously though, Shotguns are specialized weapons. In close snapshot encounters are where they shine. Anything other than that, and you are probably going to lose. I mean look at the title of the thread, even the poster has doubts about the "Effectiveness" of the shotty. |
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I probably shouldn't respond....but you seem fun to play with. Anyway....where did you 'spank' me? Best I can tell, you got defensive when I called you on your drivel about 'no drop'. Like I said, don't expect any respect around here if you can't get the basics of physics correct. 'You know what I mean' might cut it, if this was, say, fenderguitars.com, and you were discussing ballistics. As it is, since this is a firearms-related board, some of us have this crazy notion that people should learn the proper use of firearms-related terminology, and physics, before they make outlandish claims and expect to be taken seriously. Anyway......reckon how much holdover there would be for your .40 at 300 yards, if it was zeroed at, say, 100? (use whatever load you wish to quote ballistics for....your choice) |
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. if you had said bullets begin to be effected by gravity as soon as they leave the muzzle, you'd be right. but since drop is commonly referred to as something moving towards the ground, all i have to do is shoot up wards with significant angle and the bullet won't begin to "drop" until it reaches it's apogee. for example: straight up the bullet will not start to "drop" until it reaches its apogee. but it will be constantly being accelerated towards the earth from the moment it leaves the muzzle. |
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Wow, Gunsite said it, so it has to be true. Adds another class for them to rake in more cash.lol |
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Well, I usually rank it higher than "internet say-so". But like I said earlier; I'm no expert...either. |
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