This is a good, and useful, thread. Andrew, thanks for starting it!
This is a good, and useful, thread. Andrew, thanks for starting it!
Well, if you shoot him in the face, he might have some trouble seeing you as you give him a vertical butt stroke. . . .Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's
My pleasure.
One of the most important parts of a successful defense is to reduce the number of "ifs" involved.
Sure--if you are only concerned with personal defense. Now if you are looking for style points--you have to admit that you're going to be the only one on your block who took out a bad guy with a vertical butt stroke. And if it doesn't work? Well, style does have its costs.
Not a problem. I can't do either of those things right now anyways...
I can't understand people who think banning guns makes them safer. They must also believe that banning books makes them smarter.
Coming in late, as usual.
What you are demonstrating in the video is what is referred as the "billiard ball effect" At very short range, the shot stays together, frequently not leaving the shot cup. At the distance shown in the video, when it strikes the skin, it will leave one circular hole. As distance increases, the clean edges of the hole will be replaced with a scalloped edge and then with further distance with the beginnings of flyer pellets. The shot at these ranges is moving as a singular mass of pellets. The key is what happens when it strikes a surface. As soon as the pellets strike a firm surface, the skin, the gel, drywall, a hard leather jacket, whatever, they scatter like a hard break on a pool table. At that point each individual pellet will behave as if it was separate. Normally, in a fatal chest/abdomen shot, the pellets will make it across the cavity to lodge in the opposing wall. The internal organ closest to the entry wound will be pulped, there will be a tracking wound along the line of the bulk of the pellets and there will be individual pellets all over the place. If this happens to the chest, near the liver, or near the kidneys, it is frequently fatal. To the back, especially the lower back, it may not be. The head can behave differently.
I would not, and do not advocate using birdshot as a defensive load in a shotgun. I think it is a very poor choice. The shot you showed in the video, applied to the anterior chest or upper abdomen, in my opinion would have most likely been lethal. Had it happened to the chest, the lung or heart would have been pulped nearly beyond recognition. Are there circumstances where this wouldn't happen, sure. I think everyone here is on board with the realization that guns are not magic death rays. Every gun can fail to stop with a poorly placed shot. But at close range, the shotgun pellets can behave as more than the sum of their parts.
Reply With Quote