You were throwing 45s and they shattered? I’ve never heard of a 45 record that shattered when it hit something. They were, after all, made of vinyl. 78s, yeah, but not 45s.
Well it was a long time ago, so I could be wrong. This was young Elvis stuff...and I think 45s were in widespread use by then?
We were throwing these as hard as possible, like a frisbee...and they shattered when they hit the wall. I just searched Youtube, and found a guy shattering 45s...so I think they do shatter, if you apply enough stupidity to them.