Clerk foils robbery attempt by firing shotgun at suspect- "I just can't believe I missed him"

Chetek Alert ^ | 1-9-06

[KarinG1]

Should have been using #1 buck. At close range you really can't miss. Sixteen .30 caliber pellets will do a job on anyone. Just get your Ouija board out and ask my neighbors late-night barking dog.

[Khurkris]

Good point - For 20+ years I taught to use 0 or #1 for close range shot gun work. Its the most effective bang for the buck. Best close range patterning and most projectile weight tranfer to target. 00 is mucho macho sounding, but 0 or #1 does the best job in CQB's.

[supercat]

A cylinder choke results in about a 20" diameter pattern at 20 yards. At 10 yards, which is still 30 feet and fairly long range in that situation it would be around 1/2 that, or 10" diameter or 5" radius.

I would think it would be 1/3 the diameter or even less, since the shot load starts travelling as a mass inside the shot cup. Once the shot starts to spread, it will quickly start acting like a bunch of individual pellets rather than a unified mass, but it can travel some distance before that happens.

[Spktyr]

My own personal solution to the shotgun question:

http://personal.inet.fi/yritys/asenurkka/pistoolit/saiga12.jpg

Yes, that is a mag-fed AK-based 12 gauge shotgun. Comes in this configuration with rifle sights, another with a vent rib and bead, and another that's a slicktop.

[Roverman2K]

Heh heh, nice swirl pattern

[Nonesuch]

Spktyr states

They also seem to think that shotguns are area effect weapons

True, shotguns must be aimed, unless maybe you have one of these
At close range, the spreader makes little or no difference, at longer range it is claimed to be quite effective. Never seen one myself, there is a chapter on combat Duckbill use in "Walking Point" by Chief James "Patches" Watson.

[P8riot]

Sounds like my last Pheasant hunting trip... I swore I was aiming.. honest...

Sounds like you need to invest in some quality choke tubes.

[cavtrooper21]

I use a smooth bore slug barrel...
(should have mentioned that)
..and you are right, rifled slug barrels will produce some of the wierdest patterns.

[cavtrooper21]

OK.
Wounded cooler!

[from occupied ga]

"I just can't believe I missed him," Mulrooney says, shaking his head. "Mom's going to be mad when she sees this cooler."

If he though hitting the cooler made a mess then he's probably lucky that he missed the crook.

[Looking4Truth]

...and I realized the gun had freaking slugs in it."

Do-oh!!!

[El Gato]

I would think it would be 1/3 the diameter or even less, since the shot load starts travelling as a mass inside the shot cup. Once the shot starts to spread, it will quickly start acting like a bunch of individual pellets rather than a unified mass, but it can travel some distance before that happens.

You are probably correct. I was being my usual conservative engineer self. But I hadn't thought about the shot not starting to spread until the petals pull off the shot-cup/wad. Those generally travel about 15-20 yards, but much of that is after it has separated from the shot.

So, for the first few yards, the difference between a slug and shot is pretty negligible, and even for the next few after that, the shot column doesn't spread much.

Bottom line, I hope I never get shot by a shotgun at close range. And if I ever had to employ my serious social purposes shotgun for it's intended use, I hope there's somebody else to clean up the mess.