Mirrored from http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/1122epp.html, broken link as of 2011-09-26.
Shotgun Ammunition Assessment and Selection For Law
Enforcement
By Chris Epperson
One of the greatest attributes of the police shotgun is the diverse
ammunition available for the weapon. The operator can select from
lethal to less lethal rounds, breeching rounds to distraction
devices. Depending on the supplier you use the only limit is the
imagination. There are rounds, which disperse powdered magnesium
into the air and ignite it, creating what is advertised as a 300'
fireball. Even large municipal departments such as Los Angeles
police use starburst rounds fired into the ceiling of a room during
high-risk entries to create an alternate distraction in cases where
flash-bangs may not be practical. Even blanks fired from a 12ga.
Shotgun can be used to safely remove glass from windows.
Even though the diversity in ammunition selection is a benefit to
the shotgun it can also be a deficiency in its practical
application. I had a swat team from a large east coast municipal
department attend a custom 5-day shotgun course catered to their
swat officers. At the beginning of the course they explained to me
that their officers were loaded with five types of shotgun ammo on
their call out gear. The five types of ammunition were 1. Slug, 2.
Buckshot, 3. Beanbag, 4. Ferret (OC), and 5. TKO breeching rounds.
One can immediately see the negative possibilities in miss loading
these types of ammunition. If you where to attempt to breech a door
with a beanbag round, you would definitely have your work cut out
for you. In a situation where you were attempting to employ less
lethal, a slug would require a lot of explaining. Needless to say
after the third day of training and exercising practical change
over drills they were taking a close look at their ammo selection
for the shotgun. We must logically approach our purpose with the
shotgun and define the requirements for that task.
The primary purpose of the police shotgun in a patrol capacity is
to immediately make available to the patrol officer a weapons
system that will accurately fire onto a target at a greater
distance than the officers' side arm. It is not necessarily an
issue of "Firepower" as much as it is an issue of "Accuracy and
Distance".
We could spend days discussing the variants in shotguns, sighting
systems, barrel types, calibers, ammunition selection, however, our
primary purpose here is to compare the 12ga. 00 Buckshot to the
12Ga. SLUG. We will also access the practical application to the
law enforcement mission.
Physical Characteristics
BUCKSHOT; The 12ga Buckshot generally consist of a cartridge
containing 8 to 9 .33 Caliber pellets. Each pellet in general is
under 60 grains and is round lead ball with no jacket. Most of
these rounds leave the gun with a muzzle velocity of approximately
1600 Fps.
SLUG; The 12ga slug generally consist of a cartridge containing a
70 Caliber 436-grain (1oz) lead slug. The SLUG consists of lead and
is formed with rifled groves. This round leaves the weapon at a
muzzle velocity of approximately 1600 Fps.
Effective Range And Accuracy
BUCKSHOT; The industry standard for the spread pattern of a 12ga
shotgun is 1" per yard. So taking this into account the shot
pattern at 15yds would be 15", 20yds would be 20" and so on. The
average width of a human torso squared toward the shooter is 18";
this target area drops down to 12" if the target turns at an angle.
This patterning formula has been proven time and time again using
standard police shotguns. With this data we can assume that the
maximum effective range on a man size target with the 12ga buckshot
is 18yds. This is seven yards shorter than our officers qualify
with their handguns. If the target turns the maximum effective
range drops down to 12 yds. It is also common for officers to be
aware of the pattern or spread on a shotgun and they will often
sacrifice accuracy out of belief that some of the shot will hit the
target.
SLUG; The 436 grain 70 caliber projectile comes out of the shotgun
at a speed which allows it to maintain its accuracy for an extended
range. The fact that each individual slug is self impressed with
lands and groves aides to the accurate flight of the slug. The
average marksman can accurately engage 12" by 18" targets at 100yds
using the police shotgun with only a bead sight. Every shooter
completing a basic 3-day Blackwater shotgun course not only does
this, but they do it while the target is moving. The principal of
target engagement is also different for the shooter when using the
slug. They rely on the same fundamentals of marksmanship they do
with their handgun. They don't have the crutch of the shot pattern
to fall back onto. The shooter knows he must diligently aim each
shot with the weapon.
Terminal Ballistics And Lethality
Buckshot: Without question the buckshot is a lethal round. Our
greatest concern during terminal ballistics is not what the pellets
do on target, its what happens to all the pellets that don't hit
the target. We have proven that outside of 12 to 18 yards we will
be faced with rounds down range that are unaccounted for. For
example at 30 yards we could potentially have 5 33-caliber bullets
off target at one and a half times the speed our handgun rounds
travel. We would never accept someone shooting 5 rounds from their
handgun toward the general direction of a threat however; we are
setting up this scenario when we place buckshot in the
shotgun.
Slug: The slug is without a doubt one of the most effective
cartridges available to law enforcement to immediately incapacitate
a threat. The 436 Grain bullet is almost three times the weight of
our pistol bullet. It travels approximately 400 Fps faster than the
pistol round. The terminal ballistics for this bullet cannot be
argued against. The fact that the officer takes time and, aims the
weapon only aides in its effectiveness.
Summary
Buckshot has a purpose. Just as its name implies it is a hunting
round designed to engage game. It can be very effective however the
limited effective range, high potential for missed shots and,
performance during terminal ballistics do not rate it as high on
the scale compared to the slug. The slug is highly effective in
terminal ballistics. It is one single, aimed bullet for each press
of the trigger that the shooter is responsible for. It is not a
dozen and a half pellets sent flying down range. The slug gives the
officer the ability to post up from a target four times the
distance he would with buckshot. In closing there is nothing that
you can do with buckshot that you can't do with slugs. There are
many things the slug is capable of that the buckshot is
incapable.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
" Q.Doesn't the spread of the shot on the target make it more
effective?
Copyright © Chris Epperson 2004
A. NO. The fact that the pellets in buckshot are not jacketed, they
are not rifled or omni directional they are actually more likely to
rapidly deform and decelerate on impact. This is the same in both
target material as well as mediums. You often see more penetration
with a single pistol bullet than with buckshot.
" Q. Doesn't the slug over penetrate?
A. No. The slug is also of soft lead construction and will also
deform on impact. On impact the energy of the slug is transferred
into the destruction of the slugs body and target area. This forces
a rapid deceleration in the bullet. This reduces the chance of over
penetration. Once again in some test the duty handgun round will
penetrate further than a slug. Hillsborough Co. Fla uses the
REM1100 with a 14" barrel as its SWAT entry gun. The standard load
for that weapon is the 1oz. Slug. Even though it only holds 6 shots
that is still twice what is fired in the average police shooting.
With a shorty stock and 14" barrel the weapon is only slightly
longer than the MP5 or UMP and 1/10th the cost. The 6 12ga slugs
are more than sufficient for this type of work.
" Q. Don't the slugs cost more?
A. Yes. However all of your basic weapons training and manipulation
work with the shotgun still takes place-using birdshot for
practice. Only during qualification and marksmanship training do
you employ the slugs. In reality you are saving money because you
no longer purchase Buckshot and predominantly train with
birdshot.
" Q. Don't the slugs hurt during recoil?
A. No. The slug recoils only slightly more than the birdshot and
almost no more than the buckshot. This is a training issue that is
clarified by teaching proper mounting of the weapon.
Copyright © Chris Epperson 2004
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