Life and Death > Weaponry

Almost impossible to happen....

(1/1)

Dave Freas:
...but what if it did?

What would happen if a large caliber slug (. 45 for example) were fired into the barrel of a shotgun as it was fired?

Would the shotgun blow up?  Would the barrel shatter?  If either happened what's the likelyhood that the shotgun wielder would be injured?

Curious (about the weird) minds want to know.

Dave

Elena:
Hi Dave,

To the best of my memory Mythbusters has not tested your exact scenario. But based on two experiments they did do, I'd think nothing would happen. Especially with a reasonably recent shotgun.

In one episode they tried to duplicate a real situation where a bad guy and a cop were shooting at each other and the bullet from the bad guy's gun lodged in the cop's gun. Neither were shotguns. It took them quite a bit of doing, but they were able to duplicate it. At no time did anything happen to the cop's gun when the bullet entered the barrel from the wrong end, so to speak.

The other one they were trying to find out if sticking a finger into the barrel of a shotgun would do anything like what you see in cartoons. Again, no damage to the shot gun no matter what configuration they tried.

You might want to go on their web site and suggest they give it a shot (Oh groan - I blame it on listing to Roger Miller singing "Hot Rod Lincoln" while writing you  ;D )

producer103:
That's a curious question. The shotgun has a cup that might catch the .45 slug and possibly stop in the barrel of the shotgun, but I would venture a guess the shotgun wielder might stand a chance of being injured or even killed. I'm not sure of the muzzle velocity of the shotgun, but, as I recall, I think the .45 is around 900 fps and all of that energy has to go somewhere. Bottom line? I wouldn't try it!

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