






How to Make
a Shotgun Even
MORE Lethal
The shotgun is a versatile weapon in that it can fire a variety of loads. 
These ideas are meant for 12 ga. weapons :

Hard Shot:
 If you have to penetrate safety glass with a shotgun blast open up the crimp of the shell. empty it of the shot and refill it with the same weight of ball bearings. The bearings should be 3/16" - 3/8" in dia. You'll find that this load can penetrate up to 2 thicknesses of auto safety glass. Watch out for ricochets though.

Flechette Load: 
Flechettes are simply small darts. Obtain some .035" music wire from a hobby store. Cut the wire into pieces about 1 1/2" long. Sharpen one end of each piece of wire, rough up the other end.  Coat the rough end of the wires with epoxy. When the first coat of epoxy is dry add another. Keep this up until there is a small ball of epoxy on one end like a hatpin. This is the fin end. Reload a shell with these darts making sure that the darts do not exceed the shotweight that was originally in the shell. You may find these darts can penetrate a bullet-proof vest at close range. The darts lose velocity very fast so this is mainly for close range work.

Teargas Shell: 
Fill a small plastic bag with capstun oil and heat seal the  open end of the bag. Reload the shell with the bag instead of shot. When the gun is fired, it will make cloud of capstun with a range of about 20 ft. After you use this load be sure to clean the bore of the weapon good. 

Hardball Load: 
It's been reported that SWAT uses a special load in their shotguns to help gain entrance to a house. The shells are loaded with hard ceramic balls that can shatter door hinges. This idea has not been tried but maybe an aluminum oxide,fiberglass, and epoxy projectile could be made that has a similar effect

Aerial Shell: 
To make an aerial shell load you will need a cardboard tube 1 1/4" long and with a 5/8" O.D.. The walls should be about 3/32" thick. Roll this tube with an absolute minimun of white glue. Coat the tube with epoxy and let it soak into the tube. Repeat this when the first coat is almost dry. After the second coat is dry, insert a cardboard disk 1/8" into one end. Seal this end with epoxy. When the epoxy hardens drill a hole through the seal for a piece of blasting fuse. Cut an 1 1/2" length of fuse and insert it 1/2" into the case then epoxy the fuse to the shell. Bend the fuse sticking out of the shell against the bottom of the shellcase and epoxy the fuse to the case. Do not get epoxy onto the exposed powder at the end of the fuse. The fuse will give you about 4 - 5 secs of delay but test the burning time of your fuse. Fill the casing half full of 50/50 fine aluminum and potassium perchlorate. Do Not Use Chlorates! Now push another cardboard 1/8"disk into  the open end of the casing and seal it with epoxy. Let the load harden for a day or two before use. Remove the shot, shotcup, and half the powder from a shotgun shell. Prime the fuse with black powder mixed with starch solution. Let the priming dry then push the load into the shell on top of the gunpowder. A small amount of  wadding could be used if it doesn't interfere with ignition of the fuse. Close the crimp up or cut off the old crimp and seal the shotgun shell with a waterproof cardboard disk held in place with a small amount of silicone  glue. You can try a stronger gunpowder charge if you think your shotgun will handle it. Check the burning time of the fuse before using this load. The aluminum/ perchlorate load is pretty safe to use but it is very spark sensitive. Handle with care.

Incendiary Load: 
If you build a case similar to the aerial shell but instead of using an explosive you subtitute a plastic bag of napalm you can make a fairly effective incendiary projectile. The main draw- back is the amount of incendiary material that can be loaded in such a small case. A small charge of black powder (1 gm.) can be sealed in the incendiary case so that the blasting fuse ignites the powder after a suitable delay. The black powder should just be enough to rupture the case without causing the napalm to scatter too much. 

Long Distance Shot: 
To keep the shot from spreading too quickly, open up the shell and empty out the shot. Replace the shot one layer at a time with salt or crushed rice filling up the space in between the shot. The powder you use isn't important as long as it is fine enough to fill in the airspace between the shot. Recrimp the shell and its all done. The shot only spreads about 75% as much as a regular shell and is effective at longer ranges.

