Birdshot is for birds. But, now ... rock salt? Rock salt is for door kickers
What size rock salt granules is best?
Not looking for eff bee eye penetration ballistics, we want shock & awe-dammit-that-burns terminal effect.
Any commercial sellers for non-reloader home owners?
We're looking for this kind of kinetic energy!
June 24, 2026, 05:30 PM
sourdough44
I’ve been around guns, loads, reloading & shotguns for many years. I strongly believe the idea of rock salt in shotgun shells is more fiction than fact.
June 26, 2026, 06:52 PM
egregore
quote:
I strongly believe the idea of rock salt in shotgun shells is more fiction than fact.
Here's some in fiction.
There are lots of apocryphal stories of farmers loading rock salt and shooting at people who stole watermelons, ears of corn, etc. It was probably easier with folded-up paper shells than modern machine-crimped plastic ones. I don't think this would fly today, as it is only meant to inflict minor tissue damage, but major pain. Put another way, if the situation didn't require deadly force, it didn't justify shooting at all.
June 26, 2026, 07:22 PM
jljones
I know this is meant to be tongue in cheek about the train wreck of the other thread, but responding to a home invasion with anything less than double ought is less than ideal.
________________ People hate you. Train like it.
June 26, 2026, 09:02 PM
gjgalligan
quote:
Originally posted by sourdough44: I’ve been around guns, loads, reloading & shotguns for many years. I strongly believe the idea of rock salt in shotgun shells is more fiction than fact.
Well, it happens. I know of a couple young punk kids that had to pick rock salt out of each other's back side in the 60s. It made a change in their behavior.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking.
June 26, 2026, 09:11 PM
egregore
quote:
I know of a couple young punk kids that had to pick rock salt out of each other's back side in the 60s.
You'll get in big trouble today for shooting at somebody who's running away.
June 26, 2026, 09:35 PM
sigfreund
Shoot at someone with a deadly weapon, and we’d better have dam’ good justification.
► 6.0/94.0
“I can’t give you brains, but I can give you a diploma.” — The Wizard of Oz
"I obtained a box of genuine Morton's Ice Cream Rock Salt.
I will use some 12 Gauge Heavy Field Loads, which are loaded with 1 1/4 ounce of #6 shot.
First, I open them up and pour out the lead shot." Lessons learned:
At 20 yards, you might scare a dog or some other animal, but you sure wouldn't break the skin. At 10 yards, you might break the skin with a couple of grains, but nothing very serious. At 12 feet, you might get the desired effect, if the desired effect is to "burn" the target with the rock salt. At 4 feet, you might cause a wound requiring a visit to a hospital for a human, or maybe death to a small animal. Movie plots that show someone "burning" a bad guy at across-the-yard distances are hogwash.
June 27, 2026, 06:38 AM
sourdough44
When one reads through the hunting regs often strange types of shotgun shells are mentioned, one being ‘cut shells’. The lore reaches back to depression era methods to attempt to make your shotshell perform like a slug, try.
Originally posted by jljones: I know this is meant to be tongue in cheek about the train wreck of the other thread, but responding to a home invasion with anything less than double ought is less than ideal.
quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund: Shoot at someone with a deadly weapon, and we’d better have dam’ good justification.
Comments like these make me wish this forum had a “like” button.
“Everybody wants a Sig in the sheets but a Glock on the streets.” -bionic218 04-02-2014