What caliber is a 12 gauge slug?

[Doug.38PR]

What caliber is a 12 gauge slug? By the bore size it looks like it could be .50 caliber.


I shot some for the first time a week ago. Surprisingly accurate, at least at about 75 yards (didn't get to shoot them much farther than that) shooting from atop my house down into the pond. What will they penetrate. From a shotgun shell, they must have quite a bit of power behind them.

[Texasdoc]

I believe its 72 caliber

[KinnyLee]

Per Mythbusters, it will penetrate at least 9 ft of water because it broke their tank when they fired a slug into it.

[seamusTX]

What will they penetrate.

It's easier to list what they won't penetrate:

• armor
• masonry

- Jim

[DoubleJ]

hope they don't skip off the water...

[Dan20703]

Interesting site

Here's some slug info from it:

http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUT ... NBLST.html

Shotgun slugs can produce significant injury, because of the slug's size and mass. At close range, survival is rare.

[Doug.38PR]

.72 Caliber? I thought anything over 50 caliber was illegal according to the ATF?

I've seen an occasional bullet skip across the water. All it will do is skip into the high bank at the end of the pond or into a thick patch of trees. I am well out into the country.

A slug will NOT penetrate masonry or armor?
Well, somebody else told me it won't penetrate armor, but in light of Dan20730 said, if you are wearing body armor and get hit by one....you STILL won't survive because the impact is so great against the armor that it "liquifies" your insides. In other words the human body can't take the kind of punishment a slug will produce

[Keith B]

Shotgun slugs can produce significant injury, because of the slug's size and mass. At close range, survival is rare.

The first deer I ever took as a kid will vouch for the above statment.

[seamusTX]

A slug will NOT penetrate masonry or armor? Well, somebody else told me it won't penetrate armor, but in light of Dan20730 said, if you are wearing body armor and get hit by one....

I meant steel plate armor like on an APC, not body armor. Sorry about that.

A slug has a muzzle energy of about 2000 ft-lb, but it slows down much more rapidly than a rifle bullet.

- Jim

[dukalmighty]

You should never shoot at water,unless your in the Coast Guard trying to warn a ship, bullets ricochet off water and you cannot accurately predict where that round will end upI just used calipeson the inside case diameter of a loaded slug and it came out to be 1.00 so it's actually 1" in diameter bigger than .72

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

Doug, I'm just guessing, but I bet the slug is OK because it's not actually a .72 cal weapon. It's fired from the 12ga barrel in a sabot. I don't know, just a guess, I haven't actually researched it. I remember reading not too long ago in a magazine about a wildcat round called the .620JDJ large bore revolver that was classified an AOW, or destructive device I think. I think you can have a weapon that shoots bigger than a .50, you just have to be prepared to pay the tax and get the tax stamp for it. Anyone with more knowledge on the subject know more? That's about the extent of what I know.

[dukalmighty]

Okay if it's in a sabot then t may be smaller but i'm not cutting a slug open to find out ,what i do know is slugs will take the fight out of you like nobodys business,on mythbusters the 12 gauge slug was only firearm that had enough energy it knocked "buster" off a hanging perch

[Xander]

.72 Caliber? I thought anything over 50 caliber was illegal according to the ATF?

Not if they have a sporting purpose exemption. 20, 12, and 10-gauge slugs are all greater than .50 caliber. So are some dangerous game hunting rifles. However, they have sporting purpose exemptions and are therefore legal.

[Texasdoc]

here is from Wikipedia on shotguns.here is a link to the information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun

Gauge

Soldier armed with a shotgunMain article: Gauge (bore diameter)
The caliber of shotguns is measured in terms of gauge (U.S.) or bore (U.K.). The gauge number is determined by the number of solid spheres of a diameter equal to the inside diameter of the barrel that could be made from a pound of lead. So a 10 gauge shotgun nominally should have an inside diameter equal to that of a sphere made from one-tenth of a pound of lead. By far the most common gauges are 12 (0.729 in, 18.5mm diameter) and 20 (15.6 mm, 0.614 in), although .410 (= 36), 32, 28, 24, 16, and 10 (19.7 mm) gauge and 9mm (.355 in.) and .22 (5.5mm) rimfire calibres have also been produced (although 10, 12, 16, 20, 28, .410, and .22 are the only legal hunting gauges/calibers in most U.S. states). To further complicate matters, typical handgun chamberings such as 9 mm Parabellum, .45 ACP, .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, and .45 Colt and others bearing a "shot" load have been brought to market by CCI/Speer--either crimped in or in a plastic casing replacing the bullet. These are not generally considered "shot shells" by shotgun users, and the patterning performance is questionable since they are fired through rifled barrels. Thompson/Center makes special pistol barrels in .38/.357, .44 and .45 Colt that have "straight rifled" chokes in them to reduce the spin of the shot column and produce better patterns, but they are still suitable only for pest control at very short ranges. Larger gauges, too powerful to shoulder, have been built but were generally affixed to small boats and referred to as punt guns. These were used for commercial water fowl hunting, to kill large numbers of birds resting on the water. Although relatively rare, single and double derringers have also been produced that are capable of firing either .45 (Long) Colt or .410 shotgun shells from the same chamber; they are commonly known as 'snake guns', and are popular among some outdoorsmen in the South and Southwest regions of the United States. There are also some revolvers, such as the Taurus Judge, that are capable of shooting the .45LC/.410 rounds; but as with derringers, these are handguns that shoot .410 shotgun shells, and are not necessarily considered shotguns themselves.

The .410 bore (10.4mm) is unusual, being measured in inches, and would be approximately 67 "real" gauge, though its short hull versions are nominally called 36 gauge in Europe. It uses a relatively small charge of shot. It is used for hunting and for skeet. Because of its very light recoil (approx 10 N) it is often used as a beginners gun. However the small charge and typically tight choke make it more difficult to hit targets. It is also frequently used by expert shooters because of the difficulty, especially in expensive side by side and over/under models for hunting small bird game such as quails and doves.[12] Inexpensive bolt-action .410 shotguns are a very common first hunting shotgun among young pre-teen hunters, as they are used mostly for hunting squirrels, while additionally teaching bolt-action manipulation skills that will transfer easily later to adult-sized hunting rifles. Most of these young hunters move up to a 20-gauge within a few years, and to 12 gauge shotguns and full-size hunting rifles by their late teens. Still, many who are particularly recoil-averse choose to stay with 20-gauge shotguns all their adult life, as it is a very suitable gauge for many popular hunting uses.

A recent innovation is the back-boring of barrels, in which the barrels themselves are bored out slightly larger than their actual gauge. This reduces the compression forces on the shot when it transitions from the chamber to the barrel. This leads to a slight reduction in perceived recoil, and an improvement in shot pattern due to reduced deformation of the shot

[Hamourkiller]

If you are interested in serious slugs and buckshot loads, then check out this web site.

http://www.dixieslugs.com/faq.html

The three ball buckshot load (three .60 cal hardened lead balls) are deadly in the extreme. Thats three 320gr lead balls as buckshot.

The bore sized .725 solid lead slugs are hard to beat also.

If the triball loads hold as tight a patern as advertised you get the best of both worlds, multiple hits with each hit having the mass of a slug.