12 Gauge "Dime Loads" (Crazy idea tonight)

[dfariswheel]

I really get tired of all the convoluted discussion about using silver bullets and shotgun loads of silver dimes to deal with the occasional werewolf.

Besides being expensive, shooting guns in the city limits brings unwelcome questions from the neighbors and the police, and disturbs the wife.

Why make things complicated?

Just use your large size "Have-A-Heart" live trap to trap the little beggar.
Haul him down to the nearest city park, or even better, the local college campus and release him.

Considering the people usually present in these places, who'll ever notice him?

 

[jason10mm]

Actually, I think it was "Young Guns II" that had that scene, along with Billy the Kid's supposed "thick wrist, small hands" feature that allowed him to slip the cuffs.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I got a Werewolf that lives around these parts, but he seems like a nice enough fella, wouldn't want to shoot him with dimes or any other metallic objects. Catching him in a live trap might be kinda amusing tho', how big do they make those things?

 

[JohnBT]

 

[torpid]

The TV show that showed an ineffective dime experiment against a pig carcass was a show about Billy the Kid.
The shooter was actually using a 10 gauge shotgun.
In this case, the load would not work due to the bore being too big for the 12 gauge sized dimes.

The bigger 10 gauge bore would allow too much gas leakage.

Wait- you saw poor "scientific" method on Mythbusters?!!!
Say it isn't so!

(Seriously, as much as I try to enjoy the show, Jamie and Adam need to get their act together or only instead just honestly end each myth with "inconclusive due to sloppy testing".)

.

 

[c_yeager]

The TV show that showed an ineffective dime experiment against a pig carcass was a show about Billy the Kid.

The shooter was actually using a 10 gauge shotgun.
In this case, the load would not work due to the bore being too big for the 12 gauge sized dimes.

hm

Assuming that they were using a wad/cup, the diameter of the dimes vs. the diameter of the bore shouldnt have made much difference. I mean really, the most common projectiles fired out of shotguns are nowhere near large enough to creat a "gas seal" on their own, think about 000 buckshot for moment.

 

[c-bag]

The first movie that featuring the dime load was the classic 1973 Western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan. Highly Recommended to all western lovers (director's cut only)

Billy the Kid (after blowing away the deputy with the dime load):
-"Keep the change, Bob"

 

[joab]

Bob keeps "ten thin dimes" in each of the barrels of his shotgun. He begs Billy to try and escape so he can "spread [him] out like a crazy woman's quilt." There must be some truth to the dime load, or the writer and/or director of young guns saw the other movie

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

1. What Load Did Pahoo Use? 2. Who Played Him?

This is off topic, slightly, but this whole thread is making me a bit dizzy. All I could think of was Pahoo in the old "Yancy Derringer" TV series in the late fifties. What load did he use in his sawed-off 12 gauge double? Think first, then scroll down.
X
X
X
XX
"Nine split 00 Buck in each shell...that's 18!"
Okay, what was the name of the actor who played Pahoo?
X
X
X
X
"X- Brands as Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah"

Ref.: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/yancy-derringer.htm

 

[Carnitas]

Might be in interesting idea for CSI....kind of like the meat bullet. Something to throw off the criminalists.

 

[Nnobby45]

How about dimes? What about pennies? Why not brass coat buttons or old aspirin tablets?

I've got an idea, how about buckshot size #1 thru 000!

 

[pauli]

that's crazy talk.

 

[Dr.Rob]

As the guy who has DONE this with a 12 ga shotgun with 90 gr of ffg black powder and a thick over the powder wad to keep the pressure up I certainly would NOT want to stand in front of it.

My thought was the dimes would hit in a column en mass, and then scatter... so you'd have an 'explosive slug' sort of effect. Granted, at short range.
PS I've used plastic wads, cigarette paper and just plain fiber pads and loose shot... makes little to no difference in how it patterns.

I just might try the experiment again... anyone want to loan me a pig carcass?

I know nine .36 caliber balls over 90 grains is a stoat load for the old Pedersoli... and we know buckshot works...the trick is could real old dimes work?

 

[Nnobby45]

Get real

How many dimes would it take to load both barrels? In today's money I imagine that'd be around 25 or 30 dollars per barrel. After watching them bounce off the coat wrapped around the animal carcass on the History channel, I can't help but wonder if somebody forgot to seperate fact from fiction--not that it hasn't happened before. Emergency use only in rare circumstances? Maybe. General practice? Hardly.

Might work to stop stage holdups. Shoot a couple barrels, and the bandits would be jumping off their horses fighting over the dimes.

 

[berettashotgun]

tried 'em

Flechettes are made from parkarized steel and they come in several different sizes, from the army "beehive" rounds. Some might be aluminum, but I don't have any so they just don't exist , I've loaded pretty much anything and everything and shot it, done a large amount of pressure testing on steelshot way back in the 90's (seems like yesterday- oops; it was) and the flechette rounds suck because they don't have enough weight to get any kind of actual load to build pressure in a hull. 38 darts equals almost 300grains, the load doesn't even fit a 12ga hull properly, some of the darts have to be put in backwards to get a proper "pack" and then roll crimping with a overshot card is a must. They don't pattern worth a darn, BUT at 30 yards they will get some SERIOUS action providing you load 43gr of "Steel" powder and doctor the purpose steel wad AND have a 30" or longer barrel- the powder doesn't even reach 10 grand in a 28" with this load and a tight-a crimp. It is almost as effective as a .410 #4 birdshot load :banghead: BTW: the dime thing Does work, but is a real joke as compared to #1 or #2 buckshot. I sifted and sorted thru my bags of hevishot and ended up with about 200 pellets that each weighed over 24gr, so I think (but don't know) they will more than likely outperform anything I've tried soo far.Super fast steel (1600fps) kills a lot of ducks/geese and is relatively cheap- soo -- It will continue to be a staple in my expermintal reloading habits. Grafs currently has steelshot on clearance for anyone interested.

 

[Dionysusigma]

What about devising some sort of "slicing slug" device? As in this:

(sorry for the crappy MS Paint representation... it's all that this computer has)

The entire contraption hits the target, with the reddish outer "casing" disintegrating. The lead tip moves forward, but the disks move outward in strange, unpredictable directions causing massive damage.

What do y'all think? The biggest problem I see is the reddish casing. What material could it be made out of that would hold together during ignition and in-flight, but disintegrate upon impact? Maybe if the lead tip was a hollowpoint, and the mushrooming effect would split or possibly shatter the casing away from the disks...

Sorry, just my mind going 225 mph in the middle of the night with waaaaay too much coffee...

 

[Giolli Joker]

@ Dionysusigma
Isn't this similar?

QB 8 - 8 pellets (Armor Piercing) - Quadrangle Buck is made from a steel cylinder cut into two layers of four pie-shaped pieces per layer. The numerous sharp edges gives excellent penetration; however, the light weight and poor ballistic shape limits its effective range. The Quadrangle Slug (12 gauge shotgun only) is a revolutionary slug designed as a nonexplosive fragmenting munition intended specifically as an anti-vehicle or anti-material slug. It is capable of disabling automobiles, light aircraft, and marine vessels. This is due to eight pie-shaped hardened steel pellets wrapped in a cylindrical plastic boot (to protect the bore of the shotgun).

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/12.htm

 

[RyanM]

Someone should do testing of dime loads at different ranges. If they'll penetrate like a slug at room distances, but scatter and bounce off a pig at 30 feet, that might just be a good alternative to birdshot for apartment-dwellers.

 

[foghornl]

One of my shooting budds tried this trick several years back...Now please note that I always knew he was not the sharpest knife in the kitchen. . . .

Anyway, he heard of the dimes in the 12-ga trick, so he thought he would try it out. . . Took one of his Magnum waterfowl loads, and dumped the shot, cut off the shot cup portion of the wad, and put in a stack of dimes. Took said ammo and shotty, and set up a gallon water jug. The particular shotty in question was a fairly new [at the time] Rem 1100, with a 28" or so FULL Choke barrel.

Just before Bud*** let loose with his [ahem] 'Custom' ammo, I asked "Hey, what choke is that barrel?"

"Full", Bud says while shouldering the 1100.

ME: "I don't think the dimes will... BOOM!!!

Bud, staring at undamaged gallon jug 7 yards away "*** ? ? ? ? How did I miss ? ? ?" Raises 870 to shoulder to blaze away again with a standard #4 load, but can't see the jug, due to the last couple of inches of the barrel looking more like a "Blunderbuss" than an 1100. "***? ? ? ? What happened to my gun ? ? ? ? ? ?

Me: "Did you see if a dime would go through the muzzle?"

Bud: "Yeah, I checked and it wouldn't. But I KNEW the dimes would moosh down, just like a slug does. . . "

I never went shooting with "Bud" again, nor did I EVER shoot any of his reloads.

***Names have been changed to protect the guilty.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

dime shotgun load

The dime is about the worst aerodynamic shape for a projectile
you can come up with. They deccelerate to about 120 fps within
20 feet or so and do not penetrate denim.

Also, double barrel 10 gauge, eighteen dimes per barrel, $3.60,
in the late 1800's that about three days wages. You could buy
ten boxes of 10 gauge buckshot, twenty-five shells per box, from
Sears for less than $3.60, or buy seventy-two nickel beers at the
saloon. Only a hollywood screenwriter would load a shotgun
with silver dimes.

 

[goon]

This has probably already been brought up, but this is in line with a story associated with Billy the Kid. This load was tested on some show in the history channel and it was found that the dimes did way less damage than regular buckshot does.