AJumbo
Member
If you've seen "Young Guns," (who hasn't?), part of the jailbreak scene includes Lincoln County deputy Bob Olinger menacing the captive Kid by telling him that if he tried to escape, Olinger would would happily unload both barrels of his shotgun into young Mr. Bonney. He further states that his shells are loaded with coins; I think the movie specifies pennies, but folklore says they were dimes, eighteen per round. After visiting the privy, Billy managed to get out of his cuffs and procure a pistol which he used on one of his jailers. He then got his hands on Olinger's loaded shotgun, and used it to kill Olinger.
Well, a show on History Channel got a chance to test that load chain. Peter Sherayko, noted antique arms expert and the gun wrangler for "Tombstone," fired 18 silver dimes into a pig carcass. For an extra measure of forensic accuracy, the carcass was wearing a cotton shirt. The range couldn't have been more than 20 feet or so, about the range between Bonney and Olinger when the latter was sent to his reward. The charge was black powder; judging from Sherayko's recoil reaction, it was a fairly stout load.
The dimes shredded the shirt, but only produced shallow flesh wounds on the test media. Just to drive the point home, Sherayko then shot the hog with a 00 buckshot load, which produced the results one would expect.
At prisoner-handling ranges, i.e., walking behind the prisoner and prodding him with the muzzle, I imagine the dimes would have a better chance of being lethal. Of course, at that range I wouldn't want to be shot with a black powder blank. The slow-mo shots of the dimes hitting the pig carcass showed dimes in every possible flight attitude, be it edge-on, flat, or anything in between.
Just when the show had me thinking that they had gone to heroic lengths to debunk a cherished legend, they went and popped my bubble- the coroner's report on Olinger confirmed that he was killed by a double load (both barrels) of 00 buckshot to the face and upper chest. Buckshot was more effective, and way cheaper, too; each load of silver dimes would have represented about two days' pay for a working cowboy of the time.
Well, a show on History Channel got a chance to test that load chain. Peter Sherayko, noted antique arms expert and the gun wrangler for "Tombstone," fired 18 silver dimes into a pig carcass. For an extra measure of forensic accuracy, the carcass was wearing a cotton shirt. The range couldn't have been more than 20 feet or so, about the range between Bonney and Olinger when the latter was sent to his reward. The charge was black powder; judging from Sherayko's recoil reaction, it was a fairly stout load.
The dimes shredded the shirt, but only produced shallow flesh wounds on the test media. Just to drive the point home, Sherayko then shot the hog with a 00 buckshot load, which produced the results one would expect.
At prisoner-handling ranges, i.e., walking behind the prisoner and prodding him with the muzzle, I imagine the dimes would have a better chance of being lethal. Of course, at that range I wouldn't want to be shot with a black powder blank. The slow-mo shots of the dimes hitting the pig carcass showed dimes in every possible flight attitude, be it edge-on, flat, or anything in between.
Just when the show had me thinking that they had gone to heroic lengths to debunk a cherished legend, they went and popped my bubble- the coroner's report on Olinger confirmed that he was killed by a double load (both barrels) of 00 buckshot to the face and upper chest. Buckshot was more effective, and way cheaper, too; each load of silver dimes would have represented about two days' pay for a working cowboy of the time.
