That sounds exagerated. Steel bearing aren’t going to do anything different to the human body than lead won’t do. Then there is the issue of choke and spread. Simply put, if the pellets spread enough to be as wide as a body, it won’t be dense enough to “cut” something in half. Depending on the size of the bearings, it certainly would be lethal.
Maybe a fanger is an artificial finger?
(And no, I’m not looking down on white-Southern accents – I love listening to them!)
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Well, assuming you have a choice, which most participants in such events don’t, it’s a philosophical issue, not a utilitarian or pragmatic one.
Thanks to evolution, the most ardent desire of some portion of the population is to extend personal existence as long as possible, and there is no act they would not stoop to rather than die. Again, thanks to evolution, there is also a portion of the population that will cheerfully die for the family, die for the tribe, die for a principle or whim. Both of these traits confer enormous survival advantages - the former to the direct genetic line, and the latter to the tribe as a whole.
Lately our society has lionized self-interest and thus the death-fearing population is considered more worthy. In more difficult times those who are not particularly afraid of death have been more respected. But most mammals, in reality, have both traits in different times and circumstances; truly fearless people and true cowards are both crippled personalities.
The Reverend Nancy Dean once commented that she understood her radical pacifism was only possible because people like me were willing to be violent towards those who would otherwise oppress her, but she didn’t have to like it.
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Fan•ger, (n.):
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The Mythbusters tested that (with ballistic gel fingers and even with a steel spike welded into the barrel) and the myth, not the gun, was busted.
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Also not a gun guy. Or a hunter. But if I lived out in the boondocks I explicitly would own one for protection. Guns are for killing people, which is something I might have to do if I didn’t have law enforcement minutes away.*
*(This usually cues all Libertarian types to tell me how long it takes cops to get there and their investigative role vs preventative role and all that other shit. I am in one of the safest communities in America, thanks.)
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You are probably going to like this even less, but those “Shotgun” revolvers are total garbage. the look scary because of how long their cylinders are, but perform about the same as a bb gun in gel tests.
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There’s always largish caliber handguns with rat-shot cartridges.
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That’s bullshit. You’d need a lot more than two 12-guage anythings to cut a whole human in half. Maybe if you filled the entire volume of two shells with gunpowder and then force fed the baddie and exploded them in his gut. But then you’re getting macabre.
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Taurus bills them as protection from carjacking, but my first thought was anyone who fired that in the driver’s seat, in a tense and cramped situation, was probably going to damage their car, and maybe take some shot in their face or leg as well.
Nevertheless, if the idea is that it’s going to scare someone away then looks, sound, and getting hit with some painful bits of shot are valid.
But how often do you get carjacked? They might as well sell it as “Yeti protection.”
It’s a dumb idea.
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The shot does not spread out enough to damage your car if you shoot from the driver seat out any of the windows. The rifling however also does impart spin on the shot which disrupts the pattern somewhat.
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most of the .410 shot shells on the market are designed for actual shotgun barrels and have extremely reduced velocity out of one of these jokes.
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much of the special purpose “stupid ass taurus revolver .410” ammo is next to worthless because individual projectiles do not weigh enough to do any real damage or are made in cool looking but useless shapes (for example disks). After the gun was out for about 10 years, they made expensive ammo for it that works (more or less)
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Slugs might be ok, fine then, but why not use .45 long colt ammo (which the gun fires anyway).
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if you are using .45 Long Colt anyway, then just buy a peacemaker clone or a Ruger Alaskan and don’t bother with this garbage.
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They literally pay to have this piece of junk gun put in movies and TV shows just so it gets exposure and people buy it. They also pay for reviews to show you how using really expensive ammo in this garbage almost makes it a good idea to defend yourself from random watermelons, water bottles, and paper targets.
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It has exactly one use- it can actually kill snakes- this is great for assholes who are too stupid/lazy/evil to back up and walk around a snake.
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At the end of the day, its a Taurus- Their revolvers are about the only guns they have ever sold that do not get recalled on a regular basis for shooting on their own when bumped or shaken or other critical faults. That said their revolvers are about the lowest quality you can buy in the USA.
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Thanks, I enjoyed reading this. I think you know I wasn’t defending Taurus, but it’s good to have someone put it all out there plainly to drive the point home.
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So, standard steel birdshot? Not seeing that cutting anything in half…
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I was discussing this with my colleagues in NC yesterday, actually. It is their weapon of choice as a “snake gun” because of the small buckshot rounds.
And yes, there are that many bitey snakes in NC. I can attest to that.
I see @CSBD mentioned this already. Personally, I am the “avoid the snake” type. But if you are bitten, it is a good idea to kill the thing and bring to the ER so they shoot you up with the right anti-venom.
Maybe Shane McGowan should have gotten those tats.
Actually, I think he has new chompers now.
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As a rule of thumb: don’t believe people who like to talk about shooting people, especially if your parents think they are safe enough for a child to hang around. I recall family friends similar to this, and looking back, totally 100% blowing smoke for the sake of machismo.
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I’d also be disinclined to accept the reliability of a DEA agent when it came to deciding who the “baddies” are.
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The DEA is a bullshit org, full of bullshit people who only really know how to talk in bullshit.
Bunch of moralizing do-badders.
“You shouldn’t smoke pot” “Why?” “Because I’ll ruin your life.”
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Folks we got trouble right here in River City, because “I’ll” lacks a T, which rhymes with P, and that stands for pool…or pot…or potatoes.
Sorry, the thought of moralizing types triggered that thought.
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