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Firequest 12 Gauge Flechette Shells

mm30004

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Do any of you have any experience with these special shells?

G12-001.jpg

Here's a link to thier site...look's like they are legal here in Ga...sho would make a mean hole in something!!! :rolleyes:

http://www.firequest.com/G12-015.html
 
From what I've read, flechettes were ineffective at almost anything. In Vietnam they used them to shoot up into trees they thought enemies were hiding in, but this was probably misguided as the ballistic gelatin test I have seen show terrible penetration. Stick with 00
 
From another forum
"Back in the mid-90's I tested some shotgun flechettes made by Firequest. I had wanted to write a short paper on oddball shotgun ammo, and this was to be my first test subject. The Firequest shotgun shells also had a number of flechettes loaded backwards (just over half), but what was really interesting was what happened downrange. At 7 meters, the flechettes failed to penetrate the cardboard box I was using as a target backing. Most simply bounced off. The shot spread was also very wide."
i39.tinypic.com_4m5gx.jpg
 
Old thread, but I'll throw my 2 cents in.

I tested some flechette rounds (12 gauge) that a friend brought to a shooting session that we did one day. We fired at phonebooks, plywood, and my old point blank class 2A Kevlar vest.

These Little steel darts with their small stamped fins on the back end did not stabilize in the air. They hit the targets at every conceivable angle: backwards, sideways, 45° angles, etc.
By random luck, out of each payload of something like 18 or 20 darts, 1 or two would happen to hit point first.

Those few darts that did hit point first would penetrate perhaps a quarter inch in wood, half of an inch in paper, and 3/8 of an inch through Kevlar. Yeah the tip of one of those skinny little finishing-nail like darts did manage to poke out the back side of a Kevlar panel a few millimeters.

Oh, and the pattern was ridiculously wide -- probably 6 feet in diameter when shooting 50 feet away from the target.
We had to move within 30 feet just to keep most of the darts on a target that was some thing like 14 x 18" in size.
 
Old thread, but I'll throw my 2 cents in.

I tested some flechette rounds (12 gauge) that a friend brought to a shooting session that we did one day. We fired at phonebooks, plywood, and my old point blank class 2A Kevlar vest.

These Little steel darts with their small stamped fins on the back end did not stabilize in the air. They hit the targets at every conceivable angle: backwards, sideways, 45° angles, etc.
By random luck, out of each payload of something like 18 or 20 darts, 1 or two would happen to hit point first.

Those few darts that did hit point first would penetrate perhaps a quarter inch in wood, half of an inch in paper, and 3/8 of an inch through Kevlar. Yeah the tip of one of those skinny little finishing-nail like darts did manage to poke out the back side of a Kevlar panel a few millimeters.

Oh, and the pattern was ridiculously wide -- probably 6 feet in diameter when shooting 50 feet away from the target.
We had to move within 30 feet just to keep most of the darts on a target that was some thing like 14 x 18" in size.
It sounds like the perfect round to use when you just want to piss someone off without killing them.

But what is the point in that? You are just as legally liable for shooting at someone with rock salt, as you are with a scoped .50 Barrett.
 
Flechettes were advertised and marketed to be super deadly, with much better range and penetration than round lead balls.

They failed to live up to their hype.
 
I bought some.... I bunch of the guys gave me a ton of crap for it.....
I shot them and I deserved all the crap they gave...
watermelon at 10 yards 2 with approx 100 darts... 2 hit, one penetrated ( no real traumatic damage) and one hit " flat " and basically bounced off.
I have seen more damage from a spring of thorns...
 
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