Rock Salt in a shotgun

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ColinthePilot

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So, A friend of mine is in the market for a shotgun. He wants a good all purpose gun that he can use for skeet, maybe some hunting someday, and home defense. We went to Bass Pro Shop today to look around cuz he has a gift card there, and I'm the gun-guy.
Anyway, he mentioned that for HD he would load the first shell with salt. I asked him why. He cited a case where a drugged up moron stumbled into his appartment thinking it was his dealer (who lived next door). He threw the guy out, told his neighbors that the next time a "client" came to his house, he was callin the cops, and it never happened again. But he didn't think the guy deserved to die, so he would load the first shell with salt to "scare them off."
I gave him my opinion that any person worth shooting is worth killing, and that shooting a guy with a non-lethal load is a great way to earn a lawsuit. He still thinks its a good idea.
I've seen the Box-o-Truth page on this topic, but he still seems set on loading up at least the first shell with salt. What do I have to tell him to convince him this is a stupid idea?
 
What do I have to tell him to convince him this is a stupid idea?
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Tell him that anything coming out of a shotgun at close range will qualify as deadly force and if he isn't in the right using deadly force he will probably end up in jail or getting his ass sued off, or both.
There's nothing in Texas law making it legal to shoot to wound.

If he is in the right using deadly force, than he had better be using something more effective than rock salt.
 
I think that the days of chasing troublesome kids outta the watermelon patch with rocksalt are long gone. Touching off any kind of round (even in Texas) would be considered deadly force.

If legal logic doesn't work on your friend, try another approach, -tell him how corrosive salt is to metal.
 
take him out to where ya go shooting, take a few 12 ga. rocksalt loads and some creative "targets" (watermelons are good and ya can eat em presalted after the demo) set the target up on something about chest high, get 10 yards back and fire........... nothing bout rocksalt is non lethal unless he can fire from 40 yards in his apt...... inside of 25 its fatal shot........ and considering that in Texas your not even allowed to show the gun unless your in danger........ actually firing it is an instant felony conviction regardless what its loaded with
 
NOT true

HAHA not at all true. My step grandfather's step father ( read it again then you'll get it) had a cow that kept getting into their garden so he called his neighbor asking him to move his cow. Well the neighbor didn't come so he loaded his 12 gauge side by side with ROCK SALT and pulled both triggers. The way he tells the story they were eating a lot of milk cow beef for long time.:)

Use bean bags or some of the other mostly "non lethal" rounds, rock salt is lethal. Ever since he told me the story I've wanted to try it.:evil:

But to your original question on how to convince him... just get a cow in his apartment, or shoot him in the thigh. jk But I agree if your going to shoot someone it should be with deadly force or not at all. Otherwise you might as well just wear a sign around your neck saying "sue me". Tell him to hit the guy with a broom or something.
 
You're the "gun guy," yet he believes the rock salt stories above your wisdom?

First off, I'd be done helping. Let him pick out his own gun. He doesn't need your help. Let him go to his own range and practice - he won't. Let him ask someone else what loads to put in AFTER the rock salt. I'd leave the gun subject with one last attempt:

"I'm not gonna whip this horse. I'll tell you one last time, then I'm done. The rock salt thing is an old wive's tale. It goes in the same shoebox as dying for real if you die in your sleep and water that a horse will drink being safe for people. The fact that you won't believe evidence tells me that you aren't really ready to take gun ownership seriously. I'm done helping you on this endeavor, but I hope we're still friends."

ETA: Wow! I just read the other posts. There are actually people who still believe the rock salt thing, and they live among us! Guys, at 10 yds. only a couple of chunks broke the surface of a piece of cardboard. At 12 feet, 90 % of the rock salt bounced off the cardboard.

Rock salt does not have enough density to be of any value as a defensive payload. I'm sure it lacks sufficient... cohesion? as well. Whatever. Rock salt can't even hurt a BG until he's close enough to grab the barrel.
 
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Interesting theory.

There's this two-bit word running around out there. It's HYGROSCOPIC (also, hydroscopic). What does it mean?

====================
http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/hygroscopic.html

Definition

A hygroscopic material (literally "water seeking") is one that readily absorbs water (usually from the atmosphere).
====================

OK, that said, now let's take a look at good old "When it rains it pours" Morton salt to see why that became the company slogan.

=========================
http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_morton.htm

"...salt was sold in bags which tended to become hard and lumpy due to salt's hydroscopic properties."
=========================

OK, so you load rock salt into a shotgun shell- how are you going to know for sure what's coming OUT when you pull the trigger on it? Could be the salt equivalent of a slug.

If you like to gamble, tempt fate, etc., by all means feel free. It's your assets on the line, not mine.

But you'd better hope I'm not on your jury...

lpl/nc
 
If somebody's not a great enough danger to kill, they're not a great enough danger to shoot, PERIOD.

Lethal force is lethal force. Shooting somebody with a projectile out of a firearm is lethal force.

Get pepper spray. Get a taser. Don't shoot somebody with a firearm unless you're willing to see them dead right there.

I've got not the slightest problem with shooting somebody with a firearm, if it's NECESSARY. If you thought you could get by with wounding them, or with some hare brained improvisation, you clearly didn't believe it was necessary. And that's exactly what a jury is going to think.
 
Just my two cents worth. If one pulls the trigger on a shotgun in a home defense situation, then it had better be with deadly force with a regular round of some sort. Be it bird shot, buckshot or slug. For me inside the house it is 00 Buck. If I use all 5 rounds of that then it is time for the slugs to come into play. I just hope it never comes to that at all.

Tell your friend to leave the rock salt for making ice cream.:D
 
There are people that simply can't justify in their own mind the act of using deadly force in self defense, and the fact that the end result could be someone's death. I have some of those folks working in my office. I tell them that they should come up with some strategy for defending themselves other than a firearm. If you aren't willing to accept that deadly force means deadly force i.e. someone's possible death, then a firearm is a very bad choice for you. When you should and shouldn't use it becomes a very difficult thing to define.
 
So what is it, rock salt is lethal or can't damage cardboard?

In Kill Bill that chick took a double dose of rock salt to the boobs from a SxS at ten feet and it took the wind out of her sails. Never bring a samurai sword to a gun fight. Just HOLLYWOOD?
 
Plain and simple, you shoot a gun at someone it's gotta' be because you think you're life is in danger.

By loading it up "less than lethal" you've demonstrated that you didn't believe your live was in danger and now you're a criminal too.

Shooting someone with rock salt is going to be more trouble than not shooting them at all. Just give him all your valuables now because he's going to sue your @#$ off anyway.
 
"There's nothing in Texas law making it legal to shoot to wound."
Yup. And shooting to wound can used as evidence against you that by shooting to wound you were acknowledging that lethal force was not justified. The 1st round out of my pump 12 is 3" Mag #000.
 
What do I have to tell him to convince him this is a stupid idea?
Click to expand...

Nothing.

Walk away from him, in time he will ask why you are keeping your distance from him.

Be honest, inform him you do not need or want to be involved in any court cases and especially a party to his.
Your responsibility is to yourself first, and in a court of law, you do not need a jury of peers asking why you assisted this person in choosing a shotgun , and the reply being " I am the gun guy" and you getting hammered by jury and all the legal process.
 
Tell your friend that if he shoots a crackhead with rock salt to "scare him off" and wounds him that he will end up being sued by said crackhead for medical bills and pain and suffering. If he hits the crackhead in the eye or somehow otherwise permanently disables him that he'll end up making payments to him for the rest of his life.
 
If the situation justified firing at all, it justified firing with lethal ammunition. If you're not in danger, don't fire! There is just no "in-between" here.

Could it not go worse for you if it were found you were trying to maim, inflict pain or even torture?
 
I don't want to kill the guy, so I'll shoot at him with a shotgun. This guy sounds brilliant.
 
This remind me of that Pastor that shot himself in the head with a blank to prove some biblical purpose, but just ended up proving that blanks will do tons of damage at a couple of inches.
 
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