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April 3, 2013

Depleted Uranium Shotgun Shells

drone-loads-product-image-2_1.jpg
Years of research and development have gone into these highly effective 12 gauge shells that can turn even Joe Biden’s double barrel shotgun into an instant anti-aircraft platform. -- Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 3, 2013 2:35 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

The sales site that posted these finally admitted it was all an April Fool's joke.

Depleted uranium would be extremely expensive.

Posted by: Donald Sensing at April 3, 2013 10:03 AM

Ssssssh!

Posted by: vanderleun at April 3, 2013 10:09 AM

Depleted uranium would be extremely expensive

I think it's also a "controlled substance."

Posted by: Don Rodrigo at April 3, 2013 10:36 AM

The box says it contains 1-3/8 oz of shot, or 1.375 oz. In a lead-shot shell, that works out to .21 cubic inch of lead (lead weighs one pound per 2.44 cubic inches).

However, depleted uranium weighs 1.68 the weight of lead. If there is 1.375 oz of DU, then the volume is .12 cubic inch. Scale that out with your ruler (and feel free to check my arithmetic).

Exactly how does one shoot 1.375 ounces of DU, barely bigger than a tenth of an inch, to an altitude of 50,000 feet to shoot down a drone - with a shotgun?

Posted by: Donald Sensing at April 3, 2013 11:47 AM

Well, I should have checked my own numbers.

A cube of .12 cubic inch volume had sides each of .49 inch. Not huge but certainly not tiny.

However, the rest of the math doesn't support the idea, either.

Suppose that the .12 C.I. of volume is in 00 buckshot. The diameter of 00 buck is .33 inch. That makes each pellet's volume .02 CI. So there would be .12/.02 pellets, or 6, as opposed to 8 or 9 pellets per lead shot shell.

But 1.375 ounces of DU shot has no more inertia than an equal weight of lead shot. And it will not have a faster velocity but will have exactly the same atmospheric drag. So still won't get to drone altitudes any more than lead shot would.

It was a pretty good April Fools joke, though.

Posted by: Donald Sensing at April 3, 2013 12:24 PM

It's about as easy to find these as it is to find .22LR rounds right now.

Posted by: mushroom at April 3, 2013 12:30 PM

Exactly how does one shoot 1.375 ounces of DU, barely bigger than a tenth of an inch, to an altitude of 50,000 feet to shoot down a drone - with a shotgun?

Well, obviously, you need a really long barrel.

Posted by: SteveS at April 3, 2013 12:37 PM

Dang. You let the cat out of the bag. Might have distracted the progressives trying to figure a way to ban then. Oh well, wait...how about titanium-coated razor-wire rubber bands that makes any kid capable of launching a decapitating projectile? Sure, print a box and issue a press release.....

Posted by: Tom at April 3, 2013 6:49 PM

We will all just arm ourselves with Oddjob's bowler hat!

Posted by: Donald Sensing at April 3, 2013 8:35 PM

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