Before the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States, the American gun industry was preparing for the worst. A Clinton presidency meant almost certain restrictions on Second Amendment rights.
Now, though, with our rights seemingly secure, the industry may turn toward new innovations. And one area that will surely see a push in radical new designs is ammunition. And this slug just might be a preview of good things to come.
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This is the Gualbo Steel fragmenting shotgun slug. It is a lead free design that uses the momentum of a collar at the base of the slug to drive forward fins that bloom out like a lovely flower (a flower that could produce incredibly lethal results).
Check out the slow-motion footage in the video below. It shows the round in action.
In ballistics studies, this is referred to as penetration. Almost all lead-based projectiles will experience a certain amount of deformation on impact. Some rounds are designed to expand significantly. That expansion–often seen as mushrooming in typical hollow-point designs, is what transfers the energy into the target.
If you are shooting at a hog, something with a thick skin, you want a well designed projectile that will penetrate some, and then expand. Otherwise, you rely on the entry and exit wound to produce bleeding.
Many shotgun slugs travel at modest speeds that won’t allow for the heavy projectiles to expand much. The answer to this problem has been the use of buckshot–a round that is made up of small round shot. Instead of one large entry wound, buckshot can create multiple wounds, increasing the speed at which exsanguination occurs.
The fragmenting fins on this round could, if the target was dense enough, create many secondary wound channels inside a target that would be very lethal. Or they might just punch through before the expansion has really had time to take shape, as they’ve done here.
Could this be a sign of more good things to come? This pattern is already in use in similar handgun rounds (only with solid copper bullets, instead of steel). The Gualbo Steel fragmenting shotgun slugs are selling for around $23 for 10.
