Can 7 1/2 birdshot in the head kill someone?

Question

I cut a 7.5 shotshell open to see how big the shot was, and it was rediculously small, like half the size of a bb.

could you kill anything other than a bird with it?

(Also at a skeet range I saw where a thin metal thingy took a blast of it, it just chiped the paint a bit!)

Answer 1

I agree at very short range the birdshot is deadly.

At point blank range the shot has not spread yet and will act as one mass (slug). After a few yards the shot begins to spread and slow down. Ten yards still ferocious. Step it out to thirty yards and it has been reduced to bird and small game.

Pre-spread the 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 ounce has that much kinetic energy working for it. Post-spread the individual pellets are each a kinetic factor. So, a 1 ounce slug at 1,000 fps and 10 degrees up, travels several hundred yards. Then a 1 ounce load of 7 1/2 shot fired at 1,000 fps, 10 degrees might reach 75-85 yards.

Does that kind of help?

Answer 2

Depends on the range

At the typically home defense range of 10 to 20 feet or so yes it could and probably wood kill a person

I have shot plywood with it at that distance the resulting hole left no doubt in my mind that that same damage in a human would be lethal

Answer 3

Range is the determining factor. I can guarantee that a shotgun to the head at contact is definitely fatal. I'd say anything under 30 feet will have a very good chance of being fatal and possibly further depending on the  weight of the shot and the choke of the gun. A 10 gauge full choke with a heavy load of bird-shot would probably be lethal under 50 feet.

Considering 50 feet is about the width of a standard city lot, you can see why using a shotgun for self defense becomes a viable alternative, bird-shot OR buck.

Answer 4

It could kill or disable someone, but the range needs to be pretty close.  The smaller pellets dispense with their kinetic energy quickly.  I to have observe the pellets lack sufficient penetration to be used as a self defense load, but bear in mind it would not be fun to be shot with it.

Answer 5

I was hunting near a guy that took a load of 7s in the chest from about 20 feet and It almost killed him,we were watching them hunt from another field,there dog went on point and the numbskulls formed a circle around it,when the pheasant flushed his buddy walloped him in the chest,luckily for them it was a plant and shoot hunt and the guide placed a bird by where they parked so the car was close by and so was a hospital,by the time we ran down to see if we could help they were driving away,they left there guns and there dog,we gathered there stuff and took it back to the clubhouse and went back out to get our birds.Later on the owner of the club we were hunting told us that some shot got in his neck and that the ER doctor told him that if he hadn't gotten to the hospital so quickly then he would have died because he had a lot of damage to his windpipe,so yeah it can kill someone

Answer 6

Possibly.  I guess it would depend on the distance, I'd think at point blank range it would but anything further away it wouldn't.  I think you would most likely blind the poor b*****d though. I doubt it would penetrate enough to instantly kill.  In the link i posted it only goes through 2 layers of sheetrock.  It really doesn't penetrate enough to kill instantly.  Get buck shot not bird shot.  Bird shot is for the birds.

Answer 7

Rodney King got shot in the face with birdshot, and he hopped on his bike, pedaled home and called the police.  Injuries weren't life threatening.

Answer 8

I have killed groundhogs -w- bird shot at 30 feet.

   Shoot a water jug and see what you think.

A person is not made of thin metal thingys.

VP Cheney almost did this guy in from 30-40 yds. It only takes one of those pellets to do the trick.

Answer 9

At less than 20 feet...anything out of a 12 gauge shotgun is lethal.

Less than 10 feet, you can consider the mass of shot, almost like the ballistics of a "slug".

As the pattern of your shot "spreads" the mass and acceleration of individual shot (bb's) starts to slow to the ballistics of that size shot.

Answer 10

any projectile coming out of a gun is potentially lethal. the power of a shotgun is under rated. even a .410 caliber shotgun is very dangerous.