The difference between a shotgun and rifle is that a rifle shoots a single bullet, whereas a shotgun discharges many small pellets that spread out. Each gun has distinct advantages, but the biggest advantage of a shotgun round is that crazy people can open the casing and jam anything they want in there. As a result, we get shotgun rounds like…
When magnesium is ignited, it burns at around 3000 degrees Fahrenheit and produces a brilliant white flame. Somebody who knew about both magnesium and shotguns decided it would be fun to combine them. Thus, we have the Dragon’s Breath cartridge – a shotgun round that fires ignited magnesium in a massive wall of white melting death.
At first, the Dragon’s Breath round seems like a novelty. However, the round has been used by forest rangers to start backfires, and also used by police SWAT teams for “diversionary tactics”, which we are guessing means the police use them to scare drug-addicts by pretending to be dragons.
Shotgun rounds are normally made out of little metal balls of varying sizes. But there is a problem with the shape of the ball, is that it is only semi-effective at penetration. Sure, a shotgun blast can destroy stuff pretty well, but, sometimes you need to pierce something rather than just obliterate it. This is where the Flechette round comes in. When this round is fired, a volley of mini dart-like needles scream through the air at thousands of feet per second.
The round was used in the Vietnam era, as the needles would pierce through bushes and trees much better than traditional shotgun pellets. The round is also supposedly effective at large groups of enemy targets, because the darts could pierce one target and continue through to the next. The round was nicknamed the “Beehive” round, because if you get shot by one, its sort of like stepping on a beehive, except the bees are made of steel and sting your internal organs with thousands of pounds per square inch.
We’ve all seen a movie in which some gang member is holding a chain, and is presumably intending to somehow use it as a weapon. We are guessing there isn’t much reality to this, and movie directors just told them to hold chains because it makes them look tough, but apparently chains can hurt. Especially if they are shot out of a gun.
The source claims that the Chain Reaction round will be more effective at hitting targets that are hiding behind bushes, but we think they just made that up. We know the real purpose for the Chain Reaction round – all your friends will think you are gangster cool. Other than that, is there any real reason to shoot chains? We’re guessing no, and it was just invented for fun, and by fun we mean profit.
