AFTE Store - The Exterior and Terminal Ballistics of 00 Buckshot

The use of 00 buckshot in hunting and law enforcement as well as its occasional use in criminal enterprises gives rise to a number of interesting exterior and terminal ballistic questions not readily obtained from textbooks or journals. While relatively close range determinations derived from pattern testing are common and well known, the exterior and terminal ballistics of the indiividual pellets can be of interest insofar as questions regarding lethality and injury-producing capabilities at ranges on the order of 50 yards and more. Two techniques (Doppler radar and the Oehler M43 PBL system) were used to study the exterior ballistic performance of standard .33 caliber 00 buckshot. The effects of variations in the surface texture and topography of individual buckshot pellets were also studied and found to only have a small effect on exterior ballistic performance. The two techniques gave comparable results for the exterior ballistiic performance of buckshot pellets of the same weight and surface texture and allowed a useful ballistic coeffiicient to be derived for 00 buckshot pellets. This value is useful in future casework for estimating down range velocities of fired buckshot pellets and in evaluating the potential for injury by these projectiles at relatively long ranges.