Watch: 12 Gauge “Ripper” Carpet Tack Ammo

We already took a look at Slinger ‘Cowboy’s Dream’ specialty shotgun shells, which have two lead balls connected by a cable. What about the “Ripper” shells from the same company, which cost plenty and are loaded with an odd mixture of tiny no. 12 birdshot and carpet tacks? Paul Harrell takes a look at them to let folks know exactly what they’re good for.

He begins with a simple patterning comparison at 15 yards. The Ripper shot scored plenty of hits, but the cloud of itsy-bitsy number 12 shot really isn’t that impressive, and in fact it makes 7.5 shot seem humongous by comparison.

And so we go right to the “meat target” to compare actual performance on a sorta-kinda-semi-human-ish target. At 7 yards, the Ripper ammo didn’t do much. As Paul says:

The amount of damage the Ripper ammunition did to this target was just about as close to zero as you can get, without actually being zero.

Heck, even scrawny 7-1/2 shot managed to penetrate clothing, meat, ribs, and ‘lungs’ to do an astounding amount of damage when compared with the Ripper.

So… is the Ripper worthwhile at all? Per Paul:

I think the only thing it’s gonna rip is it’s gonna rip you off.

Yep.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.