Shooting Pennies From a Shotgun

Have you ever wondered whether it would be a good idea to cram some one-cent coins into a shotgun shell and fire away? Of course you have! And why wouldn’t you?

It only. Costs. Pennies.

The coins are a tad too large for 12 gauge, and flat disks don’t like to fly well… so Tao-whatshisname deforms the pennies into small metallic domes. This reduces the diameter and makes them fairly aerodynamic.

At 7 yards, a stack of these things showed impressive penetration into a hunk of lumber… and completely purees the Tatermaus. Oh, the humanity!

Backing out to 20 yards, results are still impressive — even when just one coin strikes the target. But they have trouble getting them to fly together… as the video shows, they didn’t try very hard to make them consistent in shape when they were bending the cents.

Kinda cool. And watch all the way to the end if you’re worried about the legality of squishing cents.

Enjoy.

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.