Rock Salt - Just an urban myth?

My Sunday School teacher claimed his sister was shot with rock salt for stealing an apple back in the 40's. I don't know the specifics of distance, but apparently she was shot at while running away and hit in the legs. She bleed a lot and cried for days, according to the account I received. Apparently there was no permanent damage. According to your test she would have to have been hit pretty close up.

I was hit by salt once. Very painful as it hit me in back and bum. Some did penetrate skin. Ill def be a target for Danny to demonstrate.

Not supposed to kill,,, Just hurt like hell for a long time!!!!!!!

the load isn't just Rock Salt,,, The load is Rock salt and Bacon Rind,,,, Bacon rind is the cooked skin that is carved with the bacon when you carve belly meat without carving the skin from the bacon,, Its very hard when you fry it with the bacon and creates a very hard rind,, coupled with rock salt,,, it is mixed 70% bacon rind, and Infused with rock salt 30%,,, MAKES a very hard load,,,load with black powder light,,, and the bacon rind will enter the skin infused with the rick salt,,, and that will cause the EXTREME DISTRESS,,,, rock salt under the skin is whats Up!!!! very painful! Old Timey Pain

A friend once told me a story about how (when she was a kid) she and some other children stumbled upon the neighbor's still, and he grabbed his shotgun and fired rock salt at them. She said it stung the back of their legs pretty bad as they ran away. I haven't heard the urban legends, however from what my friend said I don't think the point of shooting rock salt at someone is to injure them, but rather to cause them some minor pain and scare the <insert favorite expletive here> out of them.

GT500

I'm liking the new target. Hopefully we see it return once the house 'intelligence' committee are through with it.

Shoot - I coulda not married mah cousin after all; her pappy weren't a threat with that dam shotgun a his'n.

George Steele

As long as a few grains manage to break the skin, it'll still hurt plenty. That, and there's the fear of being shot at. I think it still serves its intended purpose.

O.G. is KILLING me!! hahahahaha. He must be a riot to work with, both on TFM and on the police force.

Travis Macie

Would this even penetrate a pair of jeans?

Dr. Strangelove

Beat me to it, exactly what I thought.

Dr. Strangelove

Pepper corns would probably hold up better seems the wad did more damage. Maybe fiber wads and lower velocity. Thanks for the effort.

Gary A

Amen brother...my ass knows where you're shoiting from...

Yeah...SHOTGUNS IN TOWN... NOT SINCE THE 1980s...haha

I think you and most people are misunderstanding the entire point of a salt round. It's essentially a crude less lethal round, meant to hurt but not seriously injure. The rounds performed more or less exactly as I would have predicted.

Possibly a rural myth rather than a urban myth?

David K. Jernigan