Opinion
“I enjoy talking with you.
Your mind appeals to me.
It resembles my own, except that you’re insane.”
George Orwell, from “1984″.
Unanticipated Threats:
When engaged in live-fire training for “serious purposes,” we spend much time shooting at life-sized paper targets designed to look like real people.
This is disapproved in some quarters, yet I’m not sure how we’re otherwise supposed to learn how to use guns effectively for legitimate self-defense when we never shoot at targets that look like people (even though we all know it’s just a piece of paper)!
Now, we learn of a new personal threat, and one not necessarily confined to war zones: Drones!
Small drones are now common on the world’s battlefields. Ever-downsized, they are used mostly for intelligence gathering but also carry weapons, including explosives, and the technology is advancing by the day!
And, like erratic flies they resemble, they’re hard to neutralize.
Shooting at them with semi-auto rifles is about as successful as using rifles for hunting airborne birds!
Rotary-cannons, even missiles, can be efficacious, but consuming hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expensive, sophisticated ordinance to bring-down a single drone, worth less than $1K, rapidly gets us into “diminishing returns.”
On an individual level, the pistols and modern rifles we love, and that are eminently suitable for domestic self-defense (against people), are simultaneously pretty useless against hostile (maybe harmful) drones.
As individuals, we haven’t had to worry about all this until recently!
For personal “drone-defense,” we may have to start looking at shotguns and #4 buckshot!
In fact, Benelli is now actively marketing this idea, claiming that their autoloading shotguns, with #4 buckshot, are effective against airborne drones out to 50m, maybe even 100m (although I think 100m is mostly fantasy).
Drones are light and maneuverable, but they’re not armored, which makes them vulnerable to hits from #4 buckshot pellets. One or more strikes from #4 buckshot pellets will bring down most drones or at least render them impotent as they limp away.
Bigger sizes of buckshot (00Bk, for example) will not be nearly as effective, as the pattern is not dense enough at the distances drones are likely to be engaged. Smaller shots (like #2 Birdshot) lack range and penetration.
Until the Ukraine Invasion, I didn’t think I needed to worry about any of the foregoing.
Now, we may well have to practice shooting [clays target shooting] at drones (maybe a mock-up, being towed at a distance by another drone) as part of our regular training!
“The liquid state of modernity is corrosive to continuity.” ~ Samuel Wilson.
/John
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Nickel Buck 12 Gauge Ammo - 12 Gauge 2-3/4'''' 27 Pellets #4 Buckshot 10/Box | Brownells.com | $ 9.99 |
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Barnes Bullets Defense 12Ga 2-3/4in 21 Pellet #4 Buckshot Shotshells - 5 Rounds - #4 | Sportsman's Warehouse | $ 19.99 |
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Hornady 12GA #4 Buckshot 2 3/4" V-MAX Varmint Express Ammunition -86243 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 17.99 $ 15.09 |
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12 Gauge 2-3/4 #4 Buckshot Va | Midsouth Shooters Supply | $ 15.99 |
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About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor, John Farnam will urge you, based on your beliefs, to make up your mind about what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to ensure that its students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
Dove hunting in Texas is the best training possible. And fun.
Isn’t shooting drones a Federal felony???
Interesting how the writer is a “trainer” yet his AR15 doesn’t have a scope or red dot, even appears the flip up sight is folded down.
I am now in the market for #4 buckshot. This is a timely article as I just conducted a survey to see how much #6 bird shot I have on hand and was speculating as to how effective that would be on aerial drones…
The military application will likely escalate to belt fed 12 ga on a mount, the step after that will incorporate tracking using existing systems. Tiny miniguns on rotary mounts that can react just as quickly as the drone. Blocking the guidance signal is already being explored. Encrypt it all we want, it’s radiation on a frequency and that won’t be hard to block. Anyone with their own “toy” drone and some technical interest can envision what existing means we already have that can be amplified for field protection. Since there is a signal being emitted, it can be tracked, and… Read more »
I’m fortunate that the club I belong to has a trap field. Nothing better to break up pistol shooting (out to 40 yds) or rifles (out to 300 yds) than chasing down fast movi g clays. Add a bit of breeze and it gets interesting, real fast.