A shotgun shell or shotshell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with lead shot or a shotgun slug which is designed to be fired from a shotgun.
Most shotgun shells are designed to be fired from a smoothbore barrel, but dedicated shotguns with rifled barrels may take a number of different rounds. A rifled barrel will increase the accuracy of slugs, but makes it unsuitable for firing shot, as the shot wears down the rifling and the rifling causes the shot to form a hollow "O" shape in flight. Non-lethal shotgun ammunition is available in the form of slugs made of low-density material, such as rubber. See shotgun specialty ammunition for more information.
Read more about Shotgun Shell: Construction of A Typical Shotshell, Shotshell Sizes, Shotgun Gauge Diameter Formula, Lead Free Shotshell, Shot Sizes, Shotshells and Patterning
Famous quotes containing the word shell:
“We want some coat woven of elastic steel, stout as the first, and limber as the second. We want a ship in these billows we inhabit. An angular, dogmatic house would be rent to chips and splinters, in this storm of many elements. No, it must be tight, and fit to the form of man, to live at all; as a shell is the architecture of a house founded on the sea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)