Is Hunting with flechette shot shells illegal?

Question

Sole purpose would be extending range and tightening patterns for deer hunting. 12ga flechette shells-where can I get them?

Answer 1

I agree with Gregg. The Geneva convention banned the use of flechette rounds by the military quite a while ago, and I figure, if the military finds them to be "inhumane" for killing people, then animals should apply also.



Have you ever shot one?! They fly for sh!t. They are a novelty round. Kind of like BOLO rounds. You can find all kinds of crap to shoot out of your shotgun, but morally, stick to shooting targets and trees with that crap.



-And PLEASE don't EVER consider them for home defense! You will do more time in prison than Manson.

Answer 2

Flechette rounds wouldn't penetrate enough. They are relatively light projectiles, and definitely weren't made to trump standard "good ol'" 00 buckshot in terms of distance. Flechette shells are just gimmicky. They serve no real purpose other than to show of to friends. Do not use these for hunting. I'm very sure that there are laws regarding them unsuitable for hunting, and may land you some hefty fines, especially if an angry game warden stumbles upon a deer that just ran three hundred yards after getting hit with those. Just use slugs if you are going to hunt.

Answer 3

You would be ill advised to use something like that on a deer! Buck shot has wounded more deer than slugs because people just don’t get the range limitations of buck shot. I witnessed a fool blast at a deer 80 yards away with buck shot. Out of the 4 shots only one pellet hit the deer and it broke its leg. We spent hours tracking that deer and never found it after covering a few miles.

Buck shot has a max range of about 40 yards depending on what pattern the shotgun has.

Flechette shells are a novelty round and are not for hunting applications. Hell I wouldn’t even use it for home defense.



So I agree with the others.

Answer 4

YES! and its a terrible idea!



a shotgun doesnt generate the velocity needed to stabilize a flechette in-flight. because of this, they would probably keyhole and fail to penetrate. this was the main reason flechette rounds were discontinued in '66 in the m79 grenade launcher and was replaced later by rounds loaded with #4 buckshot.



now, if you had a fire base full of 105mm howitzers and were trying to counter massed human-wave attacks this would be different! :)

Answer 5

Flechettes are designed for shooting in heavy cover. Not to extend range.



It is illegal to hunt deer with buckshot in many states now.. and its illegal in all states to hunt with flechettes.

Answer 6

It's illegal in my state to use a shotgun unless it has a slug...not even buckshot is legal. I can't imagine it would be legal anywhere to use flechettes. If it is, it's just because they haven't taken the time to outlaw it YET. These rounds would be horribly ineffective on deer.

Answer 7

Flechette Rounds

Answer 8

Flechette Shotgun

Answer 9

Yes and if you want distance, use rifled slugs or get a rifled barrel and get sabots. I can take deer at 250 yds with a sabot round.

Answer 10

Extending range? flechettes? I don't think so....just the opposite.

Answer 11

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/index.php/cName/bulk-flechettes