Watch: Firing Rock Salt From a Shotgun

This video takes me back to my youth, when my elementary school and the local civic center — and many other things in the area — were surrounded by orange groves. There was always discussion among us young rogues about scaling the fence and making a run for freedom! Especially when the oranges were nice and ripe, begging for our hungry sugar-loving mouths to devour them…

Naturally, I never did… and part of the reason was the local legend that grove owners aggressively patrolled their groves with shotguns loaded with rock salt! Exactly what that would do to a boy I never particularly cared to find out, but I always sort of wondered.

Turns out, I was not alone… and in this video, Paul Harrell takes on this legend by actually cramming some rock salt into a muzzleloading scattergun and making it go boom.

The premise is that rock salt won’t cause any serious injury, but it will sting like the dickens — and creating any wound with salt is precisely the same as rubbing salt into a wound.

He starts out with a possibly meaningless comparison, by firing two ounces of number 4 lead shot into one target, and “a handful” of rock salt into another. And, er… turns out, that’s pretty much the entire shooting test.

The results are predictable. Why was I so scared, lo those many years ago?

Probably because I knew that if Dad had found out about me trespassing — and especially stealing — he would have used his trusty leather belt to inflict a lot more temporary pain than all the rock salt in the world. Come to think of it, that might be why I’ve always been a straight arrow…

Anyhow, enjoy the video.

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.