Buzz
From hollow-point and standard ball rounds to armor-piercing and wadcutters, modern firearm owners have access to an extensive variety of ammunition. Yet, even though most bullets are designed for specific situations, there are always those rare ones that seem to defy conventional logic.
10. Self-Guiding Bullets
At Sandia National Laboratories, engineers have crafted a ‘smart’ bullet that promises pinpoint precision, hitting targets at distances up to 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) with remarkable accuracy. The bullet comes equipped with an optical sensor that controls a set of small fins at its rear. Once the bullet exits the barrel, the laser-guided target provides a ‘painted’ signal, and the sensor adjusts the fins to steer the bullet within 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) of its mark.
In terms of targeting, it’s like a pocket-sized Tomahawk missile, or a miniature Liam Neeson—able to track down, locate, and eliminate any target within a mile.
9. Rock Salt
Shotguns, with their wide bore size, are capable of firing a variety of unconventional ammunition not found in smaller-caliber weapons like rifles or pistols. If you’re a Tarantino fan, you might recall the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where Budd uses a rock salt shell to take out The Bride. As it turns out, that wasn’t entirely fictional.
Rock salt slugs were originally designed as a non-lethal deterrent—essentially a ‘poor man’s rubber bullet.’ They’re intended to send a stronger message than mere words but with less force than live ammo. According to ballistic testing, this approach makes sense. The salt is brittle enough to break apart at close range without penetrating the skin, though it can still sting quite a bit. That said, hand-loading and the need for immediate barrel cleaning due to corrosion make it less practical. Still, it’s a great option for those expecting a siege from giant alien snails.
8. Dragon’s Breath
Not every bullet is made for taking down people. Some, like Dragon’s Breath ammunition for shotguns, seem more like a way for someone to unleash their inner child—or perhaps their inner pyromaniac.
This round uses magnesium-based ammo that, when discharged, creates a burst of flame reaching up to 30 meters (100 ft). It’s an impressive sight, especially on a dark night, and sure to make any would-be intruder rethink their life choices—provided the shooter doesn’t accidentally set their house on fire in the process.
7. Tasers
Tasors are a great way to incapacitate a mugger without resorting to deadly force, but they do have one major flaw: they’re short-range. To effectively use a Taser, you need to be within 4.5 to 10.5 meters (15–35 ft) of your target—definitely not ideal if you’re a cop trying to stop a suspect who’s sprinting away at top speed.
But imagine if you could shrink that Taser down and load it into a wicked (yet non-lethal) projectile of pure electrical fury? Enter the XREP, a Taser slug capable of striking targets from as far as 30 meters (100 ft). Like a regular Taser, it delivers a jolt of 1.3 milliamps of electricity for up to 20 seconds once the barbed tips make contact, dropping the target in their tracks.
6. Foam Grenade
Remember the odd yet awesome boxing glove arrows that Green Arrow uses to knock out crooks? Well, what if we told you there’s a similar alternative that doesn’t require years of perfecting your archery skills to near-superhuman levels?
Created as a non-lethal option for crowd control, sponge rounds are designed to be launched from the M203 grenade launcher, which is used by the U.S. Army. While it may sound harmless to get hit by a sponge, keep in mind that these grenades soar at 200 meters per second—that’s just 30 meters per second slower than the muzzle velocity of a .45 ACP bullet. Picture the worst dodgeball game from gym class, but with people aiming at you with gun sights and live ammo as a backup in case things escalate.
5. Square Bullets (Puckle Gun)
While today’s bullets are the result of years of combat data and rigorous ballistic tests, things weren’t always so scientific. Take the Puckle gun, for example. Patented in 1718 during a time when the Turks posed a threat to Eastern Europe, the Puckle gun was designed to fire square ammunition.
The idea behind square bullets was that they would inflict more damage against the Muslim Turks, the primary intended target. However, this concept didn’t gain much traction, as the square rounds were notorious for being inaccurate. The Puckle gun itself, however, went on to inspire the development of revolvers.
4. Rockets
While modern bullets are largely foolproof when designed correctly, that hasn’t stopped innovators from attempting to reinvent the wheel.
One such attempt was the GyroJet. Designed to give you more bang for your buck, GyroJet ammo replaces traditional copper-jacketed lead with rocket propulsion. The theory was that the steady, continuous thrust of a rocket motor would allow the projectile to reach extraordinary distances, far beyond what even large-caliber handguns or rifles could achieve.
Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out. The rocket ammunition relied on a finely-tuned spin-stabilization system, and even the smallest amount of fouling in the vents caused them to veer off course. They were also pricey: Emptying a full clip set you back $200, which is basically the cost of unloading an entire handgun’s worth of bullets on someone else.
3. Harpoons
In the 1970s, as tensions were escalating during the Cold War, one Russian soldier gazed across the Atlantic Ocean, separating them from the United States, and thought, “We need a gun that can fire into that water.”
So, instead of settling for traditional spearguns, the Russians went ahead and created the APS, an assault rifle that fired rapid-firing miniature harpoons. These ‘bullets,’ measuring 120 millimeters (4.7 inches) and using the 5.66×39mm MPS cartridge, were designed to cut through water with minimal loss of stability or range—two challenges that made regular bullets ineffective underwater. The APS and its specialized ammo have since been replaced by more modern underwater firearms like the Russian ADS amphibious rifle.
2. Anti-Tank Teargas
Yes, you read that correctly. An anti-tank round designed to stop a tank by making the crew cry. This idea was actually born during World War II, when Germany was working to create a man-portable anti-armor weapon for their soldiers.
Since rocket technology and shaped-charge ammo weren’t widespread yet, Germany came up with the Panzerbüchse 38, based on a World War I gun, the Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr. The PzB 38/39’s original ammo featured a steel-tipped armor-piercing round with a tear-gas capsule attached at the tip. The theory was that once the slug punched through the tank’s armor, the tear gas would force the crew to abandon the vehicle.
It didn’t exactly work as planned—the round could penetrate 2.6 centimeters (1.02 inches) of armor, but the tear-gas capsule nearly always missed the target. If anyone was going to be crying, it was likely the rifleman, who would have just attracted the wrath of a very angry tank crew.
1. Anti-Armor
When you're thinking of taking down a car or any other vehicle, you might usually consider reaching for larger weapons like a grenade launcher or even an RPG. But what if we told you that you don’t need to go for the heavy artillery?
The FRAG-12 is a compact but powerful solution for all your vehicle-demolition needs (legally, of course). This explosive slug is effective up to 200 meters (650 ft) and can penetrate up to 12 millimeters (0.5 inches) of steel plate. With this, you’re turning your average anti-zombie/intruder shotgun into a portable meat grinder.
The even cooler part is that it was designed to work with the AA-12 shotgun, a 20-round monster of a firearm that spits out these mini bombs at a blistering rate of 450 rounds per minute.
