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Question of the Day: What Gun and Ammo for Shooting Fish in a Barrel?

Robert Farago - comments No comments

(courtesy insidesocal.com)

My main squeeze is cooking a proper Southern breakfast. (My arteries are hardening in anticipation.) I’m sitting here blogging about the USDA’s recent purchase of 85 submachine guns. I told her that sometime this job is like shooting fish in a barrel. Hmmm. How easy is that, anyway? What kind of barrel are we talking about? What kind of fish? Which gun? What ammo? So I’m asking TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia to ignore the image above and please suggest a proper experiment to prove the validity of this piscine adage. Note: no fish were harmed in the making of this post. Although I can’t make the same promise for the follow-up . . .

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Question of the Day: What Gun and Ammo for Shooting Fish in a Barrel?”

  1. hmmm, 55 gallon drum – You lose a LOT of energy fast in the water (plus aiming would be difficult due to distortion looking through the water) – I’d say 12 gauge buckshot.

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  2. If the goal is to literally hit the fish with a bullet, I’d say .22 shorts. If the goal is to kill all the fish in the barrel, I’d say 3″ 12 gauge slugs.

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  3. Double barrel shotgun with the barrels so short that a 12 gauge supermag shell (3.5 inch shell IIRC) protrudes. Fire both barrels at once.

    It’ll be like a hand grenade going off.

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      • You got my reference, nice.

        Though I am curious about how bright it would be. Especially if you used handloaded blanks (3.5 inch shell with no projectile or wad filled to the top with the slowest powder available). Would give a heck of a concussion that would knock them fish out. Seriously, somebody has to do it.

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  4. I think the most creative would be a taser. One shot, many fish, little damage. Wood barrel. A few more pulses and you could have poached fish.

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  5. Remember the Groucho Marx joke, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.”

    With a bit of a twist on your request, how about a crocodile in a bathtub? Armament? Let’s do something funky like a old English thingy with Nitro/Rigby/Holland or Jeffery in its name?

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  6. 12ga with flechette rounds

    Also, on any gun a laser would be very helpful so you don’t miss due to the index of refraction of light in water vs. air.

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  7. if the fish were halibut in a barrel of monkeys i would use an ak, but i would not be shooting for any primates.
    if the fish were sturgeon i would use an anshutz, for the surgical precision.
    if the barrel were blue plastic i would use a colt sporter lightweight with a 15 5/8″ barrel.

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  8. Come on, guys, think outside the barrel! The answer is a speargun, of course! Particularly a Mares Sten Mini Rigged Speargun. Specs:
    > Shock cord and bungie
    > Included leg holster with two depth compensating straps
    > Ultra light weight
    > Black anodized aluminum
    > Hydrodynamic line retainer
    > Technopolymer shock-absorber bushing and piston
    > $260

    You know you want one…

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  9. The barrel should be one aged from the late 1700s.
    The fish are the worker bees supporting the barrels growing debt.
    The gun would be made from the oldest forms of locked breach evil… Greed, tyranny, ignorance.
    The ammunition of choice would be fear.
    The magazine would be a standard capacity drum but no worries there are two more in the backpack.
    Let us say the water is a masquerade of media all beamed into every home from very few state controlled sources.

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  10. See Mythbusters. And a lot of internet videos shoot into a barrel to test Hollowpoints for expansion. So it may not be as easy as “shooting fish in a barrel”. Wait are you eating the fish or just blowing em’ up? 🙂

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  11. As long as the barrel of fish isn’t near the primary heat exchangers, go with the M41A pulse rifle and the 10mm explosive tip, caseless.

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  12. High velocity rounds and hollow points are out because they won’t penetrate more than a foot or so of water. I’d go with slow and heavy, maybe .45acp 230gr FMJ or maybe .45LC 255gr. SWC.

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  13. A rifle that’s cheap? A rifle that’s strong and sturdy? A rifle that’s accurate? That can shoot from a good distance? A rifle that shoots a BIG cartridge that is also sheap? Mosin Nagant M91/30. With a calibre of 7.62x54r, this rifle has some historical value too. Cheap. Sturdy. Inexpensive. Large rounds. Rounds are inexpensive. Accurate. Mosin Nagant 91/30? The perfect rifle. You can buy this rifle from 100-200 bucks. Not kidding.

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