I obtained a box of genuine Morton's Ice Cream Rock Salt.

I will use some 12 Gauge Heavy Field Loads, which are loaded with 1 1/4 ounce of #6 shot.

First, I open them up and pour out the lead shot.

Then, I fill each shell with as much rock salt as it will hold.

I then re-crimped the shells and was ready to go.

I was immediately surprised at how light the finished shell felt.

It felt like it had nothing in it at all.

Shotgun pellets penetrate as a direct result of the "mass" of the individual pellets.

Since the rock salt is so light in weight, I am already suspicious that it will not penetrate much at all.

First, we set up a cardboard silhouette at 20 yards.

This is typical across-the-yard distance.

Here I am shooting it with the rock salt loads.

It only managed to make two slight dents in the cardboard.

Certainly not enough to break the skin on a human or animal.

We were interested to find that the report of the shotgun was about normal, but the recoil was almost nonexistent. None.

The lack of mass of the shot load meant no recoil.

How about 10 yards?

We will cover the target with a terry cloth towel to simulate clothing.