The Difficulty with Taking down Drones with a Shotgun
Let’s talk about drone hunting shotguns, with all the latest bizarre news coming out of the Northeast, all the fudds are coming out claiming they could take these things down with some 00 buck, and lets be honest, yes you absolutely can take down small, low flying commercial drones this way. It certainly works and has worked in Ukraine against the fast moving, low flying, off the shelf DJI drones.
If you’re reading this blog post because of all of the weirdness taking place on our east coast, keep in mind some of these objects are being reported as being anywhere from an SUV to a bus in size and people’s perspectives about how high or low these things are flying vary and can be incredibly difficult to judge. Would a shotgun work?
You aren’t going to easily take out a military UAV with small arms fire, let alone some experimental black budget craft, unless you’re a genetically engineered super spy like Jeremy Renner in the Bourne series lobbing 50 cal or 338 Lapua at the thing.
Shooting down the Drones in the Northeast is a Bad Idea
Moreover, if these are our government’s drones for a legitimate purpose, that would mean the drones themselves are probably the least of our worries and we should be worried about what they are looking for, rather than the drones themselves. If this is war of the worlds, absolutely worry about the drones. But note that it is illegal to down any flying vehicle if you aren’t authorized to do so. You will get in serious trouble, and truthfully, you’d realistically probably need a Close In Weapon System or some of these vehicle mounted laser weapons they’re just now fielding on the modern battlefield to do it if these are anything beyond off the shelf commercial drones. Unless you’re Ron Swanson, of course, then shotgun away.
But if this is War of the World, how would we build a last ditch drone killing shotgun? Well for threats like what they’re facing in Ukraine, its plausible. I thought it’d be fun to hypothetically outfit one for this purpose, you know, in case its ever needed in Minecraft of course.
What To Look for in Drone Hunting Shotgun
Base Shotgun – A Lightweight, Semi Automatic 12 Gauge
Ideally you’d want a platform that is going to be lightweight, especially if this was a Ukraine type war footing scenario, as the shotgun really isn’t going to suffice as your primary weapons system. So the beautiful but heavey wooden classic Remington 870 you have is a wonderful show piece but probably not ideal for this purpose. You can get cheap synthetic furniture shotguns that are very light weight for easily under $200. A reliable semi auto shotgun is also a good idea. This Aselkon IT-1 is a semi auto Benelli M2 clone. With a 5 shell capacity, this isn’t a terrible choice, but a little extra capacity would be nice. Most turkish shotguns suck, so keep that in mind. You’d probably be best off with a pump action maverick if you’re buying from scratch, and in this budget range. Obviously a nice real benelli semi auto shotgun would be ideal.
A shotgun with descent capacity and room to mount additional shells
Having these esstac shotgun shell cards is also really helpful as its a convenient way to reload very quickly, especially only having 4 + 1 to work with.
An Over Powered hunting flashlight with IR Capability
That said, I’ve been trap shooting with this quite a bit and it gets the job done. Mine is a very reliable shotgun. I especially like it because of the picatinny top rail. It has enough room that I can mount a red dot, which is going to be critical for running under night vision. It also has enough rail space that I can mount an offset flashlight with a tape switch using a 45 degree pic rail mount. This shotgun didn’t have any forward mounted options so I was a bit constrained by what I’m working with, short of doing it with the ol’ duct tape method.
I’m running a Brinyte Artemis T-28 which is a $130, stupid powerful flashlight with both white light flood, 850nm IR, and 940nm IR lights.
Having a really powerful flashlight with a focusable beam would be ideal for blinding an off the shelf commercial drone, in minecraft, which is probably going to have digital sensors for its navigation.
Buckshot or Heavy Target Loads
The type of shells that you use would be very important as well. Bird shot is what we typically use for shooting clays, but it may not have enough oomph to be effective. It has a ton of tiny pellets with a huge pattern spread, meaning that its very useful for shooting at flying moving targets within 50 yards. Keep in mind when trap shooting, you’re only shooting targets about 40 to 50 yards away and only about 15-30 feet off the ground. Drones are oftentimes flying between 150 and 500 feet off the ground, and distance can be very hard to judge, and they’re very fast moving in less predictable movement patterns. Not saying that its impossible, but it’d have to be flying right at or over you to be effective.
My understanding is that buckshot is what is typically being used in Ukraine since the pellets are heavier, the loads can fly a little better and hit harder. Either way, a heavier targetload would be best.
Of course this is all my hypothetical setup informed by annecdotal reports of what works or doesn’t work in Ukraine. This setup works fine when shooting clays, but I have no idea if this would work on an adversarial drone in practice in minecraft. If you have more ideas definitely sound off in the comments or feel free to poke holes in my thoughts on this subject.
Final thoughts, Don’t Let Fear Control You
Anyways, stay curious and keep doing your best every day. And as a reminder, I personally believe that all things, including mysterious drones flying over New Jersey, are under God’s sovereignty, and that’s ultimately where I derive peace and freedom from fear. So I’m not losing any sleep over this, and I’m fully aware my janky turkish shotgun is woefully inadequate if this is war of the worlds. If you’re a follower of Christ, never forget that He is in control over all things, including this. Have a great week.
