Glaser Safety Slug is a
frangible bulletA material is said to be frangible if through deformation it tends to break up into fragments, rather than deforming plastically and retaining its cohesion as a single object...
made by Glaser Safety Slug, Inc., a small
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ammunitionAmmunition, often informally referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
company based in
Sturgis, South DakotaSturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,442 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Meade County....
(the same location as
Cor-BonCor-Bon is a brand of small arms ammunition produced by Dakota Ammo Incorporated. The company, based in Sturgis, South Dakota, was founded in 1982 by Peter Pi....
). The company was founded in 1975 by Armin Glaser the same year as the Glaser Safety Slug was developed by Jack Canon.
The original round was a hand-made
hollow point bulletA hollow point is a bullet that has a pit or hollowed out shape in its tip, generally intended to cause the bullet to expand upon entering a target in order to decrease penetration and disrupt more tissue as it travels through the target. They are also used to control penetration, such as in...
filled with No. 12 birdshot (0.05") with a flat polymer cap. To improve ballistic performance, a polymer-tipped round ball was introduced in 1987, and the current compressed core form was first sold in 1988.
Glaser Safety Slug is a
frangible bulletA material is said to be frangible if through deformation it tends to break up into fragments, rather than deforming plastically and retaining its cohesion as a single object...
made by Glaser Safety Slug, Inc., a small
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ammunitionAmmunition, often informally referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
company based in
Sturgis, South DakotaSturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,442 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Meade County....
(the same location as
Cor-BonCor-Bon is a brand of small arms ammunition produced by Dakota Ammo Incorporated. The company, based in Sturgis, South Dakota, was founded in 1982 by Peter Pi....
). The company was founded in 1975 by Armin Glaser the same year as the Glaser Safety Slug was developed by Jack Canon.
History
The original round was a hand-made
hollow point bulletA hollow point is a bullet that has a pit or hollowed out shape in its tip, generally intended to cause the bullet to expand upon entering a target in order to decrease penetration and disrupt more tissue as it travels through the target. They are also used to control penetration, such as in...
filled with No. 12 birdshot (0.05") with a flat polymer cap. To improve ballistic performance, a polymer-tipped round ball was introduced in 1987, and the current compressed core form was first sold in 1988. The formulation of the polymer was also changed in 1994 to improve fragmentation reliability.
Performance
The company produces bullets in around twenty calibers, from
.25The .25 ACP centerfire pistol cartridge is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled pistol cartridge introduced by John Browning in 1905 alongside the Fabrique Nationale model 1905 pistol.-Design:...
to
.45The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a rimless pistol cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911. The .45 ACP has a good performance reputation...
for pistols and from
.223The .223 Remington is a sporting cartridge with almost the same external dimensions as the 5.56x45mm NATO military cartridge. The name is pronounced either two-two-three or two-twenty-three...
to .30-06 for
rifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s. Each caliber comes in two forms, 'blue' and 'silver', the latter having greater penetrating power due to the use of No. 6 birdshot rather than No. 12.
The projectile in the cartridge is of a much lighter weight than more conventional types of cartridges and so the projectiles always exit the bore at significantly higher muzzle velocities. The current
bulletA bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by its impact or penetration...
has a core of very tightly packed
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
pellets. On impact, the bullet fractures along manufactured stress lines in the jacket—imparting all the bullet's energy very quickly rather than over-penetrating a target or
ricochetingA ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearm's safety rule "Be sure of your target—and of what is beyond it."...
on a miss. The extreme light weight and fragility of the projectile make it unsuitable for long range firing or against protected targets.
The bullet design can produce large shallow wounds in flesh while failing to pass through structural barriers thicker than
drywallDrywall is the term used for a common method of constructing interior walls and ceilings using panels made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper, then kiln dried. Drywall construction is used globally for the finish construction of interior walls and ceilings...
or
sheet metalSheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...
. However, the wounds produced by these cartridges fail to produce penetration of depth and quality in targets as do more conventional bullet designs that retain all or most of their mass in a single piece. Some suggest that this lack of penetration makes them and other
frangibleA material is said to be frangible if through deformation it tends to break up into fragments, rather than deforming plastically and retaining its cohesion as a single object...
ammunition suitable for use in environments where there is concern that a bullet that misses its intended target or passes through its intended target might accidentally strike a non-enemy.
Usage
The United States Federal Air Marshals Service tested and used the Glaser Safety Slug extensively in the 1970s and 80s on board commercial passenger aircraft to defend against hijackers. Published reports indicate that Air Marshals are now issued
SIG-Sauer P229The SIG Sauer P226 is a full-sized, service-type pistol chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, and .357 SIG. Its design is based on the SIG Sauer P220.- History :...
pistols with a 12 round capacity firing conventional jacketed hollow point ammunition in
.357 SIGThe .357 SIG pistol cartridge is the product of Swiss firearms manufacturer SIG-Sauer, in cooperation with the American ammunition manufacturer Federal Cartridge. While it is based on a .40 S&W case necked down to accept bullets, the .357 SIG brass is longer...
caliber.
Criticisms
Compared to conventional ammunition, the rounds are very expensive (on the order of 15 to 20 times more) because of their design. Some sources report that they are less accurate, that wounds vary greatly depending on impact angles, and that the bullet can lack the power to reliably cycle a semi-automatic pistol.
Use of these cartridges in hand guns for defense/combat situations is controversial because some argue that a handgun simply does not have the barrel length or powder capacity to accelerate the super light projectile to the point that it can reliably produce wounds deep enough to incapacitate a person.
Similarly, using these cartridges in a rifle against large game is controversial because of the poor penetration that is achieved. However, use of these cartridges in rifle calibers against human targets is less controversial because some argue that the cartridges do produce acceptably effective wounds in man-size targets, while adding a certain safety benefit.