New on the Armament Research Services (ARES) company blog, The Hoplite, is a brief report examining armour-piercing (AP) 12 gauge shotgun slugs that have been recently documented in conjunction with protests in Ukraine.

The projectiles shown are specialist armour-piercing (AP) 12 gauge shotgun projectiles, believed to be developed and produced by the Spetstekhnika (‘Specialised Equipment’) design bureau, a facility located in Kiev and associated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The projectiles are comprised of either a brass or aluminium slug and a core of (likely hardened) steel, designed to act as a penetrator. The design of the projectile has been optimised for stopping vehicles, and the cartridge is referred to as a ‘car stopper’. The image below (provided by a confidential source) was taken at the Weapons and Security expo in Kiev, in 2013. Both the brass and the aluminium slugs are pictured. Roughly translated, the sign reads “designed for the forcible stop of a vehicle by damaging parts and mechanisms while shooting a 12 gauge weapon”.

You can read the full report here.