# The pros and cons of glass ammo.



## NaturalFork

I am a fan of glass ammo. However there are also some notable drawbacks. Here is just some of my thoughts on the pros and cons.

PROS:

- Cheap. (While steel ammo can be bought cheaper, this would be for a much smaller size.)

- Readily available. (I find it all the time at the dollar store. Craft stores have them pretty cheap as well.)

- Big. (It seems like bigger is more forgiving .. but that may just be me.)

- No rust. (This is big for me. No rain or condensation will ever degrade these.)

- Non toxic. (Shoot it anywhere, nature doesn't mind.)

- Colorful. (Marbles come in all sorts of colors. Sometimes shooting something highly visible helps shot adjustment.)

- Fun. (Marbles are fun to shoot, for me anyway!)

CONS:

- They break. (If shooting at a very hard target, they will break and get shards of glass everywhere.)

- They are not magnetic. (This is a drawback if you like to collect ammo with a magnet.)

- Not used in competition. (Steel is still the go to here .. so might as well practice with it.)

So if you are shooting at a leather target or some other softish material ... glass is great. However shooting at a socket will result in broken ammo. I shoot a lot and the good thing about glass ammo is you can chase cans and then find ammo years later that is perfectly fine. Steel ammo would have rusted away by then. Also with an outdoor winter catchbox steel is not an option for me unless I want to collect all the ammo every time I shoot. Glass is just easier for this. So as long as the target is appropriate glass will technically last forever.

Thoughts?

Pic is of a cup with dollar store glass.


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## Genoa Slingshot

I never tried glass ammo, but think to try it soon. What's their approssimative weight? What's a good setup to shoot them to 10m paper target?


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## romanista77

I found that even on soft leather targets marbles still break. They shed in layers.
I stopped using them for this reason. 
Indoors I use chick peas or 8mm steel.
Outside I use clay balls. Cheep to make and the same size and weight as marbles.


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## honorary pie

I agree.. marbles rock, they beat cans like redheaded stepchildren, and are way easier to find than steel.. them and bbs are my only real outdoor winter ammo. Stupid squirrels stole probably 300 marbles from me this year though.. can't wait to find the tree full of glass when I have to chop a few..


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## kenyaslinger

honorary pie said:


> I agree.. marbles rock, they beat cans like redheaded stepchildren, and are way easier to find than steel.. them and bbs are my only real outdoor winter ammo. Stupid squirrels stole probably 300 marbles from me this year though.. can't wait to find the tree full of glass when I have to chop a few..


How I wish squirrels would come to steal mine!!

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## honorary pie

They took almost a hundred in one day. came home after work to a catchbox full of steel and zero marbles.. my family had been laughing and watching 'em all day.... jerks.


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## Phoul Mouth

Marbles are awesome until you mow your lawn and get glass fragments in your ankles.


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## SlingshotBill

In my desert lot Ive been to lazy to bring my catch box so instead every few weeks ill go out at night with a flashlight and pick me up a coffee can full. i buy clear ones so there kinda camoed during the day but man they light up good!


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## lunasling

Glass is a blast ! You can track when ya shoot and cheap to buy !


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## Chuck Daehler

I shot marbles as a kid - I always won a pocket full each time we played various games of marbles. I had large bags of them. One day I decided I'd use these as super SS ammo. I shot what I won.

Funny marlble story.

One Fall late Saturday afternoon I flew down a steep hill street on my bicycle, a neighbor's dog, the ugliest and meanest dog I ever saw, an eye sewn shut for a wound during a dog fight...charged at me to bite my ankle...did that each time I passed that neighbor's house. He'd connect painfully, tear my jeans, sox and my skin. That day however with my SS in my hip pocket I carefully approached the dog's house, was ready to stop. He charged, was about 40 yards away, I stopped quickly, loaded my SS. He stopped dead, stared a split second knowing something was different as I pulled back the bands. He turned around fast, started to run to his house, I then shot, a marble straight up his after burner. It could not have been a better shot and I heard it hit..."smack!" as it entered his sanctum sanctorum. Range was about 5 yards. He arched his back, hunched his hind end under himself and yelped loudly all the way to his house and continued. I left promptly to avoid a confrontation with its owner. Upon returning to that street I noted the same dog alright in his yard, sitting, but he stayed in his yard. Lesson learned...the Chuck's School of Charm worked.

As to cost, they are much cheaper than even .22 LR so really, as this sport is, plinking with them is cheap.


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## Skook

I've been buying the glass marbles from the local Hobby Lobby and using them on random targets while hiking. They are reasonably-priced and do not require casting like the lead does. However their light weight does not retain energy and they simple bounce off game that is not shot at short (10yds or less) range. I also don't like to use it anywhere that the broken could be a problem.
Right now with all the snow they a perfect and very accurate, and I keep a few .45 lead in the pocket in case I need a little more authority.
Skook

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## fsimpson

noemarc said:


> I never tried glass ammo, but think to try it soon. What's their approssimative weight? What's a good setup to shoot them to 10m paper target?


 average size marbles weigh 82 grains , 3/8 steel 55 grains , i/2 steel 129 grains , 1/2 lead 147 grains , 1/4 steel 17 grains ,

for comparison a 9mm pistol bullet weighs 115 grains . glass marbles are easy to see in sunlight going to the target also,

been shooting over a lake a lot lately for distance .


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## Viper010

I have noticed that, due to their low density, marbles tend to "hook", i e refuse to fly straight above a certain speed. Also they lose velocity rather quickly.

This has made me decide to only use them for plinking fun, but not anymore when the shot "counts". I have taken rabbits with marbles in the past, but I have come to prefer lead for hunting, and steel for "serious" plinking practise.

Especially the lead will be a little slower leaving the pouch but retains much more energy down range.

For "tracer rounds" I like to spray paint my lead balls with white primer first and fluo orange for top coat. Paint on lead doesn't last real long but I only paint a couple dozen at a time and don't get to reuse them most of the time anyway (hunting rounds).


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## Genoa Slingshot

fsimpson said:


> noemarc said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never tried glass ammo, but think to try it soon. What's their approssimative weight? What's a good setup to shoot them to 10m paper target?
> 
> 
> 
> average size marbles weigh 82 grains , 3/8 steel 55 grains , i/2 steel 129 grains , 1/2 lead 147 grains , 1/4 steel 17 grains ,
> for comparison a 9mm pistol bullet weighs 115 grains . glass marbles are easy to see in sunlight going to the target also,
> been shooting over a lake a lot lately for distance .
Click to expand...

Thanks


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## Flatband

Growing up, I always used marbles for ammo. They were cheap,nice and round,and worked for me plinking cans and other junk down at the dump.The steel ball bearings I would get once and awhile from the local gas stations ,I would save for hunting small game. Steel balls were like GOLD to me when I was younger! They were used very sparingly!


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## chacal

I love it!

Very simple to found by the sound in the flour and easy to found in a polyspan. Cheap and avalible in all towns


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## Ole Man Dan

Viper010 said:


> I have noticed that, due to their low density, marbles tend to "hook", i e refuse to fly straight above a certain speed. Also they lose velocity rather quickly.
> 
> This has made me decide to only use them for plinking fun, but not anymore when the shot "counts". I have taken rabbits with marbles in the past, but I have come to prefer lead for hunting, and steel for "serious" plinking practise.
> 
> Especially the lead will be a little slower leaving the pouch but retains much more energy down range.
> 
> For "tracer rounds" I like to spray paint my lead balls with white primer first and fluo orange for top coat. Paint on lead doesn't last real long but I only paint a couple dozen at a time and don't get to reuse them most of the time anyway (hunting rounds).


Last year I cooked some Amber colored marbles. I shot a Ground Squirrel at 10 yds with one and it exploded on contact. Autopsy showed several fragments penetrated... Still got about a 100 frags left...


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## Janus

Interesting points here for a beginner, so I will be adding a bag of marbles to my shopping list, well, you have got to try everything to see what suits you.


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## kooniu

I like marbles (becouse of price )n, but i had more forkhits with marbles than lead or steal balls


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## NaturalFork

I got some more at the dollar store yesterday. They are just fun. I will note that I am going to have to order some bigger pouches though ... The ones I get from simple shot for my 3/8 steel will shoot the marbles .. but not comfortably. I had some larger pouches kicking around but not many ....


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