Wooden bullet


Wooden bullets are wooden projectiles designed to be fired from a gun. They are intended to be used as less lethal weapons for crowd control by enforcing "pain compliance" at a distance. They have been known to raise large welts or bruises on their targets.

History of use

During the Second World War, some German troops were equipped with wooden bullets, while British troops were trained with wooden bullets to reduce the cost of metal bullets.
Wooden bullets were also used by British troops in Hong Kong. During a 2014 protest in Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown, the police fired wooden bullets at protesters. During the 1999 WTO anti-globalization movement in Seattle, the police shot wooden bullets at protesters.
A team of research engineers in Wisconsin uses 12-foot long, 15-pound, 2-by-4 pine bullets propelled at 100 mph by an air cannon to test the resistance of tornado shelters made of wood.