It made some very slight dents in the target and a couple of grains of rock salt stuck in the cardboard.

I doubt that they would have penetrated skin.

Ten yards is pretty close, but it didn't do much.

The shot cup dented the cardboard, but did not penetrate through.

We decided to try it at 10 yards without the terry cloth "clothing" to see if it would penetrate.

It made more dents in the cardboard without the clothes, but still, only a few grains of salt actually stuck in the cardboard.

Most bounced off.

One "problem" with shotguns is that, if you get close enough, any load will penetrate, at least a little.

Let's try it at 12 feet.

The shot shell wad made the biggest hole in the cardboard target.

We also see penetration all the way through the cardboard by some grains of rock salt, but only by about 10% of the total load.

That might do the intended job of "burning" the "shootee".

But that's at 12 feet!