It is the time of year when the landscape is once again infested with three metre tall inflatable illuminated Santas.
What is to be done ?
A petrol bomb is effective, but draws immediate attention to the user. Some skill is required to deploy it effectively; the process is not without risk.
What
about an air rifle ? Quiet, and with good range, but the effectiveness is poor; the small through-and-through punctures can often be compensated for by the inflating blower; even multiple hits yield nothing more than a slight sag.
In The Good Old Days, cannon could be used to fire chainshot, sometimes called dismasting shot. This consisted of two hemispheres of iron with a length of chain between them. When fired at enemy rigging, the two hemispheres would separate in flight and pass through or around masts and cordage, doing immense damage - particularly if the standing rigging can be severed, making the stress on a mast asymmetric and often causing wind forces to break it.
So BorgCo engineers have produced a miniature version for air rifles. Since the spin imparted by rifling might cause the cable to entangle, two lead spheres are packed at each end of a roll of thin paper, the outer diameter being slightly less than the bore, with a length of fine wire coiled in between. At the base is a conical pusher sabot (wad) with the same diameter as the bore to provide obturation. Thus the applied air pressure acts on the sabot, which spins (being engaged with the rifling) but the point of contact with the projectile (the top of the cone) acts as a bearing, allowing the sabot to rotate without imparting that rotation to the projectile.
On exiting the muzzle, the paper unwraps and the springy wire causes the two spheres to separate. While it is not possible to truly control the orientation of the round in flight, analysis concludes that on average it will present to the target at a 45 degree orientation, meaning two puncture holes and a "cut" 50% of the length of the wire.
This longer cut will release far more air than a simple .22 puncture hole, and with luck it will continue to tear from the ends, making repair difficult if not impossible.