Abstract: A projectile intended to be incorporated in a cartridge for firing from a shotgun, for use by police forces and other law enforcement agencies as a means of rapidly breaking a lock or bolt holding a door closed, comprises a cylindrical low-strength casing, for example of paper, filled with a dense non-toxic finely divided material such as tungsten powder. An advantage of the projectile disclosed, as compared to conventional shotgun projectiles, is that whilst the projectile will retain its integrity until it strikes the target and thus will effectively blast a hole through a lock or bolt or through the portion of the door carrying such, the impact of the projectile with the target will fragment the paper casing allowing the tungsten powder to disperse rapidly so that after the powder has passed through the door against which the projectile is fired the powder will lose momentum within a very short distance due to atmospheric drag on the fine tungsten particles.