They are intended to be used as less lethal weapons for crowd control by enforcing pain compliance at a distance.

[1] They have been known to raise large welts or bruises on their targets.

Wooden bullets were also used by British troops in Hong Kong.

[1] During the 1999 WTO anti-globalization movement in Seattle, the police shot wooden bullets at protesters.

[4] A team of research engineers in Wisconsin used 12-foot-long (3.7 m), 15-pound (6.8 kg), 2-by-4 pine bullets propelled at 100 miles per hour (45 m/s) by an air cannon to test the resistance of tornado shelters made of wood.