It is possible to shoot a thrown grenade in midair (with a Shotgun) and either set it off, render it harmless, or redirect it back toward the thrower?

Adam and Jamie first met with a professional trap shooting instructor to learn the basics of hitting moving airborne targets. After practicing on clay pigeons, they returned to the workshop, where Jamie re-configured his soda-can launcher to launch paintball grenades. At the shooting range, they were both able to hit the grenades using 12-gauge birdshot rounds.

To better match typical movie scenarios, in which a character might fire a pistol to hit a grenade, they switched to steel dummy grenades and paintball pistols for safety. Each man took a turn shooting while the other was eventually able to score a hit.Movies

For testing live ammunition and explosives, they built a heavily armored bunker on a remote stretch of land. A test on a standard grenade showed that the explosion would occur 5 seconds after the fuse was ignited by the spoon popping off. They set up a shotgun, pistol, and rifle to fire directly at a grenade once its fuse had been ignited. The 12-gauge buckshot round blew it to pieces and extinguished the blasting cap. The .45 pistol round knocked the cap off; it exploded harmlessly. The .308 rifle round delivered enough energy to the grenade to detonate its explosives instantly. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible, but noted that a person would have a better chance of survival by taking cover due to the difficulty of making an accurate shot and the risk of setting off the grenade.