bird shot in a revolver?

[wpjson]

Montana decided I needed an upland game bird license this year. :grin: They are cheap, so I just take the package. Yesterday, up in an alpine forest about 9000 ft, I saw a nice grouse. My question is can I shoot bird shot out of a cap and ball revolver without screwing everything up?

 

[rodwha]

Yes you can, but because of the rifling it will create a doughnut pattern unuseful beyond maybe 5 yds.

One guy had a Remington 1858 with a bad barrel that was reamed smooth for shot. I didn't follow it, but I'd guess it did much better.

I think it might be fun with a Colt since you can just swap the barrel and shoot ball/conicals again. I'm not sure if slightly undersized chambers would be problematic though.

 

[wpjson]

Grouse was within 5 yards.

 

[wayne terry]

You can buy shot cups from Midway USA and with a little modification and American engineering they will work in A C&B revolver.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

My father could hit clay birds and plates tossed in the air. It wasn't until I was about 8 that I realized they were shot loads and only worked at short ranges. It also worked better with a short barrel than a long barrel for some reason.

 

[BrownBear]

This topic was trotted around the parade ground for four pages a couple of weeks back. Lotta talk, but some good ideas, too.

 

[bpd303]

Wonder if a candle cartridge would work. http://www.muzzleloadingshotguns.com/articles/candlecartridges

 

[flahipneck]

Great link. Thanks!

 

[pargent]

closer than 5 yards a std ball will do the job , if you miss the muzzle flash should do the job

 

[M. De Land]

I have found the short barrel aspect to be true also in my smokeless shot shell loads using Speer shot cups.
My seven inch 44 mag sprays them all over and my 4 inch 44 mag groups them tightly.
Just last week I shot a vole trying to invade our supplies in Caribou camp and shredded him at about 15-20 feet with 7.5 shot. The pattern looked to be about eight inches across from what I could make out in the dirt the vole lay dead on.
I was very impressed and am curious if they can be made to work in my cap-n-ball revolvers.
The shot cups may need a paper patch to bring them up to proper diameter for seating snugly. Mike D.

 

[Tony Myers]

I've used birdshot in my Remington New Army revolver many times. I made wads with wax. Melted the wax in a pot, poured in the shot making sure it was uniformly distributed, then shut off the heat. After the wax hardened I cut out the wads with one of those metal do dads that are used to roll up a toothpaste tube. It made a perfect fit in the chambers. I just pushed them in and wiped off the excess from the cylinder face. It produced excellent results on blackbirds out to 10 yards. Most of the birds were shot out of trees, but more than a few were shot on the fly.

 

[wpjson]

Like that, thanks.