fishing line and buckshot - Musketman?

[shotgunner]

quote from another site:

"For a really devastating load, use split shot crimped over strong monofilament, so the buckshot is essentially tied together with a half inch or so separation."

Found this on another site . . . thoughts?

will it clear the muzzle without bunching up?

sounds devastating - but safe??

Musketman - you are the ball and shot guy I thought of . . .

shotgunner

 

[Rebel]

Have heard of this before. Don't see why it would be unsafe, except for what was on the receiving end. Only thing i can think is would the mono make it out the barrel without melting. You would need a good wad seal behind it to keep the heat from it. Other than that i don't see why it wouldn't work. Now whether it would be legal for hunting i don't know.

 

[shotgunner]

Hey Rebel,

Firewire or such would make it out without melting I would think. Here in Michigan regs say buck without mentioning any buckshot restrictions. This sounds like a huge projectile to me (being whatever 8 or 9 ball daisy chained together gotta be 4 inches across) would keep groups tight for sure! LOL

I might try a practice round or two, sounds like enough space between balls would allow for normal shot column config . .

shotgunner

 

[Rebel]

I have tried #4 buckshot in my .20 ga. N.W. Tradegun. I was not at all impressed with the performance. Past 15 yds. the pattern went to h**l. I wouldn't use buckshot on anything larger than close in coyotes. I also tried some buck and ball loads, and for hunting i would stick with a single rd. ball as the patterns with the buck and ball load were not to impressive.

 

[shotgunner]

Rebel,

I agree, my .690 warren round balls are awesome at 30-40 yards

this buckshot chain thing just sounds interesting . . .

buckshot and line are cheaper than warren balls and easier to come by . . .

shotgunner

 

[Rebel]

Get your self a Lee .690 rd. ball mould from Midsouth Shooters Supply for about $15 and start making your own. I make .690's for my Navy Arms double barrel .12 ga. I had never cast before, but it ain't that hard. I got a small Lee pot and a ladle when i ordered the mould, and i heat the lead on an old coleman stove.

 

[BrownBear]

There was a lot written about this for cartridges years ago. I haven't tried it with a ML, but I messed with it in cartridges. It seems to work best if you only put two, or better yet three, shot on a string. A load of nine 00 shot translates into 3 strings. I never was happy with monofilament, but got fair performance with braided wire fishing leader in pieces about a foot long. That was in a Powerpiston, so I don't know what it would be like using even soft wire in a bare bore. The biggest hassle is dealing with all the line between the shot. It's slow as sin, but it's best to coil it down into the cartridge (and I would assume in the bore, too), placing the shot carefully as you come to them while coiling. At 40 yards the pattern was usually improved, at least in terms of hits in the vital area of a deer. Beyond that you couldn't tell what was going to happen. I got the impression that some of the strings would start to pinwheel and take off for parts unknown.

 

[musketman]

will it clear the muzzle without bunching up?

sounds devastating - but safe??

As long as the shot chain is compacted (over-shot card or two) is will be bunched up anyway, you don't have a loose load normally, so don't do it here...

Monofilament has memory, it will retain it's shape if distorted, instead on monofilament, try the plastic coated braided wire leaders... :winking:

I would also load these in a paper shot cup, just to keep them from contacting the barrel...

As for split-shots...

They can come off, even if you crimp them on, try drilling a fine hole through lead roundballs and threading the monofilament through it, then apply a small amount of heat to the monofilament to secure them in place... (too much heat will melt the mono)

Speaking of monofilament, what poundage test to use? :hmm:

I would say 50# test or greater will do, anything lighter will snap the connections... :imo:

Can you hunt with this?

I don't know what is allowed in your state, however, for the sake of experiments, it sounds interesting... :hmm:

Watch your total weight of the shot chain, monofilament has weight too...

 

[jim gray]

I would say 50# test or greater will do, anything lighter will snap the connections...

I :hmm: don't know. 50# line, wire leaders, etc. are going really increase the drag. I think this will seriously restrict your effective range, but that's just my opinion. You might want to think about the braided super lines. They are much more heat resistant than mono, a lot softer than wire, and a whole lot stronger and thinner than either.

 

[musketman]

You might want to think about the braided super lines. They are much more heat resistant than mono, a lot softer than wire, and a whole lot stronger and thinner than either.

Like braided fly line backing? :hmm:

 

[jim gray]

I was thinking more of spider wire or gorilla braid they are about 1/3 the diameter of equivalent strength mono. They are made from spectra a material invented for bullet-proof vests.

 

[musketman]

I was thinking more of spider wire or gorilla braid they are about 1/3 the diameter of equivalent strength mono. They are made from spectra a material invented for bullet-proof vests.

In all fairness, the test should be done using different lines, mono's and wires... :haha:

At the very least, you'll get some shooting in... :winking:

 

[Riley/MN]

I remember a guy in western Mass. showing me homemade grapeshot. It was 2-3 feet of ribbon with a small shot (maybe a size 5 or 6) stitched into the ribbon every three inches or so. Looked pretty devastating to me...

 

[jim gray]

Try everything you can think of and all of the ideas from here and you will probably get at least a couple of days of range time in the endeavor.

Maybe if you wrapped buckshot in fine netting kind of like an egg sack for fishing. The nylon netting should shred on impact and make for a pretty devastating load as well. Somewhere someone must have tried all this stuff before.

 

[BrownBear]

It's worth throwing this in:

The mesh bag idea sounds better than wire, at least when you think about it a little. I never tried my wire-and-shot loads on game because I was worried about penetration. Monofilament MIGHT break when it impacted, but I was pretty sure that wire between two shot would keep either of them from penetrating much. As long as we're striving to tighten patterns, here's something that really worked in shotshells: A combination of hardened shot, plastic shot buffer, plastic wad, and exactly the right choke. Not very traditional I know, but this thread left tradition behind a long time ago. If effectiveness on game is the bottom line, that's okay in my book.

 

We found wire, as in stainless fishing line to be the best. I wouldn't use it today, as it's probably hard on the barrel, scratches and all. Mono melts to the bore or breaks on discharge. You would need excessive wads to prevent that.
: There is no danger to trying this as long as the whole charge weighs no more than normal loads - say 1 1/4 ounces in a 20 bore, 2 ounces in a 12, etc.
: We used SSG(.32 cal) split them part-way, then crimped them onto the steel fishing line.
: They held the shot together just fine.
: Ely of Britain once sold 'ctgs. for muzzleloading shotguns, contained different size shot and that had a colour coding for range and use. They came in many different sizes, at least down to 14 bore(.69 cal.) as that was a common double percussion shotgun size.
: These ctgs. had a wire mesh, covered with paper, that held the shot together for a period of time, while it slowly dribbled out through the holes in the mesh, I guess. These were devestating for long range bird shooting. On one recorded instance on ducks, there was one duck (hen bird) and two mallards (drakes) sitting on the water at close to 100yds. The shot killed all three.
Another was during a 75yds. competition where a 4" square piece of paper was punctured by 28 #6 shot from a 14 bore using an Ely ctg. This shooting was from cylinder bored guns BTW.

 

Hey Rebel,

Firewire or such would make it out without melting I would think. Here in Michigan regs say buck without mentioning any buckshot restrictions. This sounds like a huge projectile to me (being whatever 8 or 9 ball daisy chained together gotta be 4 inches across) would keep groups tight for sure! LOL

I might try a practice round or two, sounds like enough space between balls would allow for normal shot column config . .

shotgunner

actually, in the Michigan regs you have to look in what ISN"T legal. They talk about cut shells and "line shot", at least I think that's how they refer to it, but it is illegal in Michigan. At least it was last year. I don't have the regs in front of me, but i do remember that.

 

[hairsmith]

To take this even farther off topic..... any one ever played with Fleshets?(spelling)
Short peaces of brass rod making up the projectile....

Hairsmith

 

[BrownBear]

Yup, but only in shotcups and cartriges. Tried brass nuts, too. Nasty at close range. The rod is nasty farther away, too, but I wouldn't consider it on game- too unpredictable. The nut loads definitely cut a wide swath at close range, and aren't so prone to overpenetrate indoors, if you follow my drift.

 

[jim gray]

Flechettes are a special purpose military load. They are designed to cause terrible wounds but not necessarily kill that should rule them out for hinting use. Considering the extreme light weight and unreliability of performance of the individual darts, it doesn't seem like it would be reliable as a home defense round either.