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Has anyone tried Nylon or Rubber round ball?

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The concept isn't new however, I've never heard of using them in a ML. I've used rubber bullets and buckshot for riot control and critter control when we couldn't shoot in a housing area or we just wanted to chase the animal away. And I've seen rubber balls shot from modern rifles and pistols. Using an empty shell casing and primer. Get the appropriate sized rubber ball and press fit into end of case. Used this for teaching marksmanship and when OPFOR, prior to airsoft and paint balls. We built a wooden target box, open front and back. Hung a target on the front and used a thick mesh as a catch bag, kind of like those mesh cinch book bags. Reused the balls many times. Heat is more of an issue to consider with a ML but a felt or leather wad could mitigate that. I've used clay slingshot ammo. It hits a hard target and breaks up. Amazon has them in different sizes. .375 balls 3000 for $20. .50 balls 1000 for $18.50. Obviously careful loading to prevent breakage. And now I'm curios. Let use know how the results.
 
When I was a kid I read one of those jr high type biography books on Davy Crockett … I remember a story of his first squirrel hunt … lead was apparently somewhat expensive or scarce … he practiced target shooting w dried peas before what I now assume would be around a .32 … after getting good he loaded up a lead ball and went hunting and took his first squirrel… I have no idea if that is true based on record (it’s not in his autobiography which I just read recently ) or a fabrication of the author … but it seems others have wondered about non lead projectiles.
 
If I had time and the place ta try it , yup , I'd do it. Have fired hard white soup beans out of a .72 cal. smooth bore to scare feral cat off Mom's back porch furniture. Didn't know a large cat could fit through those narrow banisters. Still laughin' about that one. :D
 
At the risk of sounding crazy, has anyone tried shooting the ballistic rubber/nylon round balls that you can get in all manner of calibers out of a smoothbore?

I discovered them today and am all sorts of curious.

View attachment 91807
Years ago I had a 69 cal smoothbore. Paint balls are 68. 7 grains of 2F card over powder, soft Kleenex lightly tamped, paint ball, 1/2 Kleenex to stop it from rolling out, good for about 40 feet.😃
 
Maybe check out Demolition Ranch on You tube. He's' done all kinds of crazy with muzzle loaders
 
Forget the "less lethal" thing.
1st, "less lethal" doesn't mean always not lethal. 2nd, in most places if you don't have the right to use lethal force in a situation,,, that does not mean you have the right to use something like rubber bullets.
If you are justified to shoot,,,, shoot for real,,, if not but you do with a rubber bullet, chances are you will be charged just like you shot with real ammo.
I've seen those nylon balls lying up on the berm and wondered what they were!
 
Patched marbles'd be my choice. "Cats; Eye" for shooting at night.

Rubber buckshot and 37 mm solid rubber cylinder loads are useful for crowd control. 12 ga. rubber also for chasing critters. Beanbag rounds are effective and pretty accurate, but deadly at close range (won't bounce back, either).

Stuffing stuff into guns other than lead ain't new but results vary widely. When hunting squirrels, a buddy launched his ramrod by mistake. Far as I know, it may still be circling the earth. Recoil bruised his shoulder, missed the squirrel.
I can verify that shooting a ramrod generates a fearsome amount of recoil. Let's just say, I knew a guy who did that one time.
 
So would a 68 caliber nylon copper roundball like a grimburg screw up the barrel in a .720 bore shotgun?
 
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