Loading shot in a rifle

[fowlmouth]

This may seem like a silly question to some, but I'll ask it anyway.

I am relatively new to traditional muzzleloaders. I have been wondering, what result would come from loading shot in a 45 cal. rifle for squirrel hunting?

 

[Britsmoothy]

Not silly at all, I tested my45 rifle I had decades ago now and it was ok to 20yds.

B.

 

[Treestalker]

Shot at a very patient squirrel in my misspent youth with a CVA kentucky .45 with #6 shot -SIX TIMES- and never disturbed his reverie! :shocked2: Found out later about the 'donut hole' effect rifling has on shot, and never loaded it in a rifle again. :td: A smoothbore .45 should make a fine close range squirrel/small game gun. George. P.S. Britsmoothy knows! :grin:

 

[Grenadier1758]

The rifling puts a spin on the shot column resulting in a hole in the pattern. If you don't put the shot in some sort of paper cup, then the shot can lead the rifling. If you use a paper cup and short ranges in the 10 to 15 yard range and know how the load patterns, it will be marginally effective.

 

[Vaino]

Why evn do it?....Fred

 

[fowlmouth]

I'm more curious than anything else. Some have told me that 45 is to much gun for tree rats.. I have looked for a smaller caliber gun, but they seem to be rare in my area.. It's not really in the budget right now anyway...

 

[ron wehmeyer]

May be that is the only muzzleloader he has , and wants to shoot shot . Not silly at all . One reason my Grandson's shoot shot in their .45 rifles , is because I will not let them shoot round ball up into the trees. After the powder charge they stuff a piece of old T shirt like a cup into the muzzle with their little pinky finger , then a small dose of lead shot is poured into the (T shirt cup) then a felt wad is rammed down bore . Works good for them they take small game and varmints often with shot from rifled .45 cal. caplocks.,,,DT

 

[necchi]

Some have told me that 45 is to much gun for tree rats..

Those are silly people, I use my 54 and just knock the head off'm.
Shot don't work so good in a rifle as stated above,,

 

[Vaino]

Have head hit 100s of squirrels w/ my .45 and outside of getting 6 pcs of meat, don't have to worry about chipping a tooth on a BB. Also....they skin easier. Before I built my squirrel LR, used a .50 cal, TC Hawken and as w/ the .45, all were head hits......Fred

 

[fowlmouth]

What load do you use out of a 45? I usually shoot about 60 grains of 3f goex.. Gonna go this afternoon and try to come up with a lighter load that's still accurate enough for headshots.

 

[fowlmouth]

You are correct. That is the only muzzleloader I own... And I wouldn't call in a very good one... It was a gift from an uncle.. He bought it in the 70's and hadn't shot it in 20 years.. It is, I believe, a fairly cheap Italian made gun.

 

[ron wehmeyer]

Give that old rifle a try. It may suprise you . Back in the 1970's I purchased two Italian import long rifles in .45 cal. caplock's , by FIE I think. They both shoot great , I gave them to my Grandsons and them boys can shoot . They are the ones that use the shot when shooting up into the tree's . We have a neighbor house/barn within about a mile of that little ranch they hunt squirrel on. It's just a safety deal . The tallest tree's around that place are about 30' or so . They have no trouble getting clean kills with their little .45's. ,,,DT

 

[fowlmouth]

Mine is the same one. I tried to find info about them awhile back, but couldn't find much. Best I could tell, FIE was the importer. I could never find who made it.. It is fun to shoot though.. Gonna give it a try Saturday afternoon on the tree rats.. Could you make a suggestion on how light of a load I could shoot without sacrificing accuracy?

 

[ron wehmeyer]

I would start with 25-30 gr. 3fff powder. The .45's that we have shoot prety good with that charge . The boys usea .440 rb. a .018 spit patch and a empty 45 ACP case full of 3fff bp. They head shoot rabbits with that load out to 30yd. or so. Works for us. If that is not accurate in your rifle go up 5gr. powder at a time. Think you will like that load it's a Hoot to shoot,,,DT

 

[Britsmoothy]

20grn measure and a .440". 50+yards with some hold over.

B.

 

[ron wehmeyer]

And you get to re-use the ball Brit. We may need to cut back 5 gr. or so. Cant beat that!,,DT

 

[coloradoclyde]

What load do you use out of a 45? I usually shoot about 60 grains of 3f goex.. Gonna go this afternoon and try to come up with a lighter load that's still accurate enough for headshots.

Not really necessary....That's the load I use for squirrels....Because it's headshot accurate.

 

[Vaino]

My Douglas bbl likes 30 grs 3f w/ an .018 patch. This load is extremely accurate and it makes no difference if .440 or .445 RBs are used. A side benefit of this load is that one can shoot all day w/o fussin' w/ the bore.....Fred

 

[fowlmouth]

Im gonna give it a try this afternoon. I'll start at 25 gr or so and go from there..

Im looking forward to squirrel hunting this weekend more that I probably ever have. I'll try to post up some pictures if/when we can find any to shoot at. T

Thanks guys. Been a big help. Feel free to keep posting up any suggestions of insights you may have.

 

[ron wehmeyer]

Good Luck on your hunt! Look forward to hearing about it.,,,DT