Shooting birdshot out of Rifle

[tsafa]

I have not been able to find an affordable smoothbore yet and I have been shooting #9 shot out of my Kentucky Rifle .45 to bust clays.

Works fine. I got the idea to try this since my Raging Judge Magnum shoots both .454 Casul and .410 shotshell.

I was just looking for some feedback from other people... Good or Bad.

I am loading with 50 grain BP. One inch thick paper cushion (paper towel). 220 grains #9 chilled shot. Half inch of paper towel over the shot. #10 cap as primer.

The barrel is thick enough so that I could load with 12 gauge loads... but I find shooting .410 loads more challenging since there is less shot to hit the target.

 

[mooman76]

It shouldn't be too hard to find a rifle that someone didn't clean the barrel and the rifling is almost gone. You could shoot that as is or have it bored out. If you shoot one with good rifling I would think it wouldn't take long to lead up the rifling pretty bad and then it would be hard to clean out.

 

[Flash Pan Dan]

Hey, if it is working for you, great. If you are only planning on shooting clays you are good to go. But under no circumstance try to shoot game. Shooting shot in a rifle gives donut shaped patterns and doing so and missing a few clay birds is no problem but wounding game is a different matter all together.

 

[tsafa]

Great tip. Thanks.

 

[TraprMike]

good job!! been thinking of experimenting with my 54 cal this summer.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

... Shooting shot in a rifle gives donut shaped patterns and doing so and missing a few clay birds is no problem but wounding game is a different matter all together.

It CAN frequently give dount-shaped patterns, but does not necessarily. In my .50 rifle with a 36" by 1:48" twist barrel, I tried some shot loads with 3/4oz of #7.5 shot in a paper shot-cartridge over less than an equal volume of powder (can't recall exactly any more) and got even but very fast-opening patterns, with the paper being nicely sliced by the rifling and falling away cleanly. One could use the pattern to hunt at 10-15yds, depending on the game, but at those ranges, I'd just use a ball and 30gr of powder.

A slower twist should give a proportionally smaller pattern, but they're still going to open up much faster than a smoothbore.

Regards,
Joel

 

[kingsax26]

you said may not give a donut pattern.....when talking about cleanly taking game...may is not a risk worth taking. I have a rifle that shoots a great pattern with a small weak load....but give it a hunting load and it spits out the biggest donut on earth....just not worth it in IMOH

 

[George T.]

I used paper towel wadding once and ended up stomping out a fire! Geo. T.

 

[cynthialee]

I used paper towel wadding once and ended up stomping out a fire! Geo. T.

rolling paper wads last summer...had me stomping out a fire
Last time I did that.

 

[tsafa]

Thanks for warning me. The area I shoot in is pretty wet... but I will keep that in mind in the event of drought conditions in the future.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

a bit off topic but I've taken good deal of small game w/my 'trekking pistol' a .50 capper loaded w/#6 shot. it's an upclose thing for sure, within 20' or so

 

[Squeeze]

Ill put the coffee on, shoot me a couple dohnuts