Shot from a .62 rifle

[doverdog]

I have a .62 rifle on order and wonder if any of you smoothie shooters have ever tried shot charges from a rifled barrel. I am not planning on using it for any PC events, just maybe trying it on a few pheasants over my English setter. I would probably use plastic shot cups like I use to reload 20 ga. shotgun shells. Would the twist imparted by the rifling cause a blown pattern? Would a good starting point be enough shot to fill the shot cup and about 80 gr. of powder?

 

[musketman]

I have a .62 rifle on order and wonder if any of you smoothie shooters have ever tried shot charges from a rifled barrel. I am not planning on using it for any PC events, just maybe trying it on a few pheasants over my English setter. I would probably use plastic shot cups like I use to reload 20 ga. shotgun shells. Would the twist imparted by the rifling cause a blown pattern? Would a good starting point be enough shot to fill the shot cup and about 80 gr. of powder?

80 grains is almost 3 drams (82 grains), that is the heaviest load listed for a .62 caliber (20 gauge) in my Lyman book...

2 1/2 drams (68 grains) is the starting load, 2 3/4 drams (75 grains) being the middle of the road...

They list one Remington "Power Piston" wad with one ounce of shot and an over shot card...

Mind you, these loads are for smoothbore, so the rifle load may not expand the wad enough to seal the bore, how deep is the grooves cut?

I would start out on the lighter side, say 2 1/2 drams and 7/8 ounce shot load...

I also suspect the spin from the rifling will be transferred to the shot column, thus using centrifugal force to spread the shot cloud...

 

[jim gray]

A friend of mine tried this in a .54, and told me that the centrifigal force pulls the pellets toward the outer edge of the pattern and results in a donut shaped coverage area with few pellets in the middle and the range is extremely limited 15-20 yards. His advice was if you try this aim slightly off to one side of your target.

I think that it would be worth a try just to see how the shot would perform.

My thoughts would be that a slower twist would definitely be better for this purpose, and given the concern expressed by Musketman about the shotcup sealing the bore, as well as the possibility of melted plastic staying in your bore, I think that you should probably use a wonder wad or similar product between the powder and your shotcup.

 

[hairsmith]

I have a .62 rifle on order and wonder if any of you smoothie shooters have ever tried shot charges from a rifled barrel. I am not planning on using it for any PC events, just maybe trying it on a few pheasants over my English setter. I would probably use plastic shot cups like I use to reload 20 ga. shotgun shells. Would the twist imparted by the rifling cause a blown pattern? Would a good starting point be enough shot to fill the shot cup and about 80 gr. of powder?

I have played with shot in a 12Ga rifle. Now this was a cartridge gun, but found that the riffling twist spread the pattern a lot. 30in pattern in 15ft with any kind of shot load. Now a slower twist of a round ball barrel might help that some, my gun has a fast twist compared with a ML.

Not that this is unusable, but it is nice to know what you have. And it is sure fun to play with.

Hairsmith

 

[sherpadoug]

I have read that some blunderbusses were, well not really rifled, but built with twisted grooves in the barrel to encourage this centrifugal scattering effect of the shot.

 

[musketman]

I have read that some blunderbusses were, well not really rifled, but built with twisted grooves in the barrel to encourage this centrifugal scattering effect of the shot.

This would be an advantage at close blunderbuss ranges, but for hunting reasons, it limits your effective range...

 

[Rat]

For close range, small game, a rifled bore will do "ok" with shot. I've eaten a lot of grouse that came from the bore of a .44 magnum pistol. I've done a lot of experimenting in pistols, and I've never really seen the "donut" pattern, sounds more like conjecture, but the patterns do spread very fast. I don't believe you'll get a pattern that would be sporting or humane to the pheasent. Grouse and wabbit would be doable.

One trick I do know, to tighten patterns in a rifled bore, (or smoothbore) is to mix the shot with a thick lube, about the consistancy of tallow. Thicker in warm weather, thinner in cold weather. This is kind of a messy technique, however you do it. But I'm still thinking that pheasent will still be a bit out of the "envelope".

I'm also thinking that you would enjoy a .62" smoothbore that shared the same bore diameter as your rifle...a "companion piece", more than getting a rifle to shoot shot. Easy for me to say as I'm not buying...!!!

:curse: :haha: :curse:

Good luck.

Rat

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I agree. I've got a 20 bore flint fowler and rifle and pistol. The pistol is a smoothbore with a 12" barrel and at close range is a surprisingly effective "shotgun" in it's own right and not half bad with PRB. It's actually much more useful than I had anticipated. And the convenience of them sharing loading components is a definite plus.

 

[jim gray]

I've never really seen the "donut" pattern, sounds more like conjecture

Okay "donut" wasn't the best description on my part, but the point was that the shot in the center of the pattern was spread thin. This was also from a .54 caliber and I have no idea how much shot was used or the exact composition of the load, but I know that there wasn't much effort put into developing a load. It was kind of a "let's see what happens if..." deal. I'm sure with effort and a roundball barrel you could get better results.

 

[Rat]

I'm sure donut patterns happen...just saying that I didn't think rifled bores produced them as a matter of course. I would have to draw the line at a "coffee and donut" pattern though.

Now if you could get a pattern that looked like the face of Elvis, that might bring a good price on Ebay...

:crackup:

Just kidding.

eace:

Rat

 

[rayb]

it's not on e-bay yet, but i have this pattern paper that i shot the othere day that looke like ....

if you want first refusal send $$$$$


:crackup:
:crackup:


rayb

 

[Flintandsteel]

Superflint,
It sounds like you maybe should have ordered the old .....20g smoothie instead of your .62 rifle. You would have had a lot better luck shooting round ball from your smoothie, (as well as shot), then you will shooting shot from your rifle.
Besides, smoothies are just so much fun!! :imo: :thumbsup:

 

[doverdog]

No thanks. God wouldn't have blessed mankind with the gift of rifling if he didn't mean for us to use it. I will probably shoot 100 lb. of balls from the gun for every lb. of shot I put through it. I kind of broke out in a little bit of a rash, just from posting on the Smoothbore Forum. ::

 

[musketman]

I kind of broke out in a little bit of a rash, just from posting on the Smoothbore Forum. ::

Thanks for taking the risk for your fellow member... :haha: