Using a T/C Hawkins like a shotgun!?

[Daven]

An acquaintance recently told me that last fall he went rabbit hunting with a guy who used a .50 T/C Hawkins as a shotgun. Said he loaded it with No.4 shot and two Pyrodex pellets. I thought he was joking, but he said he shot it, too. I recalled reading that in the Civil War, "buck and ball" charges were fairly common, but that seems a far cry from this. Anybody ever hear of someone using their ML rifle as a scattergun? Wouldn't that mess up your rifling?

 

[biliff]

Buck and ball loads were used in smoothbore muskets, not rifled ones.
Generally, trying to put a charge of shot down a rifled barrel is going to be an exercise in frustration as it won't pattern worth a hoot at any reasonable distance.

 

[Russianblood]

Maybe he was thinking about the T/C Renegade in .56 cal smoothbore. I have that barrel on my big bore T/C Hawken stock and I use it for rabbit hunting. At first glance, you'd think I was hunting with a rifle but it's a smoothbore barrel with full rifle sights.