308 bird shot

[Onemission]

Hey guys an gals. When i was a kid hunting moose with the family i remember my uncle Ronnie showing me a 308 shell that had a glass tip full of BB's incase he saw a partridge. Anyone remember these. Can you still get em ? And is there something like that available for a 4570 or 303? Thanks in advance. Awesome site

 

[Hollow Point]

CCI makes pistol shot cartridges that are for pest control usually loaded with #9 or#12 shot. they were offering the the plastic shot cups as components at one time or reloaders. not sure if they still do.

 

[Longwalker]

It is not possible to load shot into a bottle necked cartridge like the .308, unless you had a specialty case that had straight walls inside. In a normal bottle necked case, pressure would build up before the shot got moving and also there would be no practical way to make a wad fit inside the base of the case. When shooting shot from a rifle, the rifling in the bore will spin the shot charge and make it kinda useless anyway. Patterns are donut shape with a big hole in the middle. And the pellets will deposit lead in your bore. For very close range shots, some straight walled rifle cases like .45-70 could be loaded with shot. Prepare to be disappointed with results. I do have some experience with commonly available Speer shot capsules made of clear blue plastic with plastic base wad that I load into .357 magnum and .44 magnum cases. They shoot poor patterns, only good for a rat in the barn and such.
If was determined to use a centre fire rifle for shooting grouse I'd develop a handload with a single buckshot pellet, lubricated with Lee liquid alox, and sized in one of the cheap Lee push though dies. Press fit in the mouth of the case, and powered by a very few grains of fast pistol powder. At 800-1000 fps or so, That load may serve the purpose without making too much noise or tearing up the bird.

 

[wesson357]

Shooting bird shots in any rifled barrel is useless past 5 yards. the spinning motion spread the shots everywhere!
You could use very reduced loads with cast bullet very successfully, low noise, recoil and good accuracy.
There's a post about that about using a 308 for small game.
Check the hunting regulation.

 

[Potashminer]

As per Post #3 - I had read that US Army tried a "foraging load" for their 45-70 - a shot load - when shot on a pattern board - pattern was like a "torrid" or "donut" - due to the rifling in the bore - so a good shot likely would miss - few pellets in centre, where you aimed - a poor shot likely would hit - most pellets spread like a "rim" around point of aim. I can not see that being very effective on flying target - even at 20 yards. For "ground sluicing" - grouse or rabbit - would think that single round ball much more likely to connect. And then, not so sure about a lead ball down a barrel fouled with jacketed bullets, or subsequent jacketed bullets down a bore with lead ball fouling ...

I got taken by that notion some years ago - I bought "Game Getter" cartridges - I think were made in Edmonton - use a Ramset blank cartridge into base of the case, and round lead balls - insert that into the rifle chamber to shoot a grouse or whatever - still leaves the issue of the bore fouling, though. Last one that I had was for my 338 Win Mag - I sold it in Feb 2021 - I never did use it.

 

[Onemission]

Holy smokes thanks guys. I remember holding the shell and seeing the bb's. And my uncle only had his .308 on him during moose. This would of been early 80's. Right on

 

[DGY]

I remember a friend would carry a few rounds of 30-06 made for small game, the end was crimped and shots were inside… I don’t remember who made that, and if it was any good, bu he always had them with him on moose hunts!