Anyone load straightwall cases with lead shot ?

savagelh

savagelh

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Maybe the winter boredom is getting to me but id like to try making some shotshells for the 350 legend. I was thinking of using about 7 grains of trailboss, a fiber wad, about 150gr of lead shot like maybe #8 or smaller and another fiber wad under a roll crimp. Im not sure how they'll shoot especially from a rifled barrel with no wad but it could be fun. Would be nice to have a couple in the pocket for the close chickens while big game hunting. These would be fired from a single shot so no need to worry about feeding.

Im also not sure on shot amount. I guess I would probably try to fill the case close to the mouth and then weigh that charge of shot and find a bullet close to that weight and try my trailboss load for pressure.
 
I did try that with a .45-70 one time and it was a dismal failure for killing anything efficiently. The thing is, that the rifling spins the entire shot column and creates a doughnut shaped print on a target, the center is mostly void of shot pellets at a short distance...at a longer distance the shot is flung far & wide with no hope of a concentrated killing group.
 
Done this with 45acp for an antique Webley and the pattern was ok at 25-50 yards. Beyond that it opened up too much... This was ok to shoot off horseback for me - grouse here are skittish but seem to let horses approach close enough... (Yes, my horse was trained to stand.)

I had considered making a smooth bore upper/barrel but haven't found a damaged barrel to do this to yet. I made my own paper envelopes/wads and they worked great. The paper can extend past the mouth of the case and then dipped in molten wax to protect from moisture.

I used a similar approach to what you are tjinking of to determine the amount of shot and powder to use - equivalent to bullet weight... Though I keep wondering if I need to use more powder given that the paper packet drags less on the rifling so the pressure is less...
 
Be interesting to know in any event. There used to be such thing as shot capsules, but maybe you could just stuff something with mylar (like teabag packets or chip bags etc) for a poor man shot wad of sorts, or roll a piece of newspaper/printer paper around a pen type of deal.
 
My experience loading .45-70 cases with lead shot, was similar to Fingers284's. The loads were ostensibly for short range grouse shooting while deer hunting. Well....the first shot at a ruffed grouse at maybe 10 feet was a total flop. All of the # 7 1/2 shot string went into a neat, ring-shaped pattern measuring several feet across. Completely missing the bird and leaving it standing there looking perplexed. Test shots back at camp confirmed the worst....the spin caused by the rifling merely generated a large doughnut hole in the center of the pattern.
Similar tests with .45 Colt cartridges loaded with #8 shot (Anyone remember when you could buy the so-called 'snake' rounds?)....ended up the same.
 
There are fullsize brass cases available for 12ga, which I understand are far less practical than the usual shells but look amazing. And there you're in a smoothbore and might get a reasonable shot pattern and chokes and all.
 
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