44 bird shot

C

cracker

New member
has anyone ever tried shooting clays with your 44 revolver. also would the bird shot be a good home defense round. also is there any way to reload these rounds. I am very interested because my only revolver is a raging bull with ported barrel and I know you cant shoot them out of a ported , so theres my reason for a super black hawk or redhawk
Cracker
 
I used to keep a bunch loaded for snakes while I was fishing.I shot a skunk with it three times and all it did was cause a stink! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
Factory or handloaded the common "snake loads" with the normal small shot are pretty ineffective on anything much larger than a snake or rat at close ranges. First, there isn't much shot in that little shot cup. Second, it is usually no larger than #9 and sometimes as small as #12 which is considered "dust." This small shot at low velocities doesn't carry much energy and doesn't penetrate much. Third, the rifling in the barrel spins this stuff far and wide and a usable pattern usually is measured in feet, not yards. You won't break many clays with it and it is certainly not a self defense load. It is for snakes on the trail and rats in the barn and that is about the extent of the usefulness of these loads.
 
You can buy the plastic shot cup/wad from CCI and load them yourself. I made some up for the .357 using #6 lead shot at about 1000 fps and it works pretty well.
As far as shooting skeet with it, I think that might be a little optimistic. The pattern opens up fast due to the rifling, it's limited for range.
 
Range is only about ten or fifteen feet. They were designed for snake protection, not to make a handgun into a shot gun. Many of the socalled crack shots of the 19th century used smooth bore pistols and shot loads. That is how the idea of useing snake loads for trap came about, but trust me on this, it don't work. To test me, take a blue rock(clay bird) set it up at ten YARDS, that is thirty feet, shoot it once, or twice, or even three times with a snake load. All that will happen is you may chip it slightly. You will not get a clean break.
 
I think it will do a little better than 15 feet with #6 shot. The factory loads aren't worth much, but mine are a little different story. The pattern's thin, but there's a lot more energy/pellet and I'm getting 12 gauge velocity. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Quote:
I have shot several mountain grouse with a 44 and shot shells. It works amazingly well...



What is your mountain grouse load? sounds like fun.
 
Being a certified "pack rat" it didn't take but a moment to look under one of my reloading benches to find some targets that I shot back in the late 70's early 80's. They show what shot shells in my Ruger Blackhawk, in .45 Colt, 7-1/2" barrel will do.

The load consists of 7 grains of Red Dot, five card wads cut out of tablet backing, 114 grains of #7-1/2 shot (approximately 95 pellets), a single card wad on top and then slightly crimped. This will leave you with approx 3/32" from the top of the wad and the mouth of the crimped case and now a sealer needs to be applied. I'd rather not push dried water glass sealer through my barrel and so simply use four drops of wax from a burning candle on top of the wad.

100_2378.jpg


I know, never mix flame with reloading components, so this is the last step, well away from the reloading bench. After dropping the hot wax from a candle onto the top wad, I'll hold a crimped edge up to a flame to insure that it seals against the mouth of the cartridge. Makes for a nice weather proofing job and holds the load together in the cylinder when shooting.

I've tried the plastic shot capsules and have never liked the results that they provided. Loaded in the above manner most of the shot will go into about a six inch diameter pattern, with fifty pellets inside the 3-1/3" diameter aiming circle. At 12 feet the pattern is more open, covering the 8" x 12-1/2" target and placing 15 pellets inside the aiming circle.

scan0003.jpg


Any snake that was within eight feet was out of luck and this load proved to be very effective. Believing that this load might be less distructive in taking a couple bull frogs than the regular bullet, proved to be wrong.

I've loaded .38 Spl, .357 Mag & .44 Mag shot shells in the above discribed method with good results as well. It's interesting that if you can find some of the old #2 lead shot pellets, that they stack into a .38/.357 case like 00 buck in a 12 gauge shotgun shell, neat stacks of three across. The wad punches and compresion plugs to load these shot shells are those that I made myself, but are to be had at specialty reloading supply stores as well.

Hope that this helps answer some of your questions about loading shot shells for your pistol. Yes, they are very effective at close range, but the short rifled barrel and light shot charge makes it very ineffective at further distances.

Remington Raider
 
I know that a 44 mag shot cap will kill a cottonmouth at ten feet. Well it was either that or the other five rounds of 180 grn HP that followed it out of my SBH
 
I agree with you Evil Lurker. Keep the velocity to 1000 fps and they work great. I have shot a couple bushel baskets full of grouse with them. A couple in the air when they flushed! I like to use 7 1/2 shot. I would like to experiment with using 2 shot sizes in one load.The handloads are much more effective than the factory loads. I use the Speer shot cups in the .357 and .44. From what I have seen in my patterning a shorter barrel will give you a better pattern. I don't know how they would be for clays.
 
i did pretty much the same thing with a 41 magnum.....

if you can get it..... try #12 shot.
...for snakes
I got some #12 from precision reloading(??) or something like that...

the #12 shot makes for a snake free zone...... you can tell the difference between it and the 7 1/2 or 8 or 9 shot....
at snake distances.......it has more pellets.......no holes in the pattern

I also made shotshell brass for my 41 mag from cutoff 30-30 brass.... was a little longer and held more shot....

R
 
I shoot snakes with a #4 shot out of a .410 but a guy that I know shot a skunk in the head 3 times from less than a foot away with a pistol using rat shot.It didnt do anything to it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
It shook when he shot it the first time and then walked off.He stuck the barrel about an inch away from its nose and shot it a second time,it started itching its ear really fast.The third one made it spray and thats about it.
In case you havent guessed,this guy Im talking about isnt the brightest Crayon in the box.I ended up shooting the skunk with a .177 caliber pellet gun and that put an end to it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
So to answer you question about using birdshot as a home defense round.No I wouldnt.
You might sting them a little but they will still be able to shoot back.A 12 gauge loaded with #4Buckshot is what you need for that.
If someone breaks into your house and all you have is a pistol loaded with rat shot,throw it at him and run and get your shotgun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Quote:
Being a certified "pack rat" it didn't take but a moment to look under one of my reloading benches to find some targets that I shot back in the late 70's early 80's. They show what shot shells in my Ruger Blackhawk, in .45 Colt, 7-1/2" barrel will do.

The load consists of 7 grains of Red Dot, five card wads cut out of tablet backing, 114 grains of #7-1/2 shot (approximately 95 pellets), a single card wad on top and then slightly crimped. This will leave you with approx 3/32" from the top of the wad and the mouth of the crimped case and now a sealer needs to be applied. I'd rather not push dried water glass sealer through my barrel and so simply use four drops of wax from a burning candle on top of the wad.

100_2378.jpg


I know, never mix flame with reloading components, so this is the last step, well away from the reloading bench. After dropping the hot wax from a candle onto the top wad, I'll hold a crimped edge up to a flame to insure that it seals against the mouth of the cartridge. Makes for a nice weather proofing job and holds the load together in the cylinder when shooting.

I've tried the plastic shot capsules and have never liked the results that they provided. Loaded in the above manner most of the shot will go into about a six inch diameter pattern, with fifty pellets inside the 3-1/3" diameter aiming circle. At 12 feet the pattern is more open, covering the 8" x 12-1/2" target and placing 15 pellets inside the aiming circle.

scan0003.jpg


Any snake that was within eight feet was out of luck and this load proved to be very effective. Believing that this load might be less distructive in taking a couple bull frogs than the regular bullet, proved to be wrong.

I've loaded .38 Spl, .357 Mag & .44 Mag shot shells in the above discribed method with good results as well. It's interesting that if you can find some of the old #2 lead shot pellets, that they stack into a .38/.357 case like 00 buck in a 12 gauge shotgun shell, neat stacks of three across. The wad punches and compresion plugs to load these shot shells are those that I made myself, but are to be had at specialty reloading supply stores as well.

Hope that this helps answer some of your questions about loading shot shells for your pistol. Yes, they are very effective at close range, but the short rifled barrel and light shot charge makes it very ineffective at further distances.

Remington Raider



That's a decent pattern from a rifled barrel. I've seen some big holes in the center of some patterns from rifled barrels.
 
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