Does barrel rifling make a difference to shot shells in a Pistol?

Texasgrillchef said:

Many of us know that if you have a smooth bore Pistol that would be a NFA item, but add the rifling to the barrel and its no longer considered an NFA item.

Examples are like any revolver or derringer or some rifles even that are capable of firing a combination of a 45 colt/410 shell. In that the barrel has rifling.

Now my question is this.... does the rifling have any positive or negative effect on the 410 shot shells? (Of any shot variety from buckshot to #12 shot) as would be compared to a full smooth bore barrel of the same length of course.

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it's been shown to cause a donut in the pattern.

Yes, they donut. I haven't done it with a .410, but I've done it a lot of time with .22 shotshells, it's fun in the snow.

The rifling would put a spin on the shot column, scattering or spreading the shot a lot more than a smooth bore (which would account for the donut pattern). It seems to me that this could be counteracted by enclosing the shot in some sort of sabot or capsule, so that the shot holds together until it leaves the barrel. Or maybe not -- the whole column would spin, which might enhance the effect. What's needed is some empirical experimentation.

shooting shows the donut pattern delivered by a rifled barrel

I kinda wonder what a buck.n ball load would do

And what would this do??

My father has a 4-inch Taurus judge and from my playing with it the I don't believe the rifling in that particular case play much of a role with shot shells. The base of most 410 wads have very little ability to expand and thus never really contact the 45 cal rifling with enough force to spin the pattern appreciably. In my experience with a judge the pattern opens super fast but it relatively even despite the rifling. I would suspect the same from version with shorter barrels. It would be interesting to see if it hold true for longer barreled judges where it has more time to act on the shot column and wad.

deadin said:

And what would this do?

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Get normal humans around erroneous firearms laws. And also bleed pressured gasses past the wad, causing fouling earlier.

Stabilize anything? Not so much.

There was a spell of popularity of "straight rifling" in trap guns to prevent even inadvertent random rotation of the wad column. Anything to keep a tight, uniform pattern. It doesn't even google now.

Jim Watson said:

There was a spell of popularity of "straight rifling" in trap guns

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Actually it goes further back . The bore I pictured is in a "Garden Gun" from the 1890's chambered in 9mm Rimfire Shot. I haven't taken a cartridge apart so I don't know if there is a wad in there or not.

deadin said:

Actually it goes further back . The bore I pictured is in a "Garden Gun" from the 1890's chambered in 9mm Rimfire Shot. I haven't taken a cartridge apart so I don't know if there is a wad in there or not.

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Very interesting!
Thanks for posting that.

LoonWulf said:

shooting shows the donut pattern delivered by a rifled barrel

I kinda wonder what a buck.n ball load would do

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And may he rest in Peace. Those guys put out some good videos.

Texasgrillchef said:

Where do u even find ammo anymore?

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9mm Flobert ammo is still loaded by Fiocchi. Midway has it.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...mm-rimfire-flobert-6-shot-shotshell-box-of-50

Straight line rifling is still very prevalent in card shoot guns. Every barrel maker offers it. I don't have one myself and shoot lotsa card shoots.
http://www.turkeyshoot.net/b&w.htm

Straight line rifling is still very prevalent in card shoot guns

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Well, you got me on this one.... I've been around guns for the last 60+ years and I never heard of card shooting competitions.
(Of course I have never have had much to do with shotguns. I probably could count the number of shotguns I've owned on one hand.)

What are the rules and how is it scored?

http://www.turkeyshoot.net/rules.htm




For the record, straight rifling is also commonly found on Yeet Cannons.

I can't add anything to the conversation, but posts 9-17 are very interesting.

Thanks

Just when you think that you have seen most everything......... thanks for the education on those.

FROGO207 said:

Just when you think that you have seen most everything......... thanks for the education on those.

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Ditto!