Home made 38 special shot shells!

[HankC]

Do you need to enlarge the flash holes? In case primers back out. I was thinking making a few 38 Special shotshells as warning 1st shot to scare home intruders away.

 

[Another_Kelley]

Also, an update, the rats were a little shy last night so no shot opportunities happened. I will update once I get a chance to terminate another one. We also make sure there is no food available anymore once we put up the birds. Maybe they will seek a different restaurant.

When rats start feasting on your pets and critters... I'll admit occasionally blasting one here and there will indeed provide some degree of satisfaction, but I'd also wager that with every 1 rodent you successfully ended with your trigger finger, you could do ten-fold with a couple traps. With that said, I'm certainly not suggesting that we shouldn't be loading up and using sweet little shot-shells, so do carry on

Seriously, set some traps!

 

[pairof44sp]

FWIW, If you can slip a .357 Mag case into the chamber of your .38 Spec you have a problem. The case length of the .357 Mag is deliberately longer than the chamber of a .38 Spec just to prevent that from happening. The Max length of a .38 Spec chamber is 1.1630" and the Min case length for a .357 Mag is 1.270" ( 1.290 max minus 0.020 ) according to SAAMI specs from the SAAMI Z299.3 – 2015 published standard. Some of the older .38 cal revolvers (using heeled bullets) have longer full bore chambers, but they are even weaker than a .38 Special.

Charter makes Specials that chamber Magnums if you ever feel like getting wild. Just don’t pull the trigger

 

[pairof44sp]

Do you need to enlarge the flash holes? In case primers back out. I was thinking making a few 38 Special shotshells as warning 1st shot to scare home intruders away.

Just don’t ever say or write the phrase “warning shot.” It can screw up your case if the law gets involved

 

[LNK]

When rats start feasting on your pets and critters... I'll admit occasionally blasting one here and there will indeed provide some degree of satisfaction, but I'd also wager that with every 1 rodent you successfully ended with your trigger finger, you could do ten-fold with a couple traps. With that said, I'm certainly not suggesting that we shouldn't be loading up and using sweet little shot-shells, so do carry on

Seriously, set some traps!

Yup, totally agree. While I have set traps. I am looking for payback just a little. How dare they eat my baby keets. At some point I will tire of the game, and let the traps do the work. Oh, and the ratinator is worthless without modification. Rats can figure out how to get back out. Need to make the door either spring loaded with aa latch trip to close it, or have it latch once closed. They. An pull the door down and let themselves out after they feast. Poison is out, as my chickens might feast on a dead rat that I don't find.

 

[splattergun]

Do you need to enlarge the flash holes? In case primers back out. I was thinking making a few 38 Special shotshells as warning 1st shot to scare home intruders away.

I have a finite amount of components, can't afford a warning shot. All shots for effect. Besides, with pistol shot shells you are probably going to cause him injury, and not necessarily scare him. You would also probably be liable for the bad guy's injuries and more when he sues.

 

[George P]

Supposedly the best rat trap

 

[JohnKSa]

I was thinking making a few 38 Special shotshells as warning 1st shot to scare home intruders away.

Get a simple security system with a panic button to scare intruders away. It will have the added benefits of not giving away your position when it goes off, of summoning the authorities, and of notifying the intruders that the authorities have been summoned. Reserve your ammunition for intruders who don't scare away.

 

[kcofohio]

Charter makes Specials that chamber Magnums if you ever feel like getting wild. Just don’t pull the trigger

I would say that is either a screw up from the factory, or someone reamed out the cylinders.
Either way, if someone finds a 38 Spl that will accept 357 mags, I'd contact the maker. It's just an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Random 8]

I am the OP, and nothing concerning rat elimination is off topic. I do have pellet rifles and pistols, the problem is the rats don't sit still long enough for me to be quite accurate enough with the single projectile. A pattern, though small, helps me tremendously. Also, single projectiles also focus all the energy on one point, and as I am shooting in a metal walled building, I don't want to make holes. Those are the two main reasons for the low powered shot shells. Thanks for the suggestion.

I can't help you with .38 shotshells other than the (currently unavailable) Speer shot capsules that I use. I load mine with 8 shot and they are a hoot for eliminating mice and voles as they flee the riding lawnmower. I can help with rodent elimination. Fill a medium sized bucket (I like the square cat litter ones) 1/2 full of RV antifreeze. Suspend a cob of whole corn or a peanut butter encrusted block of wood over the bucket nearly touching the antifreeze. Use a board for a ramp from a wall up to the lip of the pail. They fall in and drown, the antifreeze pickles them so they don't stink.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Fill a medium sized bucket (I like the square cat litter ones) 1/2 full of RV antifreeze. Suspend a cob of whole corn or a peanut butter encrusted block of wood over the bucket nearly touching the antifreeze. Use a board for a ramp from a wall up to the lip of the pail. They fall in and drown, the antifreeze pickles them so they don't stink.

Very similar as to what we use at Deer Camp.
Gets the ones that the resident Pine Martin misses!

To keep this gun related, rifles are not allowed loaded in the shack, but a couple of us do have CCW ready...

 

[jmorris]

If you want more payload, a longer case can hold more but the case will have to be necked down. Open up your cylinder and you can see why. I use #12 in my loads.



Unless you stay out there 24/7 you are going to want to come up with another pest prevention/elimination method though.