Shotshells in a handgun?

[PhoenixRookie]

I see that my local Cabelas now has shotshells in 9mm, 357 and 38sp. Now, those size rounds aren't solely for handguns but are typically what most people use them for. Then is there any danger of damaging a handgun by using these shotshells? What is the range? I just want to poke some holes in some targets with them just for the heck of it.

Thanks

 

[PotatoJudge]

They won't damage your guns, and are limited to a fairly short range. Feel free to buy and play with some, though they're expensive. Reloaders commonly make their own at a significant savings.

I'm curious what I could do with a 357 max rifle and shot loads. Might have to buy this and find out:

http://www.crackerthrower.com/

P.S. Anybody with a few lbs of #12 shot they want to get rid of, PM me.

 

[Ron James]

I would say the range is no more than 15 feet. I've used them in 22 mag for the rattle snakes that don't know the rules { they leave me alone, I leave them alone}. I don't believe I've used them on anything more than 6 feet away. I figure at 6 feet they are of no danger to me' under 6 feet I get nervous. Remember. shot from a rifled barrel, at 10 feet they will have a nice doughnut pattern. I can not imagine any way they can hurt your firearm.

 

[Tpierce]

One of the guns that was handed down to me a few years ago was a Jennings j-22. My grandfather was a plumber and he kept it in his pocket and had it loaded with "rat-shot" (little blue shotshells) and he would shoot rats and snakes that got in his way when plumbing under houses. Never had any bad affect on the gun, it still works great for a jennings.

 

[mainmech48]

Don't know about the 9x19. The only 9mm shot rds I ever used were special GECO RF cartridges through a smoothbore. They worked great on small pests out to about 20 yds, but were an entirely different thing.

The CCI .45 ACP shot rounds will actually cycle in my 1911's, CZ97 and S&W 4586. Past about 10 ft. the patterns are pretty thin and getting spotty. Inside that they're deadly on venomous snakes and great for astounding credulous nephews with one's "skill" hitting hand-tossed clay birds with a pistol.

I used to carry at least a couple of rds of the CCI .38 Spl. loads in my old Dan Wesson revolver every day while working a ranch in SW MO many years ago. Same sort of range limitations, but accounted for many a Copperhead, rattler and Cottonmouth that wouldn't just go away.

I never had as much luck with the .22 RF versions, CCI capsules or crimped brass. Even mice would sometimes need more than one hit to kill if they were more than 6 or 8 ft away. Rats in the feed locker usually needed a coup de grace with a .22 S solid to finish them quickly.

'Way back when I was a Scout and such things weren't "inappropriate" we earned Merit Badges learning wingshooting with special smoothbore Remington and Mossberg .22 RF arms and special reduced-size clay targets. With those the effective range was almost quadrupled compared to rifled arms.

 

[Bailey Boat]

I don't know the exact range in feet but a skeet target from station 8 is no problem to hit with a 44 shot capsule in either my 629 or my 696.......

 

[BlindJustice]

I've got some .45 ACP shotshells
They have the shark toothed brass cap
marketed as "Viper." Two loads

150 gr. approx. 750 count of chilled #12 shot.
&
150 gr. approx. 110 count of #7 1/2 nickel washed shot

The CCI/Speer shotshells are more expensive &
they use #9 shot.

The longer the barrel the more susceptible the pattern is
to being disrupted. So, snubbies work well with shotshells.

R-

 

[Newton]

The longer the barrel the more susceptible the pattern is
to being disrupted. So, snubbies work well with shotshells.

Is that correct, I thought the opposite was the case for shotguns.

 

[HB]

I don't know the exact range in feet but a skeet target from station 8 is no problem to hit with a 44 shot capsule in either my 629 or my 696.......

Yeah, it's pretty easy when they are still in the hopper... They never see it coming...
HB

 

[The Bushmaster]

Most modern handgun shot shells (CCI) the shot is incapsolated in plastic cups and will not make contact with the rifling. Excellent snake shot at close range...

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

Their only real use is against pests, rats, snakes and the like. Pretty much worthless for anything else. Turns your pistol into a mini-shotgun, which is kind of neat, though.

 

[Kevin108]

I had some 9mm in my G17 for snakes. I filled an empty soda can with water and shot it from about 15'. The destruction was pretty impressive.

Typically these rounds will not cycle the slide on semi-autos although I imagine you could tune one with a light enough recoil spring. In the instance of using these, I think a revolver would work much better with them.

 

[rcmodel]

Many autos will cycle them semi-auto.
You just have to try them in your gun.

My Model 39 S&W cycles fine with 9mm CCI shot.

 

[tn-dave]

I've got a Single Six loaded up with the CCI shotshells in case of unwanted pests. Had no idea that they might cycle in a semi. That might get some looks at the indoor range

 

[RyanM]

Is that correct, I thought the opposite was the case for shotguns.

Barrel length by itself has little to nothing to do with patterning. Main difference is that a shorter barrel results in more gas pressure behind the wad when it pops out of the muzzle. Hot gas flies around the wad, and messes up the patterns a little. Trying to up the velocity of a shot charge results in the same thing, as often as not.

My Serbu Super Shorty makes patterns that are only about 10% wider than a 20" cylinder bore. And given that it's .735" at the muzzle instead of .729", that little bit of overbore may be contributing to the wider patterns more than the short length.

Rifled barrels, I don't see how longer would mess up the shot pattern any more. Longarms do tend to have tighter twist rates because they shoot longer bullets, but that's about it.

 

[rcmodel]

Rifled barrels, I don't see how longer would mess up the shot pattern any more.

I don't either, but it does.

My theory is that the snubby barrel gets the shot capsule up to rotational speed just fine, but the lead shot inside it hasn't got time to catch up yet when it exits the muzzle.

A longer barrel however, keeps the shot capsule spinning long enough for the shot inside it to get spinning too.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Now that makes sense, rcmodel...

 

[RyanM]

My theory is that the snubby barrel gets the shot capsule up to rotational speed just fine, but the lead shot inside it hasn't got time to catch up yet when it exits the muzzle.

I thought those capsules were supposed to break when they hit rifling. Still, it may be that the outside of the shot column rides the rifling, with so-called centrifugal force keeping it in place, and as the shot column goes down the barrel, more and more of it catches the rifling and gets "stuck?"

Or just the base wad starts the shot spinning.

 

[rcmodel]

They do break in the rifling, but they don't/can't come apart until the capsule exits the muzzle. They are still surrounding the shot all the way down the barrel.

rcmodel

 

[PhoenixRookie]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I need to give those a shot, pun intended.

 

[FLA2760]

I have CCI . 22 shot shells that I have used in my NAA mini revolver to kill some poisonous snakes on my property. Worked well. I never tried any other caliber.

 

[fireman 9731]

I knew a guy that used to work in some rough places and the first 3 rounds in his glock's magazine where shotshells...

 

[Shadan7]

About 30 years ago I used to use a 4" Diamondback with shotshells to deal with tarantulas in the desert SW. That worked great out to about 15'.

God, I hate spiders.


7

 

[tasco 74]

i have some shot loads loaded for the mod 27.... i use some with no 9shot,some with no. 2 shot, and some with no.6-7 shot... the no 2 shot will take out a coon with about 4 shots... i have done any kind of pattern test so i have no idea what it looks likes.....

 

[rcmodel]

About 30 years ago I used to use a 4" Diamondback with shotshells to deal with tarantulas in the desert SW.
God, I hate spiders.

Boy! Ain't that the truth!

My wife & I lived off post at Ft. Carson Colo in 1968-69. We were in the foothills, and directly in a migration route for the tarantulas that lived in the mountains.

Hundreds of the damn things tromped through our yard every spring & fall going & coming.

My wife propped the back door open once to carry a basket of clothes out to the clothesline, and one of them got in the house. She was chasing him around the house with a broom when I got home, but every time she got close he jumped about four feet in the air and came down running!

Took him out with a .22 LR shotshell in my S&W Model 41 target pistol! Then pickled the body in a pimento jar full of Vodka.

Still have the hairy little bugger setting on the what-not shelf!

All the locals said they were harmless, but they gave me the shivers whenever they migrated and came through!

rcmodel