the old style crimped case 22 LR shot shells that is. Don't know how many boxes dad went through back in the day, but he put a bunch of rats down with the old style crimped shell #12 shot 22 LR rounds in the old Stevens Favorite. At across the bedroom range he usually used them at they did great work and did no harm to the spanish tile roof or the rafters. Some of those rats were as big as fox squirrels, but they'd go down with one pop from the old Stevens. He'd keep the rifle at the head of the bed and rigged a switch up so that he could turn on the light without moving out of bed. He'd hear a rat coming, line the rifle up on the sound, switch the light on, make any minor adjustments for point of aim and fire. The rats would stop dead still when the light hit them - and then they'd drop dead.

Anyway, haven't seen any of the old style shot shells in years. Does anyone still make them? The last ones I saw, if I recall correctly, were Winchester brand. Methinks I saw them at a gun store out in Colorado, probably about 21 years ago or so.

load at the shop.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

They are still made, at least by Federal. I found a box of them a couple months ago at a gun show. They pattern more widely than the CCIs, but I use them to shoot the carpenter bees that are trying to eat my tool shed, and the wider patterns help at short range.

who did that.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I still have some old ones around. I found them useless as at 10 feet it couldn't stop a sparrow. Years ago they had a rifle with a small clay thrower mounter it would shoot the birdshot. I can't believe you could break a clay with them. I just never had luck with them.

bird feeder. I think the range was about 25-feet. BTW, this was IN town...

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Sincerely,

Hobie

And they were dead right there at about 15 ft.

interesting about not stopping a sparrow. They did in the huge rats we had at ranges well over 10 feet, probably about twice that at times. I remember when Dad shot the outhouse one time, the pattern covered it from top to bottom and side to side and there were gaping holes in the pattern. Shooting shot through a rifled barrel is not conducive to tight patterns, for sure. Inside the house they were very effective, although there was always danger of a ricochet. Dad shot Mom one time. Killed the mouse but got a holler out of Mom because one of the pellets bounced her way and got her on the leg. She seemed quite disappointed that it only left a red spot, no blood.

Rifling makes a big difference in how tightly those things pattern. I shot them mostly through an old Winchester pump with fairly worn rifling, and they were quite effective. Other .22s with better bores didn't do so well.

I think the mini-trap guns had smooth bores.

Years ago when I worked in rattler/copperhead country, I carried an old Iver Johnson .38 with cut-down CCI .38 shot caps full of #8 shot, loaded over a couple grains of Bullseye in .38 S&W brass. That old gun had a bore that was almost completely shot out - you could see where the rifling had once been, but that was about all, and it had probably been at least .360 or larger to start with. The .358 shot caps likely did not spin at all going down the barrel, and it would tear a snake all to pieces at close encounter ranges.

I've always wondered how the CCI .44 caliber shot capsules would do fired through a .45 bore. Anybody ever tried it?

That is an interesting idea. I have some 44 shot loads and a 45 Colt Ruger. Will have to give it a try.

(Brain-fart if I'm being too obscure)

I do understand a .44 Special can be fired, with surprising accuracy, out of an Ruger Old Model .45 Colt. The extracted empties will look much like a .45 ACP in that the case will expand ahead of the web while the counter-bored cylinder more or less centers the rim.

Don't ask me how I know....

Also, a 41 Mag can be fired in a 44 Mag. Kind of ruins the case. Don't ask me how I know this!!

Also, a 10mm will fire (sometimes) out of a .38-40!

Lord knows it was a much needed miracle when THAT happened.

Otony

I was thinking about this just yesterday thinking it might make a good backyard squirrel round without worrying about a CB bullet traveling to far.

you've got to get VERY close to them, and that precludes shooting from the cover of being inside the house which quiets the report somewhat and doesn't freak the neighbors out as much.