• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

How to reload rat shot???

I buy the speer capsules for my 38 and fill them with cut open shot gun shells. Occasionally you can find cheap #9 shells. The capsules come with load data if I recall correctly.
 
Buy a bag of nines. If you shoot up 25 pounds of it from a 22 or 38 you have a serious rat/snake issue.
 
Be careful wit rimfires and pulling bullets. Had a childhood schoolmate who got his appentectimy (sp) with shards of a 22 rimfire case that he popped off while "pulling" a bullet. :eek:

Field and Stream has 22 shotshells in stock locally. By the time you invest the time, just buy em...

Or make them easier with 38's as mentioned before. Cardboard, #9's and some Unique. Crimp and seal..
Thanks for the warning Snert. I have heard that before but i have pulled many with just my hands. Maybe just lucky i dont know!
 
Thats funny! It has to be the first time i ever heard of someone shooting there self without a gun.
Here's another:
When I was an apprentice carpenter another thought it was great fun to slam a 4 foot slab of timber onto .22 Ramset blanks until a bit or brass got him in the knee. I'd been shooting for a few years and had some respect for firearms and ammo so couldn't bear to hang around and watch the FW but I did see the trail of blood later. :D
 
Lead shot that was typically used in rimfire birdshot loads was #12 and in all the years I loaded shotshells I've never seen it.
#9 shot is the most common fine lead shot and mostly used in the Skeet shooting discipline (not trap).
Here's a list of shot sizes:
http://www.hallowellco.com/shot_size_chart.htm

This^^^

Mike Venturino...
One of the ONLY articles he has ever written that I have found of great interest was loading either a .44 Special or more likely .45 Colt "Snake Shot" and it used, as best as I can remember, #12 shot aka "Dust"... There was a bit to it and I copied the recipe down for safe keeping. No doubt it IS safe... Whereever it might be...lol. I am sure someone has it... I used CCI .44 Magnum "Rat Shot" and found the pellets too big and the lands and grooves tended to "throw" the pattern a bit in my 6.5" 29-2(the newest I own out of 7). I was even given some .44 Magnum Home Made "Snake Shot" that used about a #7.5 maybe a touch larger. It proved less effective than the CCI. In this instance I can't help but think the #12/Dust would be THE ticket... Now pulling .22 LR and loading it is another matter... I would think it difficult to best Winchester Olin Rat Shot. That is a longer case with the brass crimped to hold in the shot.

Please don't tell me it has become impossible to buy. I shot wood boring bees who were trying to eat my Cypress Barn with it last year. It WAS an older box though... Damn. Now I have to search out a case...laughing nervously until I find it...

Regards, Matt.
 
CCI aluminum cased .45 ACP shot rounds are the Cat's pajamas. Pattern great and eject but never tried to feed them, might work..
 
Here's another:
When I was an apprentice carpenter another thought it was great fun to slam a 4 foot slab of timber onto .22 Ramset blanks until a bit or brass got him in the knee. I'd been shooting for a few years and had some respect for firearms and ammo so couldn't bear to hang around and watch the FW but I did see the trail of blood later. :D
I do that type of work and i have seen a lot of idiots playing with those Hilti and Ramset loads. They dont seem to realize that they are 22 cal rfs and are dangerous. They would make a good blank for a 22 rf. And they used to make a 25 and i think a 27 calibers. The red and purple loads are very hot!!
 
I have purchased them, and made them. Winchester .22lr shot are made with an elongated case that is crimped at the end. Shooting at a woodpecker at 10 feet did nothing but add to the scare factor. Not even a feather flew. The CCI .22LR shot shells are the longer Stinger brass with a plastic shot capsule. They shoot better than the Winchester, but are 20 to a box vs Winchesters 50 to a box. To kill a snake with the CCI shot, you had to be about 3 feet away. Seriously. More than that and you would be lucky enough to more than make it mad.

The shot capsules are made for 38/357, 44, and 45s. I have only found them through ordering them. Takes less than 5 minutes to load up 50 capsules with #7 1/2 or # 9 shot out of a bulk bag. I used the recipe on the capsule box, seated the capsule on the powder, than ran the brass into the crimp die and just started a roll crimp that was tight enough to keep the capsule in place. I ruined a few capsules before I got the die set correctly. Out of short barrel 38s and 44s, these worked pretty good. Kinda like a cylinder bore. Good for 10-15 feet from a snake, but you hit pretty much half of the snake at that distance. Have to be much closer to contain shot in head region. These loads were also good for woodpeckers and vermin that were in the yard. Anything within 20 yards was hurtin bad. Beyond 20 yards, they got stung pretty bad. Had a cat get caught in the fan on my pickup one day. Took two of the 38s at about 20 yards to slow it down enough to catch it and put it out of it's misery. Poor thing was hurt bad, but wouldn't let me close. Had to use the shot shells because the neighbor house was real close.

The Elmer Keith books have his recipes in them to make the shot shells; primered case, bullseye, gas check, shot, gas check, roll crimp. I made a few and they worked ok. Did not make a lot at that time. You get the shot pattern, plus two gas checks that are prone to tumbling quickly. Have plans to try these again. I purchased some half jackets in .32, .38, and .41 that I want to put in the case first, then shot, and cover with gas check. Half jacket should allow the shot to spin a little more uniformly and may make it pattern a little better.

Years ago they made 38 and 9mm "gallery" loads with a 55 grain lead "cup". Looks like a bullet, but base is hollow. Lead is uniform thickness and they shot them in indoor galleries. I found a few hundred of these on an auction a few years ago. Three of these 55 grainers stack and look like a 158 SWC. Load them up in a .38 case, flush with the case mouth (similar to wadcutter load) and at 25 yards, they make a nice 2-3" pattern. Three holes. Went through paper, but did not go through our target stands which were 3/8" plywood and 2x4s.

Hornady sells buckshot in several different sizes. Elmer Keith's book has recipes to make 1 or 2 ball loads. These can be loaded to a quiet, but lethal, vermin round.

My funniest loads for up-close and personal in the yard were made from 38 cases, magnum primers, and paraffin wax. The wax Mom bought at the store for her canning came in blocks that were about 1/2" thick. A sized 38 case warms rather quickly in a fry pan, or in the oven. Once warm, they cut through the wax like soft butter. Don't want them too warm, but just warm enough. Sized cases pushed into the paraffin block so 1/2" wax "bullet" is stuck in the case. You can get about 20 cases in the block, even with "fat" fingers. By the time the last case goes in, the first is cool enough to come back out. Primer the case and it is ready to shoot. A pesky hawk that was eating sparrows off Dad's patio got thumped in the chest one day at about 25 yards. Feathers flew. Later that day he was back, but sat on the power wire about 50 yards out to wait for the sparrows. Dad said it never came back in the yard. Also worked on a neighbors dog who lifted his leg on Mom's swan planter and flowers. Thumped him in the butt a few times and he quit coming in the yard. Also worked on a little buck that wanted to use Mom's apple tree for a rub. Doesn't hurt them. Wax crumbles when they hit, but surely sting enough to let them know they need to watch out.

Lots of fun projects out there. Stay safe, and keep others safe.
 
Last edited:
The reason I started making my own shot cups for my 357 was that more than half the time the Speer shot cup never broke open.It was nothing more than a frangible bullet. I made my cups out of paper - which was thinner than the plastic and allowed me to load 150 grains of #9 shot. I used HP-38 powder to get the velocity close to 1000 fps. Any faster and the pattern started to open up a lot in the middle. With the shot at 1000 fps the pattern out of my 4" 357 was 1" per foot of distance, out of the six inch barrel it was the same. At ten feet the pattern was solid and you didn't need to get any closer to a rattler. Snake does not taste like chicken. It tastes like frog and has the texture of lobster. It's not bad to eat but there are foods I like better.
 
My local Canadian Tire store has 22 LR #12 bird shot for $13 /50 box.

On your side of the border I'm sure plenty of places will have the Federal 22 lr bird shot for like $10 /50 box, $100 / 1k-box
 
I load for my 41 mag. Used to load 41 mag brass with unique and thin cardboard wads I punched from a shotshell box. Now I get 30-30 brass and shorten it to fit in 41 mag cylinder. 5 gr unique cardboard wad fill it up with 12 shot another cardboard wad glue it. Impressive snake load.
 
Never done it... but Ive seen the caps for sale, just never the tiny bb's... not sure how it works, how youd seat plastic caps, where to find the bb's, etc etc etc..

Id assume a little charge of trailboss would be about all itd need...

I cant even find 22lr rat shot for less than $20-$25 a small box of em anymore... it used to be cheap... 22 mag rat shot would be nice too.
Check ammoseek.com
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,433
Messages
2,195,762
Members
78,902
Latest member
Kapkadian
Back
Top