Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handgun Shotshell loads

IMG_2156 by Jim Hackiewicz, on Flickr

Here is a few photo examples of the 445 super mag case used for my 44 mag shot shells. With 9 to 11 grains of unique and a circular piece of fabric, like terry cloth felt, or almost anything that can be tapped down snugly on the top of the powder charge to hold it in place against the primer. Then pour in the 7.5 or 9 shot or what ever you choose I have used 4 shot as well. 9 works really great for me.

One case firing will blow it out to match the cylinder and usually get you a better capacity the second load. The far right is an unloaded 44 mag case going to the left, that one is filled with powder, "wad" and shot then covered over with whatever silicone calk I had laying around. Clear works nice to verify what shot is loaded months later!

I usually ream a case mouth inside and out to a sharp edge. Than fold up fabric and tap the shell through like a cutter. With a straight piece of metal like a nail or paper clip you can push it all out from the primer hole. I found drilling out primer pocket of the sacrificial wad cutting tool it was easier to just use a small screw driver.

I suppose you would need to experiment with shot size and powder charge for the best patterns at your chosen range with your gun. Mine with 9 shot really performs fantastic at 20 feet from my 5-5/8" freedom arms revolver. As you can see the 445 supermag cases provide tremendous capacity. If I recall Properly I have as much lead shot in them as a 410 shell holds inside the wad of a new shell. Not many will walk away from this load at less than 10 feet with clear vision and all their teeth.

I have also poured melted wax into the case before sealing them up to hold the shot together longer. Not enough experience with that yet to share. But at 6-8 feet it's still a bullet hole in the paper. Less wax would seem better, but maybe no wax and having it work as it did originally is the best yet.

There is zero recoil from this load and all 5 cylinders can be fired easily in seconds without losing the sight picture. It takes time to set up the loading bench to make these but it's worth every minute to have them available in your cylinder. My revolver has externally numbered cylinders actually both my freedom Arms and my Mountain gun both have numbered cylinders. In this way I know which cylinder has which ammo.