Are they produced in shot shells. We need to get rid of feral dogs and cats,
No, and the only "less lethal" ammo I know of is made in 12 ga only.
I would not bother with less lethal for feral animals, it doesn't do anything to rid them. Stinging them with plastic pellets only teaches them to be more wary and run at the slightest disturbance. The critters will still return.
Standard shotshells of #4 lead shot or one of the heavier than lead loads would be my first choice for something smaller than a 12 ga. I would prefer a 22 mag or a rifle chambered for a pistol cartridge but a shotgun would do fine.
How about using the Aguila minis or reloading a reduced number of larger shot (#1B - 00B) over a skeet powder load? Six 50gr pellets leaving the muzzle at 1100-1200fps should penetrate well out to 10-15yds and keep the flyers in your zip code with little recoil.
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Butch, why not load some coarse salt - or even regular salt depending on the range.
Shooting salt out of a shotgun is one of the dumbest myths that just will not die. I can't believe that people that supposedly know anything about firearms believe that it could actually work. When fired the acceleration of the wad turns the salt into dust and all you get is a cloud of white dust out of the end of the barrel. If it doesn't pulverize the rocks, the rocks have so little mass that they have no energy to do any harm. My god, the wad will put more of a hurt on someone than the salt.
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Have you ever actually shot rock salt? I have, and it works when loaded in a shot cup at around 700-800fps. I mentioned it as his intent was as pest deterrent, not a kill shot. Having said that, he can also buy as small as #12 lead shot.
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Have you ever actually shot rock salt? I have, and it works when loaded in a shot cup at around 700-800fps. I mentioned it as his intent was as pest deterrent, not a kill shot. Having said that, he can also buy as small as #12 lead shot.
Yep, it works for the intended purpose. It's not supposed to be capable long distance.
To the OP's question - I have loaded 12 gauge shotshells with plastic airsoft BBs. It can work fine as a pest deterrent, such as teaching the neighbor's mutt to stop pooping in your yard, but it's not effective at killing anything if that's your goal. I've used them most at basically airsoft velocity (you can see them in flight) with very small charges of fast powder; that can make a very quiet load. Removing the cushion from the wad helps a lot with consistency, since those plastic pellets don't offer much resistance, and it increases capacity by quite a bit as well. The terminal effect is essentially just like a bunch of simultaneous hits from an airsoft gun - it'll leave some red welts on bare skin but that's about it, except at very close range.