Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 45 Colt "Magnum" Shotshells for Snakes & Rats

Veeeery interesting. Neat idea and nice job explaining/illustrating the process. I think I read an article once where someone used .410 shotshells cut down too.

A little mess on the bench allows one to have everything at arms reach in order to find them quickly. Now where did I leave that shellholder?

I've had good luck with the Speer capsules in .45 Colt and #12 shot for snakes. It works much better than the larger shot sizes fro pattern density on vermin up close - not so much for larger furred critters further away.

Excelllent Doc looks like a great shot shell

Thanks, John. I suppose to some people it's just a waste of time, but if I didn't have these "magnum" shotshells for my 45's I'd prolly have to go out and buy a Judge!


Unthinkable!!!


(...hope CY don't see this...;) )

Huh. wonder what I can do with a .480 Ruger...

No excuse for somebody as rich as you not getting the best.

It's always good to have more tricks up your sleeve. I read the whole thread with interest. I thought you had a Dillon.

Rich? Ha!

I'm just a simple country doctor, dude. And a dee-vorced one, at that!



Got a couple of 'em, a 650 and a SDB, and I need more!

I use the Lee turret press for most of my small-run stuff. I've got a dozen or so calibers set up in the quick-change turrets, so I can crank out a half-dozen cartridges or a hundred in less time than it takes to set up the Dillon.

I use to do the same thing with 45-70. You need to cut a 3x5 card to wrap around the .410 shot cup to make it fit just right.I poured in the shot and then put a 1/8" think piece of cork over it and then put a light crimp on the brass to keep it in.great for grouse.

Similar shot rounds can be made of just about any pistol cartridge uisng two gas checks with the shot in between. A lot of us older frats use to do that.Now I use the Speer shot cups and have no trouble dispatching grouse, even with a.357 snubby at 4 yards or so. Sure do hell on a mousei nside the tent at 3-4 feet though,but it sure makes a mess all over everything.

I suppose you are using large rifle primers since the 444 is a rifle cartridge.

Thats a cool little project Doc.

Gunner

neat. How tight of a pattern do you get with the .45-70?

I never checked it,but I could kill blue grous eat 15-20 yards with it. That is all I used it for.

There you go. You can't argue with results like that!

Oh the possibilities... Between the #1 .45-70 and a .54 Hawken that's on the way to me,(not to mention the .480) I might have some fun experimenting.

Thanks Doc!

A long time ago in a land far away,the exact recipe and instructions for the 45-70 load was either in Handloader or Americal Rifleman

You had me at "snakes" and "smithereenies"!

Yosemite Sam was one of my childhood heroes, and some folks say he still is, judgin' by the configuration of my moustache...

Thanks for the tutorial Doc. Given the comments about the .460, I'll check into that case, but pretty much copy the rest of your technique verbatim.

Good, if I didn't have a supply of 444 Marlin cases already cut down, I'd go with the 460 cases, too. Let me know how they work for you.

That article on using .410 cases might have been mine.

I found that .410 hulls cut to cylinder length would hold about 2/3 ounce of #9 shot. I even located a scarce .410 Lee Loader (the mallet-pounder kind) to make up these things. I used a thin card wad cut from a tablet backer and ran a bead of glue around it to hold it in place. That gave me a place to write the shot size, too.

The problem with .410 hulls is that the rim diameter is too big for them to chamber in a Ruger Blackhawk. The rim hits the cylinder ratchet. They will chamber in a Colt clone, though.

When I switched from a .45 Colt to my Charter Bulldog .44 Special as my hiking gun, I also switched to using Speer capsules. I find no fault with them except for their tendency to creep out under recoil. I solved that by NOT crimping the cases (which cuts the capsule) but by running a very thin bead of superglue around the case mouth as the final loading step. Works like a charm.

a really good 'how to' post Doc.

I have been shooting critters with a .45 Colt revolver for many years. Never used snake shot, just a LSWC.