Years ago I was told that you shouldn't shoot a lot of shorts because it can lead up the chamber for a long rifle. Is this true or just a tale?
What will happen when shooting shorts in a long rifle chamber is that you will have a carbon buildup in the front of the chamber where the short cartridge ends. Shooting a few may not cause too much of an issue but doing so on a regular basis can cause chambering issues when chambering a long rifle cartridge.
drover
Regular cleaning might help, but with today's ammo variety, other than capacity, one might get similar 'Short' qualities like reduced report, etc. with some 'Lite' LR rounds.........a CCI subsonic HP can do wonders on game, and are mild in report...no Supersonic Crack.....
That said, my brother was a fan of CCI short HP's, in his BL-22, often getting a limit of tree squirrels using irons. I have not hunted with shorts, but note Subsonics really do work when it comes to not making game scatter when you fire off a round. You might get the one you are shooting at, but want the others to not run off or hide like they do when a high vel round is lit.