WB
Custom handgun shotshells...
Thursday, April 04, 2019, 08:08

Kudos to Speer for keeping the fires burning on snake-shot or the more antiquated term "rat-shot" for handguns. There are prior examples that date way back to the Marbles Game Getter on the .44 WCF and resulting .410 shotgun round. Back then the shot "capsules" were either heavy treated paper or actually leather. The shot containing sheath protruded like a normal projectile. It had perforations that helped the centrifugal forces separate it from the shot pellets exiting the barrel. This sheath protects the pellets down the bore and aids in less deformation and straighter flight. If the payload "spins" with the rifling the forces can greatly expand the pattern.

Selection of shot sizes is paramount in relation to caliber and intended purpose. Under .41 caliber the payload is so small much bigger than #6 shot truly limits the number of pellets to the point a rat or truly a snake would likely escape through the short range pattern density. A Cottontail, Chicken size bird, or Squirrel is a different matter however. Th elarger the pellets the more density the pattern retains at distance even to 20 yds. (that was a discovered revelation shooting water and observing the videos)

From old magazines I learned how to manufacture "full cylinder" length all brass shotshell casings with no cylinder modifications. You have to get a little inventive in the forming process. Once formed you basically load the cases minimally with repriming and minimal crimping or simply gluing the sealing cap of the shell. Hot glue works great. For .357 you can use .357 Maximum brass and size the bullet portion of the chamber with a 9mm to get it to pass through that portion of the chamber. I have used .303 British brass in .44 Magnums and .444 Marlin for .45 Colts (new .460 S&W brass would be great). The neglected .41 Magnum I used .30-30 Brass and .40 S&W to neck down. You can chamfer cases to punch out some card wads and poke them out using a paper clip through the primer hole.

Using #5 shot I got acceptable results in .41 Magmum but would much favor the #9 or better yet #11/12 shot available from BPI. They sell smaller bags of it as what do you need with 25# of #12 shot?!

I would like to experiment with "buck and ball" or multi-ball loads in the future. I even had great success with the .510 GNR! It holds a full 1/2 oz. payload of shot pellets! I'm not advocating anyone to replicate my tinkering but it shows what we used to play with and what the current efforts evolved from.