Overheard a conversation

[LURCHWV@BJS]

 I overheard two people talking about Turkey Season this year,  One of the guys wanted to use a ML but does not have a fowler.  The other guy told the first you can load a rifle with shot and use it as a shotgun.

  I'v never heard of anything like this,  so I thought I would ask the collesctive populus of this forum.

   This is quite possibly the best place for Q&A's on the web.

    Anybody ever use a rifle as a shotgun?


   Rich

[ottawa]

tried it once years ago with not very good results trying to see if the idea would work for rabbits didn't own anything Else but a .45 flint . I've herd it can be done for close range work but doubt it would work for turkey ranges consistently from my little experiment and no knowledge at the time other then shooting PRB

[Don Getz]

Chapple...........think about it a bit, seems like it would be kind of a bumpy road down that barrel, don't think it would
really do much good for the shot, or for the barrel.   Even if it followed the twist in the barrel, when it exited the barrel it
would probably "twirl" into a huge fan......ha.................Don

[xring2245]

I would not suggest that.  Assuming one can get enough shot down the barrel to do the job, the pattern would be terrible, almost non-existent.  If you want to shoot shot, then you will need to get a fowler.  Then again, the guy in question could use a longbow.

James

[Glenn]

I wouldn't even think about it.  I'd be too afraid to ruin the rifling and that cannot easily be repaired, as far as I know.  I've noticed that in the past, both CVA and Thompson Center either sold dual barrel kits (1 smoothbore barrel and 1 rifled barrel to be used with the same stock and lock) or otherwise made available a second drop-in barrel in smoothbore separately to go along with the rifle barrel sold initially with the rifle.

Part of this may have been simply to enhance existing sales, but I'm sure this was not the main reason.  If it was safe to shoot lead shot in their rifled barrels I'm sure they would've used that as an advertising advantage to move their products.

Another thing to point out; several years ago 1 or more of the U.S. manufacturers sold a .22 smoothbore.  It was simply a .22 rifle barrel without the rifling.  This being a modern smokeless powder weapon, I'm sure this was developed for a reason and today you can still find the rimfire .22 "shot" cartridges for these little smoothbores.

My point is, if these manufacturers went to all the trouble to develop and market a rimfire .22 smoothbore I'm sure there was a functional reason for it beyond merely seeking enhanced profits.

I'd simply tool up a smoothbore barrel to compliment my rifle barrel and use that on the gobblers.   

[LURCHWV@BJS]

Chapple...........think about it a bit, seems like it would be kind of a bumpy road down that barrel, don't think it would
really do much good for the shot, or for the barrel.   Even if it followed the twist in the barrel, when it exited the barrel it
would probably "twirl" into a huge fan......ha.................Don

  Exactly what I thought.....  But I still thougt I'd ask.  Thanx

   Rich

[T*O*F]

My point is, if these manufacturers went to all the trouble to develop and market a rimfire .22 smoothbore I'm sure there was a functional reason for it beyond merely seeking enhanced profits.

A .22 can carry over 1 mile.  Birdshot only about 20 yards.
1. They were used by biologists and naturalists to collect small bird and animal specimens with minimal damage.
2.  Same reason on the farm.  You don't want to be shooting holes in your barn doin' your pigeon, sparrow and rat killin'.
3.  Back in the late 50's forward, many summer camps didn't have adequate range facilities.  They used the smoothbores to teach firearm safety, and there was a sport called Moskeet in which you shot small hand thrown clays with the .22 smoothbore.

[Glenn]

I figured they were developed for something along the lines of killing rats.  My point is though that if shooting the loose shot through a rifled barrel would work without damage then they would've simply sold the shot shells alone.

To answer the question though, I wouldn't want to chance ruining a rifled barrel.  I'd simply figure out how to get a smoothbore barrel to work in the same stock.  Firearms diversity at it's best !!!   

[Macon Due]

GRA
You would not 'ruin' the barrel.You would likely get lead fouling which can be a pain to remove.The patterns would also be non-existant at anything over a few feet  to a few yards. So..all in all a poor idea but would hurt nothing for him to try the idea and know for himself.
Macon

[Daryl]

The only way to know for sure out is to try it.

  I used to shoot a bit over an ounce, maybe an ounce and 1/2 in my 12 pound .58 Hawken - for grouse - with normal wad columns. It worked fine to about 25 yards max. and gave huge patterns, but that's why I used more than normal shot - to fill it in- seemed to work.

[Dave Faletti]

I tried it once out of my 11bore rifle.  Ended with a donut pattern.  Considering the rifling depth I should have used a 10 gauge wad but didn't have one.  I never took it serious.  Rather spend my efforts on the appropriate equipment.

[dannylj]

Tried it in a .54 to eradicate armadillos. Made up little cloth bags to hold the shot together and loaded over wads thinking they would seperate. They didn't. Was not much left of the armadillo. It was impressive - kind of a mega hollowpoint. Danny

[bob in the woods]

Never could get it to work for me. I have better luck with round balls out of a smoothbore than I've had with shot out of a rifle.

[northmn]

Some claim straight rifled barrel work good with the modern shot cups to eliminate the spin picked up when going down the barrel.  Chokes with straight rifling have been sold for that purpose.  The spin imparted to at least the out shot column in a non sleeved load would also have a tendency to veer off.  Also I would think the shot hitting the rifling would deform and take off to never never land.  We use shot sleeves and cups to prevent bore scrubbing on a normal shotgun.  Those are the reasons that generally people do use shot in rifles along with leading.

DP

[Dphariss]

I tried it once out of my 11bore rifle.  Ended with a donut pattern.  Considering the rifling depth I should have used a 10 gauge wad but didn't have one.  I never took it serious.  Rather spend my efforts on the appropriate equipment.

I have tried them out of  54 pistol with a 66 twist. It works at short range. 15-20 yards gotta use a heavy load of shot. I was using a 20 bore shot charge.
A friend of mine tells me he once shot trap with a 66 twist 54 flint.
I was thinking of trying it in my 16 bore rifle but doubt I will bother.

Dan

PS I don't think the Game Warden will consider a rifle to be a shotgun either.

[omark]

lead shot in a rifle is no problem other than leading the bore and lousy patterns. though it should be effective for cleaning out barrooms.        but im afraid steel shot would not be good on rifling at all, especially since some m/l's have softer barrels than modern shotguns and they need shot cups.    mark

[Southron]

HUH?............ WHY USE SHOT?........ A decent marksman could hit a turkey in the head with a roundball-even a lousy marksman should be able to hit the bird in the body with a roundball!

[Dave Faletti]

Shot is required for turkey in the states I have hunted.

[Daryl]

Here, we the regs state shotgun or rimfire.  I merely assume that means I can use either my .32 or .40 flinter as the powder charge is ignited at it's rim.

[Dphariss]

We have shotgun only spring and anything in the fall.

Dan