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Old October 4, 2006, 03:12 PM   #1
FrontSight
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Anyone ever use pistol shotshells for hunting?

Any thoughts? Was thinking would be good on quail that refuse to fly...or is that just too unsportsmanlike?
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Old October 4, 2006, 03:26 PM   #2
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I betcha that quail would tast as good as one shot from the air.
Never thought of that but I've carried shot shells in a hand gun for snakes.
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Old October 4, 2006, 03:28 PM   #3
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You mean those itty bitty things that come in .38, .40, .45? Not for hunting. I have carried them in my snubbie for snakes in the rainy season (the little cottonmouths come up out of the nearby creek) :barf:

But you don't get more than about 8-10 feet of oomph out of those. So no, not for hunting.

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Old October 4, 2006, 03:44 PM   #4
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Springmom,

This past Sunday I went hunting for quail, that the state stocks, and some of those suckers just simply refused to fly...I literally had to stick my barrel under one's beak to make it take off...that's definitely close enough for a pistol bird shot, no?

And please, guys, no ripping on me for that; there was only about 5 out of 30 quail that did that, the rest flushed wild and ran & ran. Either way, here in NYC I don't have much choice as to how wild the birds can be...beggars can't be choosers!
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Old October 4, 2006, 04:19 PM   #5
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Years ago I had a thing about loading my own 45 ACP shotshells, so I bought the RCBS dies, got the components, and loaded up a bunch of them. As I recall, it was about 1/2 oz of shot at about 1000 fps. I went out jackrabbit hunting with my 45, and I loaded a magazine with the shotshells. A rabbit got up at about 10 yds and ran across from left to right. I fired, and he ran another 20-30 feet, stopped, then keeled over. I was thrilled. All that day, I tried to duplicate the feat, but the rabbits started getting up at 50 yds, then 75 yds, and pretty soon we were lucky to hit them at all with our 45s.

I gave some of the shotshells to a friend of mine for hunting forest grouse during elk season (yes, this is legal), and he just loves them. He can pot grouse off tree limbs at about 10 yds without demolishing them by shooting hardball at them.

Pistol shotshells do work, you just have to be close. Real close.
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Old October 4, 2006, 04:25 PM   #6
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Rotfl!!!

LOL...if you're that close and they're just sitting there, I guess you could just pick one up and wring its neck a la barnyard chicken! Yeah, I would say THAT would be close enough Although picking all those itty bitty pellets out will be a chore.

That mental picture is going to be with me the rest of the day...

"Shoo! Shoo! Fly, d****it!!!"

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Old October 4, 2006, 04:31 PM   #7
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I know this is a tanget but I have shot a few of those grouse with an arrow,so close that you have to aim a couple of inches high or you will shoot right under them.Ruins a perfectly good broadhead and probably your arrow too,but they sure are good to eat.
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Old October 4, 2006, 08:23 PM   #8
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Shotshells

My Dad and Granfather used to call them ratshot. Back when the end of the cartridge was simply crimped over. When my Granpa would push up brush piles to burn in North Central Texas I would use a Ruger Single Six with the CCI shot rounds to pick off rats, cottontails,mice with it. Kinda fun times for a kid, with a .22 pistol. It defineatly does a job on a snake close up, they used to just simply act totally stunned and die really good, LOL.
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Old October 4, 2006, 08:38 PM   #9
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i always keep some speer shot capule loads ready for my 6" model 27.... some have #2 shot in em and some have #6-7 shot mixed i have salvaged from old shot shells......... i use them mostly for possums that sneak up into my garage to eat the cat food..... last winter the young daughter of a nieghbors come to my back door and said there was a coon in her dog's house bitin one him so i went over a shot him with 4 #2 shot loads.......(coons are tough)......... i have thought about tring to hunt some flying stuff with them but i haven't yet.... the main reason i shoot the other critters with them is because i don't want to use bullet in town the might skip off into someones house...... try the speer shot capsules they are fun!!
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Old October 5, 2006, 12:36 AM   #10
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Springmom,
Quote:
"Shoo! Shoo! Fly, d****it!!!"
was EXACTLY the case!! I was yelling "FLY!! D****it!!!...F'n FLY ALREADY!!"

Hahaahah...so I'm thinking a nice shotshell pistol would do well..

Thanks everyone!
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Old October 5, 2006, 02:56 PM   #11
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Commercial loaded shot shells are usually stuffed with 'Dust" (#11 or 12). They are good for short range shots at a snake, but not much else. I have personally never seen a .45 auto that would feed them from the magazine.
Stories of wing shots with a pistol using shot shells are probably 'stories'. I would have to see it to believe it.
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Old October 5, 2006, 03:11 PM   #12
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I use to get that with Mountain Blue Grousse all the time. So along with my shotgun I packed a .22 pistol and my K-bar. Honestly, I got almost as many with my knife as I did with either pistol or shotgun on more than one occasion. Shot shells would have been just fine, but at 2 feet, I'd just pop 'em in the head with the .22 or stick 'em just for a little more challenge. I'm not a good knife thrower by any means, but at that range it's tough to miss.
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Old October 5, 2006, 07:01 PM   #13
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Mannlicher-
I loaded my shotshells with 1/2 oz of #8 shot at about 1000 fps. Not a powerhouse, but enough to cycle a 1911 and at close range it will do the job. Wingshooting would be another thing altogether, but probably lots of fun!
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Old October 30, 2006, 06:28 PM   #14
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I tried em this weekend, just on rolling pumpkins to simulate rabbits, and they are pretty powerful and lay down a good pattern! Shot righ thru pumkins with 8 inch diameters at 25 -30 feet. Only problem is the jamming; not very reliable, sometimes you get a few shots off before they jam, sometimes you only get 1. This was with an H&K USP Tactical Compact, so I know it's not the gun! At the very least, tho, they are good for birds that refuse to flush and you don't want to blow to pieces with the shotgun...

In case anyone wanted to know...
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