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Old November 17, 2009, 06:11 PM   #14
wncchester
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Join Date: December 1, 2002
Posts: 2,832
Okay, now that David has added .44 mag shotshells, I'll add my 2 cents with a thought for fellow tinkerers.

I make .44 mag shotshells from .303 British cases. The base dimensions are quite near normal .44 dimensions, just a bit large on the rims. So, I lathe turn the rims to about .510" diameter and thin them so they will fit in my counter-bored Smith 29 cylinder. Then trim the bodies to 1.720", just under cylinder length.

Blow out the taper and I get small shouldered "bottle neck" .44 mag. cases that will hold about 180 gr. of #9 shot over 6/Bullseye.

Over-powder wad is a quarter sheet of toilet tissue, packed tight with a pencil and then "solidified" with a several drops of melted candle wax, that makes it about 1/4" thick and seems to seal the powder pretty well. The over shot wad is a disc of .015" aluminum flashing, snugly fitted inside the neck with a roll crimp to secure it. (I had to make the wad seater/crimper, no common seating die would fit.) A few drops of water-proof glue finger wiped over the top seals it for any normal exposure. It works much better than any shot capsule loads I've ever tried.

Never chronographed it but that charge will blow through 1/2" sheetrock at 6' easily. The pattern is at point of aim and covers about 15" at 6-8 feet, at 3-4 feet the 6" pattern literally shreds snake heads.
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