When Termite brought the shot yesterday, I couldn't stand it, so I loaded some shot loads for the .44 magnum, using that #11 shot, then this afternoon took them out near the pond and let the grandkids help me test the difference between the #7 1/2 loads and the #11 loads.
The coke can on the left has been peppered with a load of 7 1/2 shot, the one on the right was hit with #11 shot. Both loads featured 6.4 grains of Unique and a 1.3 dipper full of shot. Range was about five feet. Either would be devastating to a little scurrying creature.
There's a cylinder full of shot loads in the foreground, along with a cylinder full in the revolver. That should be plenty for this year's hunting, unless the grandkids feel a need to destroy coke cans. I think it will win them extra "cool points" at show and tell next week.
I like the 7 1/2 shot better :-)
ReplyDeleteOld NFO said...
ReplyDeleteI like the 7 1/2 shot better
Either one would be a very dead snake. The advantage to the #11 is better pattern density.
And Pawpaw is one up on me. I looked yesterday, and the only pistol powder I have is Hodgdon Lil Gun, which is for heavy pistol loads. My Speer manual lists a shotshell load using Red Dot, which is also great for light .38 target loads, so I'm gonna pick up a pound of that.
Hell, Termite, if you'd have said something I'd have scored you some Unique. There's a four-pound jug on the shelf above my bench.
ReplyDeleteA long time ago we used to go out in the Nevada desert to shoot. My Dad gave me a Colt Navy 1851 replica, and I found it could shoot a small load of #9 shot reasonably well out to 6-7 feet.
ReplyDeleteSo one day when we were out, I loaded a couple cylinders with shot, the rest with ball, told my friend I had a good feel for the gun now and asked him to toss a quarter up and out a few feet down range in front of me. Ping! Then another, just to be sure it wasn't a fluke. Ping! They were perhaps 3-4 feet from the muzzle.
Then he wanted to try it... not so "skilled" as I was ;). I did eventually 'fess up though.
I never actually used a pistol shotshell though.