doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lethal range of birdshot?

FWIW I've never considered #12 shot, which is what I've always been told is in 22RF shotshells, to be bird shot. They were, however, fully up to the task of breaking the cracker sized clay "hummingbirds" that we shot at Boy Scout camp firing range. The game, trap and targets were dubbed MoSkeetO brand. I just wish I could remember the ranges at which we shot them. Though I cannot, I do believe we broke some of them at more than 5 yards. Granted, killing a bird outright, without wounding it to die a slow death later, is not the same as chipping a clay target.

Why don't you pattern some, and do a penetration test at the same time?

I would love to have one of the Remington smoothbores designed for these shells but have never gotten up the gumption to pay the prices a nice one brings today. Wingshooting carpenter bees around the barn and sheds would be super fun with one.

You will gain just a little more range by virtue of a better pattern, if you using one of those chamber adapters in a 20 gauge or similar shotgun. Rifling does nothing good to patterns. Also it has been my experience that the shot shells with the plastic cap do not pattern quite as well as those that brass-crimped on the end. YMMV

When it stops raining (we were lucky it was not torrential for the Coronation) I intend to compare all 3 types on paper at 10 yards in this converted Rook Rifle, that had been Parker-rifled to .22 LR but sadly then smoothbored.

Sweet! I didn't know the long, paper ones were being made. Are they British?

They are Gevelot 6mm or No.1 Long Shot Double Charge. As Gevelot ceased production about 1980 they are probably 50 to 100 years old.


The Federal crimped Long Shot contain 25 grains of No. 12 shot whilst the CCI Extra Long (with plastic shot container ) have 31 grains (2.01 grams).

Sacrificed a misfired Gevelot No. 1 Long shot to find out the contents. 21.2 grains of shot (42 pellets so about No. 10 shot) ahead of 2 thin card wads and 3.2 grains very fine black powder.



Whilst it looks more impressive than the modern cartridges it has a smaller payload. “All hat and no cattle”.

A young cottontail was nipping off some plants in my wife's garden. I took a S & W K22 with those little shot cartridges with a clear cap and was trying to scare him at about 50 feet. The shot actually immobilized him and then I got close and finished him off. I was surprised at the results.

Depending on how close your neighbors are, an air rifle with a pellet loaded, on a day off from work, during the week might be a better option. I had a neighbor to the west of me that eliminated a pecking nuisance off my garage eves with his .410, for which I was very grateful, but, that was two neighbors ago, and the current version would be mortified at the thought of it.

I had people tell me if I eliminated the bugs he was looking for, he would quit pecking. Sure. I think they peck just for fun some days, just like a cat that sharpens it’s claws on your couch, instead of the post you bought for him to do that to. Never found any bugs in the wood of the garage, just woodpecker damage.

Good luck.

Best,
Ted

It would be interesting to hang a hollow log or box that would be really loud when hammered upon. Might be all that's needed to get him off the house.

About four or five years ago when we got a new water heater, I thought there was a sort of water lock or air in the line down in the basement. I decided to look from outside, and sure enough there was a woodpecker sitting on the roof vent, pecking on the metal.

Stan's earlier comment about the old scout days with Remington bolt smooth bores, brought back memories. Literally, it was small chips out of hand thrown, cracker targets at possibly twenty feet, maybe the distance of the length of an old time station wagon.

Ted, the bird we have down here that pecks on wood trim on houses so bad is locally called a yellow-hammer. My grandad next door built a brick home in 1947 but it had a good deal of wood trim. He hated those yellow-hammers because they pecked holes in the trim. The people that told you about eliminating the bugs were backwards, and wrong. The bugs aren't there until the wood pecking birds create the holes, which the bugs then inhabit ......... until the birds come back and "clean out" the holes.

https://wildsouth.org/yellowhammer/