Can I use lead shot in a Cold Walker?

I broke a finger in my left hand and can't hold on to a rifle now till it heals. Is it possible to use lead shot in Uberti Colt Walker for varmints?

I don’t believe so. You’d need to get a capsule of some type holding the shot to pass from cylinder through b/c gap and open up to spread shot and it’s spinning through rifling. Those smarter than me will be along shortly to confirm.

It is entirely possible. Cut you powder charge to 20gr seat a .451 copper gas check over the powder with cup facing out, load #9 shot to just below the mouth of the chamber then seat another gas check cup facing down over the shot use a little pressure and the gas check will expand to seal the load. Good for vermin out to about 25ft.

It's possible, but...

Sam Fadala who published a number of blackpowder how-to books did some extensive testing with lead shot, and he found the rifling resulted in a "donut-shaped pattern" -- lots of lead in a band around the circle, but not so much in the center where you were aiming.

Old No7

I am the king of typo's.

You might want to change the Tittle, quite the difference between a Cold Walker and a Colt Walker though I got what you meant........

no. only in a warm one. sorry... just had to

I was playing it straight. I hate to think of the number of Typ's on my head. Not that I was not thinking that, my dad had a rotten sense of humor (and we called it something else) and I sort of inherited that twisted outlook.

whats the difference between a walker and judge? get some 410 shot shell wads and se if they are short enough to get into the walker cylinder with 20g powder and have enough room for a felt wad over the shot?

A judge doesn’t shoot bird shot worth a s#*t either.

I didn't think it did it well but I know it does in fact do it. Heck you can get shot shells for a snub nose .38sp if that's what you want to do...

I've mentioned this a couple times. My grandpa used to have me carry a walker with bird shot around the farm for rats, took a handful of rabbits and squirrels in the garden to. Load was 20 gr 3f, thin card, topped with 8 shot, hard card on top.

12 ish foot was the max range, like stated above, you get doughnut patterns quick.

Also, watch your backstop. Those pellets loose speed fast. Couple rats i shot were up against wood walls and i had a half a dozen or so pellets come flying back at me. Just bounced right of me but i wouldn't want to catch one in the eye.

Maddog Avraham said:

I broke a finger in my left hand and can't hold on to a rifle now till it heals. Is it possible to use lead shot in Uberti Colt Walker for varmints?

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While I can’t speak from personal experience with a cap & ball revolver shooting shot, I have witnessed shot shells fired in a rifled breechloader. It performed exactly as @OldNo7 described in post #4. The rifling makes the shot load spin, and once it exits the muzzle centrifugal force takes over and the pattern spreads, leaving a hole in the center. I’ve seen the results.

I hope your finger heals quickly!

Notchy Bob

Give it a try! you're not going to damage anything. I made up several "rat shot" cartridges for the Smith carbine I used to have, and according to the coke cans I killed, they would have been deadly on snakes and vermin at rat-shot range.

Maddog Avraham said:

I broke a finger in my left hand and can't hold on to a rifle now till it heals. Is it possible to use lead shot in Uberti Colt Walker for varmints?

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It’s possible, question is effectiveness. Similar, but not the same as loading a percussion revolver, I have handloaded 44 and 45 caliber modern handgun ‘snake’ loads by using two pistol bullet gas checks to hold the shot, one over the powder the other at the mouth of the case with the mouths of gas checks facing each other (@denster suggested similar). When shot out of a pistol’s rifled barrel the load of #9 shot posed a grave danger to clay pigeons out to maybe 25 or 30 feet. I never did try the load on any snakes, but I was ready.


And I do hope you find a way to warm that poor ‘Cold’ Walker up.

i had a half a dozen or so pellets come flying back at me. Just bounced right of me but i wouldn't want to catch one in the eye.

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Ok, my mind just had to go to A Christmas Story.

Don't know if it is any good but have a look there:

https://www.speer.com/bullets/shot_capsules/19-8782.html

Maddog Avraham said:

I broke a finger in my left hand and can't hold on to a rifle now till it heals. Is it possible to use lead shot in Uberti Colt Walker for varmints?

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I'd get some plastic shot cups from Speer and load them just like a conical. Should work great as they do in my .44 Mag revolvers.

M. De Land said:

I'd get some plastic shot cups from Speer and load them just like a conical. Should work great as they do in my .44 Mag revolvers.

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They’re not available currently… surprisingly… but perhaps you could use a wonder wad over powder and then a .463”x.030” veggie fiber wad over and under the shot load? It’s not difficult to get the card wads started, sort of tip them into the chamber and then use the ram to send them down.

Dusty_Traveler said:

Give it a try! you're not going to damage anything. I made up several "rat shot" cartridges for the Smith carbine I used to have, and according to the coke cans I killed, they would have been deadly on snakes and vermin at rat-shot range.

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Well… I have a Smith. And a bunch of the plastic cartridges. What kind of load did you use?

Blackie Thomas did a YouTube vide on this.