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Shooting shot out of a rifle? Steel shot?

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Back when I was just barely 18, I bought a Traditions Hawken Woodsman flintlock rifle in .50 caliber since I didn't want to bother going through the Canadian firearms licensing process, and flintlocks are considered antiques regardless of when they are manufactured. Anyways, although I bought it in 2019, it is now 2021, and I finally got a chance to drive up far enough north to some crown land to actually discharge the thing. I got two shots off and then stupidly used the wrong end of the ram rod to run a cleaning patch down the barrel... womp womp. I've since managed to get it out with a corkscrew taped to a marshmallow roasting stick.

Anyways, finally getting to shoot the thing has reawakened my love for firearms and now muzzleloaders. I've been eyeballing my 4.5mm copper coated steel BBs and wondering what kind of shot cup I would need to buy/make to spare the barrel. The rifle has a 1:42 twist rate I believe, so the dispersion shouldn't be too bad. I was thinking I would wrap some paper many times around a dowel until its nice and thick, and then use toilet paper as the over and under wadding. I want to use such a load for hunting squirrels at close range.

I know it's fairly specific which is why I made this account as I couldn't find anything on the internet, but have any of you experience with shooting steel BBs out of a rifled barrel? Or even just regular shot?

If not, I'll just make a matchlock pipe gun so I don't have to care about the state of the barrel.
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Back when I was just barely 18, I bought a Traditions Hawken Woodsman flintlock rifle in .50 caliber since I didn't want to bother going through the Canadian firearms licensing process, and flintlocks are considered antiques regardless of when they are manufactured.
I have actually tried what you asking about using that same rifle. The pattern is pretty unusual. Here are the results:

 
No offense meant to the OP, but this kind of post to me seems to be coming from a juvenile, one who is still thinking on the childish side. Common sense should tell a person that, A. you will never get a decent pattern shooting shot from a rifle, at least one with any appreciable range to it. B. Using copper washed BBS? Why? That's just inviting trouble even if shot from a smoothbore.

Save yourself the trouble friend. Either get a smoothbore for shot, and proper lead shot, and save the rifle for shooting what it does best, single projectiles.
 
No offense meant to the OP, but this kind of post to me seems to be coming from a juvenile, one who is still thinking on the childish side. Common sense should tell a person that, A. you will never get a decent pattern shooting shot from a rifle, at least one with any appreciable range to it. B. Using copper washed BBS? Why? That's just inviting trouble even if shot from a smoothbore.

Save yourself the trouble friend. Either get a smoothbore for shot, and proper lead shot, and save the rifle for shooting what it does best, single projectiles.

I wouldn't say it is childish at all. If you don't try it, you never really know. That said, you will get horrible patterns, I've tried it, and would estimate a spread of 3 feet at 15 yards. It is extreme. This is one of those things you can't really get around with normal thinking. A paradox gun is an exception, but probably isn't in your budget.

Also while some shoot steel shot in a smooth bore, I flat out refuse to do it. The is no good reason at all to ever shoot steel shot in a muzzleloader, bismuth is a lot more expensive, but not expensive enough to where you should use steel shot. Since you want to shoot squirrel, why on earth would you ever consider steel or bismuth? Magnum lead shot is the best shot you can buy that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Toilet paper does not work well for a shotgun wad. I even tested the velocity as a gag, and it was down almost 500 fps because the stuff doesn't seal. That and it shoots out a bunch of smoldering confetti, not good if you are worried about starting fires.

You can try shot for fun in your rifle, but rifles are a one trick pony. They shoot a single ball or bullet really accurately. They don't load particularly easy, and they will never be good shotguns. That's the cost of accuracy. Use a patched ball for squirrels.
 
No offense meant to the OP, but this kind of post to me seems to be coming from a juvenile, one who is still thinking on the childish side. Common sense should tell a person that, A. you will never get a decent pattern shooting shot from a rifle, at least one with any appreciable range to it. B. Using copper washed BBS? Why? That's just inviting trouble even if shot from a smoothbore.

Save yourself the trouble friend. Either get a smoothbore for shot, and proper lead shot, and save the rifle for shooting what it does best, single projectiles.

I figured since the twist rate is slow that the pattern wouldn't be so bad, and I would rather not expose myself to lead as much as I can.
 
I figured since the twist rate is slow that the pattern wouldn't be so bad, and I would rather not expose myself to lead as much as I can.

You are aware the biggest lead risk in shooting is the primers? Your caps are made of lead sulphate. Lead shot is just metallic lead. Oxide can be bad, but metallic lead can't be absorbed into the body.
 
You are aware the biggest lead risk in shooting is the primers? Your caps are made of lead sulphate. Lead shot is just metallic lead. Oxide can be bad, but metallic lead can't be absorbed into the body.

It's a flintlock rifle... That's actually one of the reasons I bought a flintlock. No caps required. As far as I am aware, they don't make lead free muzzleloader caps. Federal makes some great lead free ammo though.
 
Unless you are casting lead daily and then not doing it in a ventilated area, and also are eating your lunch and dinner with unwashed hands from melting lead, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I've been playing with muzzleloaders for close to 30 years now, plus have been fishing my whole life, which includes exposure to lead fishing sinkers, I'm still here.

As to the twist rate in your barrel, you don't want any twist with a shotgun load. Think about it, you fire a charge of shot down a rifled tube. It's undoubtedly going to pick up some degree of rotation from the rifling. What's the first thing that shot is gonna want to do upon exiting the muzzle? Right, it's going to want to expand away from the central point of rotation. Even though the charge is also moving forward, it's also going to continue to expand due to the spin. All you are going to get is a giant donut of a pattern at all but the closet of ranges. It's the reason why .22 long rifle snake shot shells are only effective to maybe five feet. You want that charge to move forward all at once, and open up uniformly, from not having been spun up before it leaves the barrel.

You want the spin on a single projectile, but not with a shot charge.
 
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Unless you are casting lead daily and then not doing it in a ventilated area, and also are eating your lunch and dinner with unwashed hands from melting lead, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I've been playing with muzzleloaders for close to 30 years now, plus have been fishing my whole life, which includes exposure to lead fishing sinkers, I'm still here.

As to the twist rate in your barrel, you don't want any twist with a shotgun load. Think about it, you fire a charge of shot down a rifled tube. It's undoubtedly going to pick up some degree of rotation from the rifling. What's the first thing that shot is gonna want to do upon exiting the muzzle? Right, it's going to want to expand away from the central point of rotation. Even though the charge is also moving forward, it's also going to continue to expand due to the spin. All you are going to get is a giant donut of a pattern at all but the closet of ranges. It's the reason why .22 long rifle snake shot shells are only effective to maybe five feet. You want that charge to move forward all at once, and open up uniformly, from not having been spun up before it leaves the barrel.

You want the spin on a single projectile, but not with a shot charge.

yes, I am fully aware of how rifling impacts shot, which is why I said I would use it at close range. I used to wreck bugs with salt in my pellet gun as a kid, and I noticed the doughnut pattern. I figured the range would be better than a .22 since the twist rate is what, like a quarter of the average .22 barrel's twist rate?

I'm fairly chemical sensitive, so I just like to stay away from all toxins as much as I can. I've gotten brain fog from "negligible" amounts of toxins on more than a few occasions.
 
I was also wondering if hawken barrels across different ages and manufacturers are all interchangeable, since Traditions does not make a smoothbore barrel.

Not hardly . Find a traditions barrel with plug that matches yours that has been neglected and is pitted . Have your local machine shop bore out the rifling and polish the bore. Roached barrels can be found pretty cheap if you take your time and look for them .
 
Have any of you tried shooting shot out of your rifles using a plastic shot cup? I know it's not traditional, but could avoid the rifling deforming the shot, although it would still rotate the cup. I don't know whether commercially available cups would fit standard muzzle loader calibers.
 
yes, I am fully aware of how rifling impacts shot, which is why I said I would use it at close range. I used to wreck bugs with salt in my pellet gun as a kid, and I noticed the doughnut pattern. I figured the range would be better than a .22 since the twist rate is what, like a quarter of the average .22 barrel's twist rate?

I'm fairly chemical sensitive, so I just like to stay away from all toxins as much as I can. I've gotten brain fog from "negligible" amounts of toxins on more than a few occasions.
Then sir I think you might need to reconsider muzzleloading in general. I doubt you are going to be free of toxins altogether just by not handling lead. The powder, projectiles, cleaners, I guess can all be toxic to somebody.

I think you're taking the toxicity out of context, as if you use common sense practices like washing your hands and not rubbing your nose or eyes after handling lead, you will not have a problem.
 
Then sir I think you might need to reconsider muzzleloading in general. I doubt you are going to be free of toxins altogether just by not handling lead. The powder, projectiles, cleaners, I guess can all be toxic to somebody.

I think you're taking the toxicity out of context, as if you use common sense practices like washing your hands and not rubbing your nose or eyes after handling lead, you will not have a problem.

the powder is a mild lung irritant, solvents can be toxic but most aren't these days, and the projectiles I use are either full copper or jacketed sabot bullets. Lead is a carcinogenic neurotoxin, and a potent one at that.
 
Have any of you tried shooting shot out of your rifles using a plastic shot cup? I know it's not traditional, but could avoid the rifling deforming the shot, although it would still rotate the cup. I don't know whether commercially available cups would fit standard muzzle loader calibers.

this seems like the best idea, but I have not been able to find sabots that don't inherently come with bullets in my area.
 
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