.22LR shotshell: any use for it?

1
The other day I was in Academy looking at fishing gear (got an itch to catch catfish this summer) when I came across a box of .22LR birdshot shells. I'cd never seen those before so I bought them on a lark to try them out. I took them with me to the range today and shot them from my Mark IV. I was not impressed. At 3 yards it seemed like it might take out a small bird, but the dispersion at 7 yards made me think that not enough pellets would strike an animal to kill it.

Are these as useless as they seem, or would they perform better in a rifle?

For now the rest of the box is just going on my shelf as a curiosity.
106+ recreational uses of firearms
1 defensive use
0 people injured
0 people killed

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

5
Hey man.

We live on a rural property here in Southwest Washington. Out of a handgun, I don't consider these appropriate for use on any kind of small game animal. I find them useful for dispatching rodents and such in the vicinity of the house, where I'd rather not skip a .22 bullet off the pavement and have it bounce back into my nether regions, for example. I've never tried them out of a .22 rifle to see if they change anything.

I greatly prefer the .38 Special shotshells, although I'd still be pretty hesitant to use them on a grouse or something similar. They are quite expensive per round, so I bought a lifetime supply of the little Speer shot capsules. Every few years I pry open some shotgun shells to get some #7.5 shot and load them over 2.7 grains of Titegroup.

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

6
Forgot to add that people also use handgun shotshells in areas that have poisonous snakes. We don't have that on this side of the Cascades. My buddy Reggie the garter snake lives under the front sidewalk and is welcome to eat all the mice he wants.

If we had rattlers I'd definitely go with the .38 shotshells over the .22.

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

7
2 years ago, I was having a serious rat problem. I live in a suburban area and needed something quiet and not too powerful for .22 I looked into shot shells and found that they are only useful for a few feet. A friend gave me a few Aquila, Colibri rounds, they are perfect for small rodents. Out of my Ruger revolver, they are about as loud as a hand clap, out of my bolt action rifle they are much quieter that any pellet gun. I recently fired a couple out of my rifle, into an empty Windex bottle. From about 20 feet the bullets went in but did not exit out the back.

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

8
The Federals with the crimped brass top is a favorite of a friend in AZ who shoots rattlers from his 10/22. The plastic top shells jam up in the action he said. Probably not enough power to auto-load in either case.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

9
Friend of mine uses 357 brass in his 38 loaded with shot to take care of snakes and rodents on his ranch in west Texas.I had given him some 357 brass and he cut some thin packing foam sheets. He loads the powder then places a form sheet in the brass loads the shot and another foam sheet then slightly crimps the brass shell to where it will load in his 38. He said it is cheaper than buying 38 shot shells and works quite well.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

10
leftneck wrote: Mon May 07, 2018 12:07 am Forgot to add that people also use handgun shotshells in areas that have poisonous snakes. We don't have that on this side of the Cascades. My buddy Reggie the garter snake lives under the front sidewalk and is welcome to eat all the mice he wants.

If we had rattlers I'd definitely go with the .38 shotshells over the .22.
Nothing better for rattlesnake dispatch than the .22 shot shell. I killed many as a kid on the ranch out of a 1954 model Single Six.

Rick
Fortuna Peratus Renumerat

Liberal Condescension or Conservative Paranoia; A hell of a way to run a democracy.

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

13
A woman I knew that lived in the CA mountains said during the summer they'd have rattle snakes that would get close to their house and she was concerned with her grandchildren around. She carried a Beretta 21 Bobcat pistol loaded with CCI 22lr Shot Shells, She said it cycled fine in the Beretta and she easily dispatched the rattlers. Personally I think I'd prefer a 38 Spc with CCI Shot Shells for snakes.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: .22LR shotshell: any use for it?

18
I noticed that CCI has #4 shot shells now in addition to the #12 which are the 22lr shells. Snakes come in all sizes, I think I'd go with the #4 shot in 38/357 or 44. Don't know how well they cycle in a semi auto and if the shell breaks it could really gum up a pistol.
https://www.cci-ammunition.com/products ... dNo=3714CC
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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