Now, in 2025, waiting for the desert to be open for recreational shooting caused some boredom. Boredom, some say, eventually leads to creativity. Maybe. I did have the following thought, though: since plastic tubes allowed birdshot to be fired from a high-power rifle, what could be done with the proper diameter tube in a handgun?? Wait, the T/C can shoot .410s already. Great comparison platform.

Since a .410 is limited to a 3” shell, with a maximum charge of 11/16 oz. (about 300 grains) of pellets, could I boost that? And wouldn’t you know, the 2023 Hodgdon Annual Manual, amongst other recipes, has load data for the .45 Colt (for rugged guns like Ruger, Freedom Arms and T/C ONLY) for 335 and 360 grain projectiles. Velocities, in their case from a 7.25” barrel, appeared to be about what other manuals show for 3” .410 gauge reloads. My TC barrel measures 10 inches. Also, unlikely that in my Contender I will get listed .410 gauge 3” velocities, probably out of barrels of at least 24 inches. Additionally, I was curious if a larger bore also demanded larger pellets for a decent pattern, like the .308 Win. did about a year ago.

360 grains is a 20% increase in payload alone! Who knows about velocity? It did not take too much effort to load up 5 rounds, loaded with Large Pistol Magnum primers, H4227 powder and #6 lead shot.

When the desert restrictions were eventually lifted, testing could finally begin. First up was a reloaded .410 ga. 3” containing #7½ shot. That reload was easily 30 years old, fueled by 15 grains of 2400. Back then, three of us at work went in together on a MEC, set up for .410 ga. One of the guys also played with a TC barrel, and all of us had kids with their .410 H&R single shots. Reloading made sense then. Don’t know who ended up with that MEC Junior, but it wasn’t me.

Anyway, from my bench the first rested and aimed shot reminded me that 300 grains from a handgun is a little stout, including in pellet form. More impressively yet was the pattern, this from 25 steps away:

#7 ½ shot at 25 yds: 83 pellets hit within a 15” circle, of which 8 hit the 4.5” dia center

A second shot with #6s also pleased. Previously I had never patterned my T/C barrel on paper, only across a mud puddle after a rain. That had looked useful – and was, as a few quail succumbed to my T/C over the years.

Since I could, I tried one more custom shell, now of course without the choke in my T/C barrel. It went ‘bang’, but barely, with little recoil, and nothing making a hole in the fresh target.

The experiment ended quickly, in total failure. I decided right there and then that another attempt with a different powder and/or rifle magnum primer or more tape wrapped around the capsule was not worth it, only because the T/C choke appears quite effective.

Since that choke was out of the barrel anyway, it made sense to launch one more 3” #6 shell and determine its unchoked pattern.

Bottom Line: my custom 360 grain “projectile” apparently did not generate enough resistance within the TC barrel that the powder charge never developed proper working pressure. Luckily, that barrel in its original .410 ga. is quite potent. Even without choke tube it could bring down small game within 25 steps.

#6 shot at 25 yds without choke: 20 pellets hit within a 15” circle, of which 3 hit the 4.5” dia center

Too bad that recently the quail population around here is not great. I like eating them. That’s why the challenge of chasing them with a .410 Contender is too much of a handicap for me currently. But I’m ready to!

Can the .45-70 be used as a shotgun?
Yep, I have made a third attempt converting a rifled firearm into a shotgun. It had been a short-range success firing shot from rifles chambered in .308 Win, 8mm Mauser and .375 Durham. Those results suggested that any caliber in-between could equally be made to shoot shot. Then came the utter failure trying to boost shotgun performance in my .45 Colt/.410 Contender barrel. What remained was: Does a larger bore also demand larger pellets for a decent pattern, as had been the case for the .308 Win.?

Well, I do have a .45-70 barrel to try this home-made shotshell concept with. Again, the 2023 Hodgdon Annual Manual provided data, including for a 500 grain bullet. Long story short, the reusable straw I employed as a shot capsule just fits inside that .45-70 muzzle. To fashion a “bullet” of no more than 500 grains, 3.2” of the straw, plus the end plugs made from .32 ACP cases, cut down to about half their length, and 7/8 oz. of pellets did the trick. Included was also 4.5 inches of tape wrapping to obtain a snug fit inside a fired (not re-sized) .45-70 case. Punch out the old primers, re-prime with Large Rifle Magnum, add AA 5744 powder, slide in the capsule, and you have 45-70 shotshell ammo. I made two to try.

Note that a .410 ga. 3” shell will not easily go into a .45-70 chamber. If one’s life depended on it, at least for my .45-70 barrel, I could probably force in it there. A fired shell would no doubt only come back out with a stout rod inserted from the muzzle. Meaning that the plastic from a .410 ga. hull will not work as shot capsule in a .45 cal. barrel.

Note also that 7/8 oz. is the load of pellets contained in typical Dove & Quail 20 gauge shells. And darn, the plastic portion of a .410 ga. shell easily drops into the bore of a .500 S&W. So why not make a .500 S&W shotshell also?

For that I had to separate the plastic and brass. To plug the driving end (under the tape) I simply re-inserted a spent shotshell primer. For the front end I used a standard .410 plastic wad, upside down. With such configuration the .410 plastic tube easily held 7/8 oz. of #6 shot as well. And the ‘projectile’ total weight was at or below 440 grains, for which there again is plenty of .500 S&W load data.

Here you go for two of those:

.500 S&W with 440 grain lead bullet, empty .410 3” hull; separated hull, configured as 440 gr. shot capsule, and loaded into a .500 S&W case. Note how my Lee sizer die scratches brass. That would matter if I were to shoot .500s a lot.

Things to consider: In a modern typical shotshell, the wad is a rather flimsy plastic cup, its sides even slotted. Upon firing and exiting the muzzle, the wad “catches” air, flares out and thereby separates from the shot pellets, allowed them to spread. The straws used for shot capsules in the .308 Win. were basically .30 caliber, somewhat brittle. For sure their ride down the rifle barrel stressed them such that after firing I never found anything of them, leave alone intact sections.

The green straw for the .45-70 is about .43 caliber, and softer. Similar to shotshell hull material, but with thicker walls. Will they and the .410 hull tubes release their shot pellets when exiting the barrels? Or am I simply blasting filled plastic capsules downrange, no doubt in unstable and uncontrolled flight paths? Only testing will tell.

.45-70 with 405 gr. lead bullet; .45-70 with 500 gr. shot capsule, shot capsule with #6 shot, .410ga shell with #7½ shot for comparison

With all that in mind, I opted to set the target at 15 steps. The first shot with the .45-70 generated recoil, but not quite as much as a round with a 405 grain lead bullet. It also freed the shot charge, as I could see small dust clouds around my target. I’m not sure what all happens when these plastic capsules are launched through rifled barrels. Since these things do not generate the recoil a normal bullet does, maybe quite a bit of gas blows past them, and by doing so possibly partially collapses the plastic inwardly. Whatever, it must be some brutal ride, enough let go of all the contents.

Here's the target:

Interesting that both shortened .32 ACP cases hit the center, whereas the lead pellets spread more than I wanted them to. At this short distance the load may barely be useful.

The second shot I fired with the target at 25 steps. Only a few pellets hit it along with one of the .32s. The .45-70 shotshell had already lost its usefulness. The two .500 S&W shotshells spread their stuff even more.

So, the larger calibers do not offer an advantage with respect to their shot patterns over smaller bores. Also, from a practical approach it is easy to chamber these overly long shells in my break-open single shot weapons. Whether that would also be the case for a lever-action I do not know. Obviously, the .500 S&W shells would never do it in a revolver.