Once back in Arizona I did assemble some Speer capsules. With No2 lead shot they contained 30 pellets and weighed 101 grains. Take 2, and we have a ‘projectile’ weight of 202 grains. To get at a reasonable powder charge, .350 Legend data seems like a decent starting point. I would try 20 grains of IMR 4227. Note that those two .357 shot capsules would pass through a 9.3mm bore with virtually no wall resistance. In fact for two reasons, those capsules should be fired at higher velocities than from a revolver. First to make sure that they do break up and release the shot pellets, and second to give each pellet more speed, more killing power. That darn raccoon had offered plenty of time to load and fire such special ammo, almost taunting from his high perch. I wish I had a 9.3x62 to test this concept.

But wait, I have a .375 Durham (.338 Win Mag necked up to .375). Of course, no Samereier cases for that caliber, but I decided to launch a single capsule anyway. No load data either for a 100 grain projectile, so I chose Trail Boss. 24 grains about filled the case to the junction of shoulder and neck. In order to ‘seat’ the capsule such that it would stay in place with some friction, a little wrapping with tape did the trick, sort of like paper-patched bullets.

Test Setup
A water-filled tin can, 4.5” high and 3.3” diameter, ten steps away was the target for test firing. The first shot blew the can off its stand. 4 pellets had hit it, and a 5th nicked it. The pattern on the cardboard one step behind the can showed a spread of over 2 feet wide. Including the hits on the can and the wooden block below it, 27 pellets had made their mark. Encouraged I sat up a new can, fired. It remained standing. No pellet had touched it. My 3rd and last shot did knock the can off again. But only one pellet had hit it.

Tough to say if in/from a 9.3mm bore the shot charge would be somewhat more concentrated, since the capsules would tumble less than in the sloppy .375 (9.5mm) barrel. Bottom line: in that German situation it would make absolute sense to stack two capsules inside a 9.3x62 Reduzierhuelse, in order to get twice the number of lead pellets out of the barrel.

How about the more common .30 caliber rifles? A shot ‘shell’ for them could possibly even be practical against our Arizona rattlers. The obvious problem is to find some type of capsule to contain the shot AND to fire it in the rifle without the chance of leaving some shot or wad in the barrel.

A great idea came quickly. They make a plastic drinking “straw” with a .30” outer diameter! That’s about bore size – hmm. I ordered a 12-pack, ALINK brand. Meanwhile I wondered if a fired .22LR case, or a short section of it, could be used as a plug to close a section of such straw.

Once on hand, that .30 “caliber” straw would fit loosely into a sized .308 case and had only a little amount of friction when pushed into a .308 cal barrel. Tube material is the soft, tough kind and walls are on the thick side, but a .22LR empty case works perfectly as plug, and after cut short by a fine hacksaw even going into the straw with a little friction.

After some experimenting, I assembled shot capsules that were 1.7” long, contained 26 pellets of lead No 3 (No2s stacked only on top of each other, not sideways). Plugged by .22LR empties shortened to app. 0.2” my projectile weighed about 91 grains.

Loaded .308 Win; .30 cal shot capsule; .30 cal plastic straw

Loading for the 308 Winchester
Load data was no problem. Years earlier I had fired 86 grain and 110 grain bullets using IMR 4227. Of course it is a difference if a .308” dia jacketed projectile is forced through a rifled barrel, or plastic tubes, in which the individual lead pellets might even get fused together. After all, maximum shotgun speeds hover around 1500 fps. Now using 31 grains of IMR 4227 in my .308 Win, the shot capsule was seated by hand until it bottomed out against the powder. (Not a good idea, by the way! Read the last paragraph of this report). If the plastic capsules behaved similarly to jacketed bullets, speeds should exceed 2000 fps. Time to pull the trigger.

The can did not always get hit. But in comparison from what had happened with the 375 Durham, noise level and recoil were higher. And yes, shooting shot from a 308 Win worked! Except, at ten steps I didn’t get patterns, more a spray of over 2 feet in all direction. Now, this would become a very long report if I detailed all the experimenting that followed. Let’s just say that the shot capsules became longer and longer.

Even with a capsule length of 4” such “shot shell” could be loaded into my Tikka T3 through the opened action. Yet the spraying remained.

.308 Win loaded with 4”long capsule containing 19 #T steel pellets

The spraying remained until I increased shot size. The largest I had on hand was “T” steel shot, and not many of them. Only one shot hinted that coarser hail may be the path away from spray and towards something resembling a pattern.

Now then, do they make .22 diameter lead shot?!? What I did find was pellets of .21” diameter (measured), size “TTT”. Bought a box of 20 gauge loaded by MagTech, each shell containing 26 TTT pellets. I assembled some with 15, with 12 and with 9 pellets. Note that a pellet was pressed into each of the shortened 22LR cases.

Time had come to settle on a final configuration. OK, since this type of ammo looks rather adventurous, I chose the 12-pellet payload. That requires a 2.45” capsule length. After loading and firing 4 of those, half of their pellets landed in an 8” circle. By the way, capsules with 15 pellets weighed about 230 grains, with 12 pellets 190 grains. Load for the 12ers was 36 grains of IMR 4895. But wait, the experimentation bug wasn’t done biting.

Darker tape covered some of the T steel hits.	Capsules loaded with “TTT” lead shot. The raccoon got hit each time with at least 3, once even with 8 pellets.
My .308 Win ammo. None worked as good as those loaded with TTT shot.	The snake got blasted with #9 shot from 3 steps away.

 
The smaller the shot size, the larger the spray. And yes, if no shot pellets are at hand, fired Large primers fit that plastic tube fine. Four of the primers hit the 8” circle from 10 steps away. Also, adding some epoxy, in this case among the BB shot, tightened the pattern. With this configuration sections of the capsule hit the target for the first time. But, with some pellets imbedded in glue, is this still a shotshell??

Now, while my .308 Win shotshell ammo worked within limits, it also needs to be rugged enough for being along in the hunting field. For that I assembled an additional capsule, drop-tested it 10 times onto a wooden 2x6 from 3 feet up, then loaded it into a .308 round, and dropped that 10 times onto carpet and also outside into the dirt. Then I chambered and unloaded my Tikka T3 with it 10 times. No problems occurred.

Bottom Line: that darn raccoon will not be so lucky again.

And of course, what works in a .308 Winchester should also do well in an …

8mm Mauser – 8X57IS
In summary, I tested this caliber as well. The main differences are the capsules fit loosely in the .323 bore, and that they need to be wrapped with tape in order to be seated with some friction in the 8mm case. In fact, I did not even resize the cases, just set a fresh primer.

Initially I had also tried a 4” capsule filled with #7½ lead shot. That ammo chambered easier in my open-sighted 1917 Erfurt 98K, because the capsule enters the barrel without any friction. Even hunted with it. That is, during the late dove season it had rained, and I was hiding at first light near a mud puddle. Doves indeed came in for their morning coffee. Twice I fired while a bird was sitting 11 steps away. Both flew off unharmed. Light pellets just did not work. I should have tried it with at least #2s.

My final loads were again fueled by IMR 4895, with projectile weight and charge as follows: 125 – 46gr; 152 – 44gr; 192 – 41gr. Spray was more, compared to the .308. With each shot, only 2 pellets hit the 8” circle. But the Large primer load did a number on my snake. Which is neat because for a snake load no shot pellets are needed.

Final 8x57 test ammo. The spent primer load was more effective on a snake from 3 steps away than #9 shot from my .308 Win. Note how some anvils had separated from their primer cups.

 
OK, if you want to assemble your own, here are the steps I used:

The Projectile/Capsule

1. With a fine file roughen the outside of spent .22LR cases.
2. Cut one to a length of app. 024”, the other app 0.18” (actual length is not critical), primarily to increase capsule capacity. Roughness from sawing also keeps them in the capsules with more ‘bite’.
3. For the TTT shot, with a pair of pliers squeeze one pellet into each shortened .22LR case, and push to bottom (like with a flattened nail).
4. Cut capsule to app 2.45”, then chamfer both inside ends slightly.
5. Roughen the inside of the capsule where the .22LR cases will sit (I used a drywall screw for this).
6. Apply small amount of epoxy (I used Gorilla Epoxy Clear) to inside of capsule and outside of shortened .22s.
7. Press the long .22 case into one end of the capsule, then fill with shot, then install the short .22 case. Wipe off excess and let epoxy dry.

The Case
Since the capsules are .30 and not .308 they will not provide a tight fit in the .308 Win neck. I got around that by removing the primer punch stem and expander button from my LEE sizer die. Not all brass is equal. I tried cases from Federal (FC), Remington (R-P), Winchester; Hornady, Blaser (T), Nexus and PMC. Only the Federal and Remington gave a good fit with the capsules.

Clean case and size in naked LEE die. (Again, for the 8x57 no sizing is needed, just the right amount of tape. For my cases 2.65” of tape wrapped around the capsule gave a good tight fit that still allowed seating the capsule by hand). Then brush inside of case neck with cleaning brush (so later the epoxy would hold better). Punch out old primer with a LEE depriming rod. Seat a fresh one. Chamfer case mouth.

Loading Shotshell Ammo

1. Fill case with appropriate amount of powder.
2. Lightly apply epoxy to the inside of the neck and the outside of the capsule where the longer .22 empty sits.
3. By hand carefully seat the capsule NO DEEPER than the end of the case neck. Wipe off any excess epoxy and let dry.

Note that step 3) above is most important. If the capsule extends into the powder ‘room’ there is a chance that upon firing the pressure could crush the capsule before it has fully entered the barrel. If that happens the pressure would blow through the sides and then center of the capsule rather than drive it from behind. Stuff could then remain in the barrel.

375 Durham with 260gr Nosler Partition and with TTT pellets

Lastly, I had one more thought. In a .308 barrel those capsules are ‘bore-riding’. In an 8mm (.323) barrel they are merely a container for the pellets. A capsule can be that for the 375 Durham as well. So I loaded a round accordingly. It required about 10 inches of tape to achieve a tight fit between capsule and case neck. Upon firing four of the pellets hit the 8 inch circle.

And while I was making capsules, I made one more with fired Large primers and loaded it in my .308 Win to test it as snake load. Not thinking and in a hurry that morning, instead of from 3 steps I fired it from 10 steps. Still two primers hit the snake’s head.