bigboreshooter wrote:Can you fit larger pellets in the capsule? . . .
Hoot wrote:. . . What are the internal dimensions of those capsules?
Hoot & bigboreshooter-
Speer .45 Colt Shot Capsules
Approximate internal dimensions in inches. (The molded plastic varies somewhat, so the following may be +/- 0.003 or so.)
- Capsule internal length: approx. 0.985
- Internal diameter: 0.392
- Length of wad-stopper intrusion into capsule: approx. 0.21
- Internal cup depth of wad-stopper: approx. 0.17
Buckshot size 00 weighs about 54 grains, 000 about 70 grains, and 0000 about 85 grains.
So, you could get a couple buckshot into the capsule, with some rattle room depending on which size of buckshot you selected. Internal capsule length with 0000 might be tight; perhaps some judicious whittling on the wad-stopper might make it possible.
This thread is probably NOT the place to discuss the possible terminal ballistics of buckshot-filled capsules.
Hoot properly questions the likelihood of feeding problems. Wildcatter wrote that he can get about 80% reliability of feeding of empty brass; this may approximate the rate for cartridges with the flat-nosed capsule. (This failure rate is possibly acceptable if you're defending your home against maurading raccoons in the garbage cans, but - my opinion- not acceptable for rabid raccoons or skunks.
Perhaps feeding could be improved with pointy-ended capsules. Could it be that there's an opening for a cottage industry of molding pointy shot capsules, or molding nose caps to be super-glued onto Speer capsules? I recall that the US Army issued 45-70 ctgs with a wood capsule of shot (for those soldiers who wanted to go prairie chicken hunting on the plains between bouts of excitement with the natives?)
I'm not sure at what point between about 8 feet and 12 feet the shot really leaves the capsule, nor the mechanics of that event. The blue capsule doesn't shatter, because it poked holes in the front and back sides of the corrugated cardboard box holding the patterning paper.
--Bob