ayoob files: dueling rifles - Jeffersonian's Home Page

Duke has this variety of cci handgun shotshells
on hand. From left to right: .22 LR, .22 WMR,
9mm, .38 Special, .40 S&W, .44 Special, .44
Magnum, .45 Acp and .45 colt.
Duke prefers the Sheriff’s Model .44 because it
comfortably fits in the hip pocket of his jeans.
A variety of handgun shotshells by cci. they’ve
been doing it for so long, they’ve got it down pat.
well into a frigid winter. I’m sure powder
and bullet sales at the nearest gun store
showed an increase during those months.
My Place
Everything does have its place in
nature. So do I, and this is my place,
so it’s my responsibility to protect its
residents whether 2-legged or 4-legged.
There is a .222 Remington Magnum
rifle stored near the front door. Because
I shoot so often on my private range
only awfully stupid or extremely brave
coyotes lurk nearby. So the rifle has
only been used a few times on coyotes
that might also be a danger to our
“herd” of critters. Likewise, during
warm months, there are “snake-guns”
stored near our outer doors. They are
always revolvers, and have been used
far more often than the rifle.
When I shot the most recent rattlesnake,
we had a non-shooting visitor.
He saw I used a short-barreled revolver
with shot cartridges and asked why I
didn’t just use a shotgun. The answer
is again simple. The entire purpose
of killing the rattler was to insure the
safety others. Turning loose a largegauge
shotshell around houses, outbuildings
or roads could endanger
someone. The same is true with regular
bulleted-handgun cartridges.
Once during a rabies scare the
county animal control guy shot at a
skunk under another of our sheds with
a Ruger Blackhawk .357 and missed.
I heard a “thunk” sound over by the
house and later found a divot in the
wood next to one of our doors.
Such is why I don’t want
to turn regular bullets
loose when dispatching
a rattler.
Big Bores
The revolvers kept
by our doors stoked with
shot loads are always big
bores — .44s or .45s. One
I bought especially for
this purpose is a Colt SAA
Sheriff’s Model .44 which
has both .44 Special and .44-40 cylinders.
Only the .44 Special is used
because I’ve found it next to impossible
to get plastic shot capsules to
stay put in thin-walled .44-40 brass.
I often stick this short-barreled Colt
in my hip pocket when going about
outside during the summer. For safety
it’s loaded with only five rounds, with
the hammer down on the empty sixth
chamber.
For many years I made my own
handgun shotshells because I wanted
to use .45 Colt revolvers. Speer made
.38/.357 and .44-caliber plastic shot
capsules but for some strange reason
none for .45s. Therefore I used the ageold
gas check method. One goes in the
case with the cup-up and one on top,
cup-down, with the bird shot held in
between. The results were effective but
slow to produce.
A few years back Speer finally
added .45-caliber shot capsules to their
catalog so as far as I’m concerned the
gas check method of manufacture is
now obsolete. In fact I’ve not even
used the shot capsules at all this year to
handload my own snake loads. I have
a good supply of CCI factory loaded
shotshells on hand ranging from .22
LR to .45 Colt. The rattler shown in the
accompanying photo was dispatched
For the handloader Speer sells
shot capsules in .38, .44 and .45 calibers.
52 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • MARCH/APRIL 2013