Stevens Favorite Shotshell

[Lostinidaho]

I have a Stevens Favorite Takedown with two barrels. One has nice rifling. Shoots excellent. Other one has poor rifling

I tried .22 shot-shells in the nice rifle barrel, had a donut shape shot pattern.

I tried .22 shot-shells in the poor rifle barrel, still had a donutish shape shot pattern.

I thought about drilling out the bore of the poor rifle barrel to get a better shot pattern.

But then I thought about going up to a .32 or a .38 or a .41 long colt cases modified for rim fire.

The idea is more room for more shot.

What are your thoughts

Thanks in Advance

[country gent]

A machine reamer could be purchased that cuts .224. extend this to the length needed and add a stop so that you only ream to the chamber area from the muzzle. Done with oil and cut correctly this size reamer will remove the rifling and most of the light imperfections. You need to check laws as to legality of this conversion

[LAGS]

What about converting it to the 9mm RF Shot shell.
They still make that.
Midway had them for the fulbert garden gun

[Chev. William]

In the USA there is a Federal Minimum Shotgun Barrel Length Law in Place.
In the Various States There MAY be additional Laws that regulate This "conversion' from Rifled To Smooth bore. Please check before Starting the 'conversion'.

As a Side note: I knew That Stevens "Favorite" barrels seem to historically Shoot pretty accurately even with little rifling remaining; but the OP's comments sure Add to my Background "Lore" on them!

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[John Taylor]

When Winchester made their shot barrels for the model 61 the bore was .219" smooth. Also there were two counter bores available, one with .265" diameter that went back 8.5" from the muzzle and the other, called a Rutledge, was .390" and went 13" from the muzzle.

[Blackwater]

Rifling does indeed tend to scatter" the shot. I believe the dia. of the .22RF is .222-.223, isn't it? I believe I'd go with a .222" reamer and then lap it out smooth to take out any spiral reaming marks. This should give you a better pattern. You'd be the envy of the crowd at any "rat killin'" with a gun like that! Also might even lap a tad of "choke" into the muzzle, too? Now THAT would make it a real "Long Tom" of a rat killer!

[Lostinidaho]

Blackwater. That's what I want to accomplish.

Since I started this thread a member sent me a free shot out .32rf barrel. I am thinking of taking this barrel which is almost smooth and try making some
shotshells.

[Buckshot Bill]

reaming the rifling from a barrel increases the density of the pattern exponentially. As long as your barrel and overall lengths fall into the legal range for a shotgun (18" and 26.5" if I recall) you should be fine in the eyes of the law. .32 shot barrels for favorites can be found, there was one on ebay a couple weeks ago for about $99. I had/have the desire to get one and convert it to centerfire to simplify the reloading process. .22 WMR shotshells are just too expensive to shoot much so I have sold all of my rimfire shot slingers over the years.

[highwall3855]

It sounds crazy but boring out the barrel to .250 to about an inch in front of the chamber will give great patterns​.







reaming the rifling from a barrel increases the density of the pattern exponentially. As long as your barrel and overall lengths fall into the legal range for a shotgun (18" and 26.5" if I recall) you should be fine in the eyes of the law. .32 shot barrels for favorites can be found, there was one on ebay a couple weeks ago for about $99. I had/have the desire to get one and convert it to centerfire to simplify the reloading process. .22 WMR shotshells are just too expensive to shoot much so I have sold all of my rimfire shot slingers over the years.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It isn't primarily centrifugal force that makes a doughnut pattern in rifles. The pellets on the outside are spinning in a wide spiral, reducing in diameter as you go inward, until the ones in the centre aren't spinning at all. That could produce a wider but consistent pattern. What produces poor pattern quality is rifling deforming the pellets on the outside, and a .22 has a higher ratio of outside to inside than larger calibres. Rough rifling would increase the effect. Forcing the pellets out through a brass star crimp wouldn't help.

Some commercial loads use plastic shot capsules, which should help. They may even be gelatin pharmaceutical capsules, which are available on eBay. I think the size 4 should be fine, or the assembled size 3 would probably make a good "heel capsule". I think the latter would come apart if unloaded without firing, though.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_(pharmacy)#Standard_sizes_of_two-piece_capsules

The Fiocchi 9mm. shotshells should be far more effective than .22, with no real disadvantages. I have several pounds weight of cases, primed but never loaded, which I bought when the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House decided they would never have to prove that many 9mm. shotguns again, and sent them to auction. Although guns such as my childhood Webley had a bore of a shade under 9mm., the case diameter is .326in., and .343 for the first 3/8in. or so, where it mimics the brass head of the earlier paper cases. The rim diameter is .402in., and for those minded to such use, I think they would give a good grip on a .312in. bullet or bullet heel.

To ream out .22 rifling, check whether a 7/32in. drill shank, at .21875in. fits the bore. If it does, you can use a long piece of 7/32in. drill rod to be its own pilot, and pull a reamer or drill through the bore. If you have a lathe, a high speed steel reamer, counterbore or end mill can be drilled with carbide drills and silver soldered. You would have to drill anticlockwise, but some hand drills are reversible, and if the chuck unscrews, a locknut on its thread should fix it.


https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/637/1

[CastingFool]

I remember reading an article in Guns & Ammo quite a few years back, where the author took a barrel off a Nylon 66 rifle, and had it relined with a smooth bore liner. The .219" id mentioned in another post sounds about right. The author stated the resulting patterns from the smooth bore barrel were tighter and more consistent than from the rifled barrel.