Stevens 44 smoothbore shell

[Gunslinger1911]

Cleaning out the reloading room, came across this in the "assorted stuff" box. 44 shot shell for a Stevens break barrel.
Heavy paper / light cardboard "capsule" holding the shot

I happen to have the gun also. My great grandmother kept the varmints out of the garden with it.

A 44 spl case chambers in the gun. Never gotten around to making some lightly loaded shells for it.

[skeettx]

NEAT
Those lettuce munchers are in trouble!!

[Outpost75]

Some links on the .44 shotshell and how to load them:

The Starline 5 in 1 Blank cases work well to assemble handgun shotshells useable in the .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .38-40, .44-40 and .45 Colt revolvers.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010093167/starline-reloading-brass-5-in-1-blank-box-of-100-bulk-packaged

Powder charges must be kept mild due to the enlarged flash hole. I use 5 grains of Alliant Bullseye or 6 grains of WST or 231 and a Winchester Large Pistol primer. A Buffalo Arms .45 card wad must be inserted over the powder charge, first inserting the card sideways with tweezers, pushing it about halfway into the case, before rotating it to bridge across the interior case wall and then aligning and pressing it down against the powder using a 3/8" dowel. Next a Federal 410SC shot cup is inserted firmly against the card, seated with the dowel and its protruding wad fingers trimmed off with a sharp knife. It is absolutely necessary to use the .45 card under the plastic shot cup because it is not of sufficient diameter to prevent powder from otherwise leaking around it, which will cause bloopers. Load about 1/3 oz. of fine shot not larger than 7-1/2, to maintain adequate pellet count, within 1/8" of the case mouth. Insert a .38 cal. Buffalo Arms card wad over the shot and then crimp the shell using either a .44 Long Shot, .45 ACP Shot or Lee .308 Winchester seating die which has been shortened by 1" and a blank RCBS sizer-lubricator top punch positioned and adjusted in the seating stem collar to hold the top card at the mid point of the die shoulder, while the case mouth is bumped against the shoulder to form a nice, professional looking crimp. Waterproof the shell by painting the top wad with clear urethane or varnish. These produce rabbit and grouse killing patterns patterns at 20 feet with No.8s and burn rattlers to "snakeburgers" at 15 feet. More effective than the Speer factory shot and useable in a variety of guns. I pack 20 of these in each vehicle or aircraft survival kit.

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/Revisiting%20Shot%20or%20Ball%20in%20a%2044.htm

https://www.marlinowners.com/forum/team-44-40/496090-loading-44-game-getter-shot-starline-5-1-blank-cases.html

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

The .44 shot cartridge is based on the .44-40 case. There is also a long and extra long version. I have one of those little shotguns too. I bought some brass .410 cases, annealed them really good, then ran them into a .44-40 sizing die, and cut to length. Load them with black powder and about 3/8 oz shot. Do not load up even close to a .410 load as the little guns will shoot loose quickly.

[Multigunner]

IIRC Marlin built some lever actions in .44 smoothbore.

Some Marlin Lever Action 45-70 actions have been assembled as .410 shotguns for the UK market. These could even be had with a suppressor. Suppressed smaller gauge shotguns are popular over there with horse breeders. They use these to eliminate varmints without scaring the horses.

[Gunslinger1911]

Good info guys, thanks.
I may have to get around to some testing this winter.

[augercreek]

There is another name for these Marbles Game Getter.

[Chev. William]

I have used "Permatex" Gasket Cement to waterproof card top wads in 45 cal shot and blank shells back in the 1970s.

[Mk42gunner]

My Great Grandma is supposed to have killed a Canada Goose with hers. It landed amongst her tame geese and evidently she declared war, it only took four or five shots to kill it.

My Dad told me that story forty plus years ago and I never was clear if it had happened when he was a boy or during the depression.

I have one of the little Stevens break open guns, imagine my surprise when the chamber turned out to be two inches in length. .444 Marlin cases trimmed to fit work fine, and I will be following Outpost75's loading advice. I'd like to try it out on rabbits.

Robert

[Outpost75]

Here are some typical patterns of .44 No.8 shot loaded in Starline 5 in 1 blank cases, fired in a cylinder bore .410 at 25 ft. D1C repair center is 11 inches square, inner ring is 4 inches, outer ring 8 inches.
A .410 factory 2-1/2", 1/2 oz. load of No.6 shot having similar pellet count is provided for comparison.

230469

[Reverend Al]

Mine is in a nice light little Begian made SxS hammer gun produced by "Janssen Sons & Co.". Only weighs about 3 1/2 pounds. It's chambered for .44-40 shotshells (not the European 2" .410 ... .44 WCF shotshells).

https://i.imgur.com/0w3KjUG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/hdnz6JT.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PuhLL4D.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/v5Ea2OS.jpg

[Michael J. Spangler]

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