Anyone ever tried "linked buckshot" ?

[closebutnocigar]

Dear friends,

I read this forum since a few months but never wrote anything - this is because I am from germany and it´s not that easy for me to write in english.

So I want to apologize for the mistakes in my posting.

I load and shoot shotguns slugs for about 15 years. I started with the Lyman Mould Foster Type Slug but now I prefer the Lyman Mould Sabot Slug over it for a number of years.

Since a week I received a Mossberg 500 with rifled barrel and try to load round ball - I own a .715 pedersoli mould.

But this is not the question I want to ask.

I think about buckshot loads and want to minimize the spread of the single bucks by connecting them with a kind of wire or steel string.

We have fishing lead avaible. These are round balls with a hole each weights about 5 Gram (77 Grains).

I want to cross two strands of string or wire and tie (fix to the string) two balls to each leg of the x-like string.

Therefore I will have a weight of about 40 Gram or 617 Grains.

This is a heavy load but we know loading data for shotloads that heavy.

But what I want to know:

Is there anybody out there who ever tried such a load ??

I feel there is no sense in inventing the wheel a second time and want to learn from more experiencend shooters.

Regards

Alex

[WickedGoodOutdoors]

If you took your basic idea and ran a Kevlar thread through a bundle of #0000 buckshot or flat washer style shot for even more spead you would create a great anti personell round.

OK:

Now you got me engineering. Gonna have to start saving electrical box knockouts and some fishing line and make some of these.

Proberly gonna be a very interesting pattern when the fire.


http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b375/skullman_/ChainShot3.jpg


but then your gonna need a new gun to fire it!


http://www3.hants.gov.uk/treeby.jpg

[Scrounger]

I'm sure it has been tried before. Remember the shotguns with the muzzles squeezed into a rectangular shape give a horizontal spread to the buckshot? Nothing new under the sun... On your wire/string idea, how about running your wire back to the first slug, so your shot are held in a circular pattern? You could experiment with circle diameter to see what best fits your needs. A one foot diameter, about a meter of wire, would give you a pretty large impact area, about body area on man or deer. A shorter wire, say 12 to 15 inches, would tear a hole the size of an ashtray through the target.

[square butte]

I have a friend who has an ancient box of paper hull wired together 00 Buck. Will get the details (manufacture, date etc. ) if you like.

[tommag]

Wilkomen! (did [I] spell that right?)
I saw a program on tv about the armaments on old sailing ships.
It stated that linked shot was used to shred the sails on enemy vessels.
At any rate, it would make a heck of a mess of the target!
Youor English is a heck of a lot better than my German.

[Poygan]

I think there was an article some years back on the subject in a gun magazine. As i recall, it didn't work very well but I don't remember the details.

[lunicy]

12 GAUGE BOLO ROUNDS
THIS ROUND IS LOADED WITH TWO LEAD BALLS TIED TOGETHER WITH A 5 INCH FLEXIBLE STEEL WIRE. BEST USED FOR LONG-RANGE DEFENSE.
HV-0621

http://www.hi-vel.com/

[JW6108]

I'm sure it has been tried before. Remember the shotguns with the muzzles squeezed into a rectangular shape give a horizontal spread to the buckshot? Nothing new under the sun... On your wire/string idea, how about running your wire back to the first slug, so your shot are held in a circular pattern? You could experiment with circle diameter to see what best fits your needs. A one foot diameter, about a meter of wire, would give you a pretty large impact area, about body area on man or deer. A shorter wire, say 12 to 15 inches, would tear a hole the size of an ashtray through the target.

I was given some linked buckshot several months ago that was made by casting three #1 buckshot joined together by a thin line of lead (all one casting). They could be easily stacked inside the shell just as you would if they were separate buckshot. The thin casting that joined them together was not strong enough to stand the stress of firing and most of the buckshot broke loose from their cluster. I would suspect that a lot of experimenting with wire of different diameter and material would be needed to get the desired results.


You are thinking of an A&W diverter. They were offered in 2 to 1 and 4 to 1 ratio horizontal spread. Back in the '70's, Law Enforcement Handgun Digest conducted a test of them. Empty soda cans were lined up side by side on an 8 foot board and fired at with #8 shot from 25 yards, I think it was. All of the cans fell and the one that didn't had a single pellet hole in it. Pretty impressive. They were developed at the end of the era where it was acceptable to actually try to stop rioting by skipping a little shot into the crowd; not politically correct these days, but would be effective.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=119451526

[longbow]

Many years ago when I was young and foolish I loaded all sorts of things into shotgun shells, one of which was pretty much what you describe ~ several split shot fishing weights crimped onto piano wire.

We just opened up a factory load, dumped the shot, crimped as many split shots onto a thin piece of piano wire as would fit with a short bit between them, kinda rolled them so they would stack in the shotcup and re-crimped. Just one long wire though not an X.

Didn't work too well as I recall but never tried against a critter. A circle or X may work better.

I'm thinking that to be effective you would need piano wire or thin strong cable and you would want to make sure it didn't touch the barrel if you care about your gun, so thick shotcups.

Longbow

[shotman]

There is someone that makes them now . Its in one of the sports mags like cheper than dirt or something along that line. Seems like they are 00 with cabel like fishing leaders are made of linked together. The pic shows a door with a 1ft hole in the center.

[ovendoctor]

welcome to cast boolets Alex:drinks:

Ive seen a mold design were the shot is cast together in groups of 4

the balls are just touching one another so the spue hole is small enuf to break apart

after they leave the barrel

My wife is from Germany and was wondering were your at

Doc.:coffee:

[beagle]

Okay boys, I've tried it. Took 00 buck and split them with a set of prunning shears. For a connecting string, I used one strand of nylon out of the seven that make up the inside of a piece of parachute cord. I recrimped with a pair of duckbill pliers (so much for roundness) about 3" apart along the string. I reloaded the shot, stacking by hand and recrimped the shell.

At 50 yards, they either stay in one cluster about the 6" in diameter or else they string out. They do stay on the string from my experience.

This was fired from a single shot 12 guage that sombody had whacked to minimum legal length and had no choke. I experienced no adverse problems with the procedure.

The loads I repacked were Peters 00 Buck lowbase shells. I'm sure you could reload an approximate load from scratch./beagle

[wills]

There used to be an outfit called blammo ammo, i understand now known as fun ammo.
"Blammo Ammo (got to love that name)
PO Box 1677
Seneca, SC 29679
(803)882-1768, FAX:(803)882-5293
Purveyors of politically incorrect pistol and shotgun ammo including
exploding, tracer, and fleshette rounds and the flame throwing "Dragons
Breath"

I dont have any idea if that information is correct. They had some interesting stuff

[BRYAN]

In a reloading book from a good while ago, I believe written by George C. Nonte, he outlined a special purpose buckshot load that was loaded with pure lead split shot sinkers approximately the size of OO Buckshot crimped 3 each on a 6 inch leader. As I recall the results were that the linked shot would stay together with relatively light line, I don't remember him linking all the shot. It is an interesting concept, maybe we will read the results here of a more in depth experiment?

[mikenbarb]

I have seen these before and my opinion is that the link may decrease the penetration quite a bit by slowing the shot as its trying to penetrate while fighting a string attached to them all. If you have a 12" wire and it was strung out, Thats alot of resistence trying to go thru something especialy a heavy coat or hide. Just my 2 cents worth but im sure the penetration will be half or less of what standard buckshot is without a "string". Take a wire and try cutting some thick meat or cloth with it and then try the same with a .35 caliber sized rod with a rounded end and the rod will go thru much easier. I love the buck & ball loads because you get the best of both worlds.:-D
The easiest way to make strung shot is to get large split shots and crimp them on heavy copper braided wire because steel wire will damage your barrel. I think they still make the old style splitshot without the wings to open them and a saltwater tackle shop may have them.

[longbow]

mikenbarb:

You got it! I think there are several problems:

- the wire would certainly reduce penetration and while my chain shot days are long gone I do recall limited penetration of things shot
- I used piano wire and you certainly do not want that touching your barrel
- If the goal is to keep the shot together until it hits then copper or maybe even nylon would be adequate but if the goal is to sever with the wire then I doubt even copper is up to it and we're back to steel so penetration will suffer, etc.
- anchoring the shot to the wire is also an issue ~ crimped split shot works but will slide on the wire especially if the wire drags

I guess my view is that chained cannon balls were used to take qown rigging in sailing ships so the goal for linked shot would be to cut through "stuff" ~ maybe defoliation? I suppose possibly it may hold the shot together for tighter "groups" at long range but would only be useful for anti personel rounds as penetration for hunting at long range would suffer as you pointed out.

Not an expert opinion and based on limited teen experiments but I can't see a useful application for linked buckshot except for entertainment purposes.

Longbow

[mikenbarb]

I think the best thing to do is get a bunch of different buckshot and go out and pattern your shotgun to see what will give you the tightest pattern and to learn how your gun shoots with each load. I shoot a Patternmaster tube and I keep all the 00 & #2 buck pellets in a 22" circle @ 50yds. 000, 0 and #1 shoot crapy with it but the others shoot awesome and I never had a deer get by me on a drive using that tube.:D But my main deer shotgun is a sluggun and I much rather use that unless im hunting thick swamps where sight distance is very limited or shooting thru thick brush.

[Kuato]

I was given some linked buckshot several months ago that was made by casting three #1 buckshot joined together by a thin line of lead (all one casting). They could be easily stacked inside the shell just as you would if they were separate buckshot. The thin casting that joined them together was not strong enough to stand the stress of firing and most of the buckshot broke loose from their cluster. I would suspect that a lot of experimenting with wire of different diameter and material would be needed to get the desired results.


You are thinking of an A&W diverter. They were offered in 2 to 1 and 4 to 1 ratio horizontal spread. Back in the '70's, Law Enforcement Handgun Digest conducted a test of them. Empty soda cans were lined up side by side on an 8 foot board and fired at with #8 shot from 25 yards, I think it was. All of the cans fell and the one that didn't had a single pellet hole in it. Pretty impressive. They were developed at the end of the era where it was acceptable to actually try to stop rioting by skipping a little shot into the crowd; not politically correct these days, but would be effective.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=119451526

The one that Patches Watson used on "Sweetheart" was called a duckbill choke. It seems he put down a few VC with it & # 4 buck..

A friend of mine had one installed on an 870 & we cut a sheet of plywood in half with it using #7 shot. Them things are neat!

[missionary5155]

Greetings and WELCOME !!!
First (unfortunately) you need to know about your state laws and how the local badge fellers enforce the regulations.
It works. I have used steel fishing leader and crinp on lead large split shot for interesting moments crow popping years ago. 3 inches steel leader. Bend ends at 90 degrees and attach crimp ons on the inside of the bend. Load one at a time trying to keep the units packed in some kind of order. I imagine there is all sorts of tangles flying through the air.
These units will make a very audible noise that can be distincly heard from distances. BOOM ZZZIIITTTTT ZZZZIIIIITTTT ZZZZIIITTTTT.
Mike God Bless you.