I read a large test of shotshells in both rimfire and centrefire and it showed better groups from shorter barrels. Less time for the rifling to impart rotation on the shot charge??? Lower velocity so slower RPM resulting in less centrifical(sp?) forces??? Don't know. Just repeating what I read.
Paul

 

No

Pattern with these shells has more to do with target to muzzle distance than with length of barrel. The CCI .22LR shot round will throw approximately a 24" pattern , if you want to call it that, at 15' whether shot from a 17/8 NAA revolver or a 24" Rifle barrel. Over ten feet from the muzzle you're being kind to call it a pattern. That's why some people call it snake shot. If he isn't close enough to bite you , you're not close enough to hit him with it. It has penetration up the wazzoo. It'll penetrate one side of an aluminum beer can with at least fifty percent of the pellets at ten feet. Three to five percent of hits will penetrate both sides of the aluminum beer can. A tilted coffee can makes a good bullet trap to catch the shot if you want to examine them.

 

I was useing them to dust raccoons (to keep them off my bird feeders... they even got down hummingbird feeders and chewed them up) at distances of about 15ft with the crimped winchester ones. Worked pretty good, and kept them away for a month at a time. A low powerd pellet gun just wasnt enough. Sound may have also contributed to it.
And just last week I killed a snake with them. At about 5ft away he jus fell limp. I get about a 3in pattern at 5ft, and about a 20in pattern at about 15ft out of a marlin model 60.

 

OK, I'm responding to my own question. At last, I have a little tiny bit of data. When I say "pattern diameter", I mean the circle that covers the vast majority of the holes (maybe 90% or so). There is always a little flyer stuff outside this circle, and I deliberately ignored it, because the real action of these shotshells will be the denser part in the middle. All distances to the target are rough estimates (as obviously I can't walk out into the firing lane at a commercial range with a tape measure, the RO would immediately throw me out, and be quite justified).

Colt New Frontier in .22 LR caliber, 4" barrel (obviously rifles barrel):
- Winchester shotshell at 12 feet: about 2-3" pattern diameter
- CCI shotshell: also about 2-3" pattern diameter

The difference between the Winchester and the CCI is the following. The Winchester is a crimped shell, and it seems that the crimp opens asymmetrically. So most of the Winchester patterns are not centered at the POA, but an inch or two off to the side (but not always to the same side!). The CCI shell shoots true to the center (POI = POA). Also, the pattern of the Winchester has about the same width, but it is uniformly scattered within the circle. The CCI shot shell (which has a plastic capsule rather than a crimp) has much higher density in the center of the pattern, and the density falls of radially. For killing small critters (like snakes or rats) at 10' distance, I would vastly prefer the CCI shell (which is also considerably more expensive).

At 21 feet (7 yards), either shell have a pattern that is maybe 8" or 12" diameter. At that distance, the pattern density is so low that a small critter might easily survive, having been hit by at most a few pellets.

At 6' distance, the pattern is below 2" (I would probably guess about 1.5" covers 90% of the shot). At this distance, I would guess that either round would be fatal to a snake or a small rat (also maybe not instantaneously fatal).

Second test: S&W 617, also caliber .22 LR, with 6" barrel, obviously also rifled. I was not able to test the CCI shells, as the range that rents this gun doesn't allow aluminum cartridges on the range (they had no problem with the Winchester cartridge). With the Winchester shotshell, the pattern diameter is 3-4" at 12'. The pattern is considerably wider than with the short-barreled Colt above. Once again, the pattern is not centered at the POA (although the pattern is so wide that it barely matters). Interestingly, the result at 6' distance was quite comparable to the shorter-barreled Colt, with a similar 1.5" or 2" pattern diameter.

Also, in both Colt and S&W, the Winchester cartridge was a little hard to extract. In the single-action Colt, this was less of an issue, as the extractor rod only has to do one cartridge at a time. In the S&W, with all 10 chambers with Winchester shotshells, I had the extractor star completely fail (it took a lot of force, and finally the extractor managed to pop out, leaving the cartridges in place; I had to use fingernails and patience to remove the cartridges one at a time). This makes sense, as the Winchester shell has a crimp where a normal .22 cartridge has a bullet, and the crimp gets fire-formed to stick really tightly in the forward bullet area of the chamber. Also, the Winchester cartridge seems to be generally more flimsy than the CCI cartridge (it seems to deform and dent quite easily). Maybe they make them out of very thin brass, deliberately to make sure the crimp opens correctly. No such problems with the CCI shell.

I have not (yet?) had an opportunity to test these carefully in rifles.

Summary so far: First, I should gather a lot more data. Sadly, there are few ranges where one can rent a .22 revolver, so I don't think this will happen (and I won't spend a few thousand $$$ on buying one gun in each barrel length, or cut a perfectly good barrel apart).

If one takes the little bit of information I have at face value, I would conclude the following. A longer barrel revolver doesn't help with these shotshells. Matter-of-fact, it marginally hurts. In general, I would prefer the CCI cartridge, as it is easier to extract. The only advantage the Winchester shotshell has is its low price.

At a distance of 6', either cartridge will do the job on a small animal.

At 12', I would prefer the CCI cartridge, because (a) it shoots where you aim, not next to it, and (b) the pattern is considerably denser at the point of aim, falling of towards the edges. At that distance, I'm not sure that even the CCI shell will kill a rattler or rat in one shot.

At larger distances (say 21'), I would stick to using the .410 shotgun with #9 birdshot for rattlers. Fortunately, since rattlers can't strike all that far, I think a much better idea is to use the .22 revolver, and either kill the rattler with a solid bullet (which requires one to be at least a decent shot), or to walk up to it and get it from 6' distance with a shotshell.

 

Just a quick addendum to this.
I have used the CCI shotshells in 38spl and find that upon occassion the plastic capsule does not always fragment in the barrel.
The result is a blue plastic cup full of lead shot flyng downrange just like a real bullet.
**** dangerous if you're not expecting it.
Be careful using those things in built up areas, the crimped case rounds are "probably" safer in this respect.

 

These targets measure 5.5" X 5.5" shot indoors at 18 feet using Winchester 22 LR shot shells (crimped end) #12 shot. Shot with a Savage Mark I SB, smooth bore single shot rifle, 19.5" barrel. These are spot shoot targets, my rifle averages 100-104 pellets per target. The American Legion I belong to has indoor 22 spot shoots in the winter months, they are a lot of fun.
Target link photo: http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v249/recumbent/22_LR_Pattern.jpg

 

These targets measure 5.5" X 5.5" shot indoors at 18 feet using Winchester 22 LR shot shells (crimped end) #12 shot. Shot with a Savage Mark I SB, smooth bore single shot rifle, 19.5" barrel.

That's actually quite amazing. I've heard about the Savage .22 shotgun, but never seen one in the flesh. This means that even with a non-rifled barrel, and a much longer barrel (19.5 inches versus the rifled 6" barrel), you are not doing all that much better in pattern. I would guess by looking at the picture that the pattern diameter is somewhere around 5 or 6 inches (most of the holes are in the 5.5 diameter circle). With the Colt 4" barrel (nearly 5 times shorter), I get a pattern that is only a little bit bigger (maybe 1.5 or 2 times bigger). Now, the density of pellets (pellets per square inch) drops off as a square of the pattern diameter, so the shotgun helps considerably in killing power.

I think my conclusion stays the same: at 20' or more, use a .410 shotgun to kill a rattler, using a #9 target load shell. At 6', use a .22 revolver with a shotshell. Inbetween, at 10' or 15', it is a little tricky: Using the revolver here might make for a pissed-off and injured snake, while using the shotgun might turn the snake into a mess that needs to be hosed off, and if this is close to the house, the .410 shell might damage the siding or a window. This is probably the distance range where the Savage Mark I shotgun might help somewhat. But since snakes don't attack at high speed and don't leap out, one can just walk up to them, and get them from 6' distance with the revolver and a shotshell.

Thanks for the information!

 

Just a quick addendum to this.
I have used the CCI shotshells in 38spl and find that upon occassion the plastic capsule does not always fragment in the barrel.
The result is a blue plastic cup full of lead shot flyng downrange just like a real bullet.

Scary. I've not yet seen this happen with the .22 CCI shells. Matter-of-fact, the plastic cup seems to completely disintegrate, since I've not found it to make a hole in paper targets. This is quite different from .410 shotshells, where the plastic "wad" (which is in reality an inverted cup) makes quite a big hole in the target.

To make this more scary: The larger CCI shotshells use #9 shot. For example, the .45 LC CCI shotshell is quite comparable to a .410 shotgun shell (same pellet diameter, probably a little less shot, probably quite a bit less powder). The .22 shotshell, with its #12 pellets (about 1mm diameter) just doesn't have the range and penetration to be so scary.

Be careful using those things in built up areas, the crimped case rounds are "probably" safer in this respect.

Well, anyone who points a gun in a built-up area should know where they are aiming at, and make 120% sure there are no unintended victims downrange. But I agree: With a .22 shotshell, I expect a really short effective range of the pellets, so if I hit a house wall 100' away, that won't do any damage. With all the stuff in one lump, it might easily fly a few hundred feet and still be able to damage structures, and maybe even penetrate and hurt people inside, or break a window.

Fortunately, we are in a completely non-built-up area: The nearest house is 1/2 mile away.

 

Why!!!!!!!

 

Why!!!!!!!

Why not?

 

Why!!!!!!!

i have lots of possums coming in my garage after cat food is why i load speer shot capsules with #2 shot for my s&w model 27.....i live in town and can't have a round going into a neighbors house and that size shot does a good job of taking them out fast......

 

Hello! Does exists shot shell capsules, empty, for .22 reloading? Thank you in advance!

 

CCI used to offer them as a component for reloading. I’m not sure they still do but a peek at their web site should tell.
my father and I as a teen used to load centerfire shot shells by seating a gas check over the powder as a over powder wad filling the case with a weighted amount of shot then placing a inverted cup on top and lightly crimping it in place.
They worked but, like factory shotshells didn’t pattern worth *&$# and he quit playing with them. This was prior to CCI coming out with their plastic shot cups.
IIRC he used ~140grs of #9 and bulleye? for a powder. Don’t rely on my memory for safe loads and I don’t recall what charge he used! I just tossed this out there as an example of what I have seen tried in the past as a possible answer if CCI doesn’t offer their plastic cups.
I tried the CCI cups and never got what I wanted out of them ( I was looking for a load to shoot sitting rabbits with my 38). They worked ok within short distances maybe 10’ or so but I needed something that would do the trick at 2Xs that or a bit more. Bunnies don’t let you close ya know.