Will ratshot harm rifling on .22?

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phil mcwilliam

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I recently purchased some .22 Winchester ratshot (#12 shot, I think)for thinning out the mice population. A friend warned me that ratshot is no good for the rifling & would lead to the rifle becoming inaccurate. Is there any truth to this, as I'm a bit reluctant to blast away with my relatively new CZ452 if the ratshot is detrimental to long term accuracy.
 
It might leave some lead deposits, but they're not permanent, you can clean them out.

Ratshot through a rifled barrel is a very short range proposition.
 
I have heard that myth as well, but do not believe it. It is still lead shot, how could it hurt the steel rifling ? If you get a build up of deposits, a cleaning will take care of it.

I have shot hundreds of Winchester shot loads out of my Remington 121 and my Ruger Single-Six. Back in PA on the dairy farm I used them to kill rats, starlings and pigeons in the barns. They were effective to about 7-8 yards.

I noticed no loss in accuracy with these two firearms with standard loads.
 
A house I used to own was chipmunk infested. I shot many rounds of magnum shot through my Ruger Single Six to eliminate them.
The shot is encased in a plastic capsule. Never a problem.
I also load my own shot capsules for my .44 mag. Ruger Redhawk. Same story, no problems.
 
In things .22, I understand that improper cleaning can cause more problems than no cleaning.

A two-three second hand twist with a brass brush in the chamber has seemed to be a decent idea. That may very well be a feel good procedure rather than one thats needed. Then again, I shoot some StdVel Short and CB Caps in a LR chamber.

Rat Shot was fun, but not too many corn cribs around these days.

Either way, have fun. You aren't going to break it.

salty

EDIT

PS. You might consider compressed air powered .17 cal pellets for Mickey and Minney.

sd
 
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I put a lot of ratshot though .22s as a varmint-blasting youngster. Those guns shoot as well today as they ever did.
 
I'll plus one to what everybody else is telling you. In my early days of handloading I (how shall I put this politely...) extensively (there) leaded up some barrels. They weren't .22 but after I cleaned them out they shot fine. Can't see you doing any permanent damage to your guns with rat shot.

On another note, for possible targets, I read about a guy near some swamp land that went out gunning for dragon flys with the stuff. Have to shoot them on the wing of course.
 
I'd be more worried about somehow screwing up the tight match chamber of a CZ 452.

Not to say I'm positive that it would be detrimental but I'd be inclined to NOT use shot in I rifled barrel that I relied on for accuracy (I do own some guns that I wouldn't think twice about using it in).
 
I've used the crimped rat shot for many years around the farm. I have used it on everything up to pigeons, and that's pretty limiting on those ariel demons. I limit it to between 20-25 feet and I generally can do pretty well. Rats, starlings, pigeons, it's always head or neck shots. Sparrows, blackbirds mice, you just have to put them in the sights. Here's a picture of some pigeons taken from inside an empty dairy barn loft. Easily 20 feet up, possibly more. These birds were up at the very inside peak of the roof, on the old bale hoist rail. 11 shots took the 10, as one needed one more shot.

Photo077.jpg


In that rifle, it often goes without cleaning between ratshot and normal LR rounds. Nothing detrimental.
 
If it was my CZ, no I wouldn't. I would find a cheaper gun that you care less about. But I have no evidence that rat shot is harmful to accuracy.
 
No, these get fed to the mangy cats hanging around. I figure if I get that taste of them in their mouths, they might actually kill a few by themselves and save me some money from not having to buy all that ratshot!
 
A house I used to own was chipmunk infested. I shot many rounds of magnum shot through my Ruger Single Six to eliminate them.
The shot is encased in a plastic capsule. Never a problem.
Click to expand...

The Winchester shot loads the OP has don't use the plastic capsule. The shot does indeed contact the rifling with them. But as noted, it won't cause any permanent problems.
 
rumor

I heard that stated as a kid, likely from my Dad. But I have shot a good bit of the stuff.......at rats, and solvent and a bristle brush solved any issues that might have occurred.

What would be sweet would be a smooth bored .22 made special for rat shot.
 
Nope, won't hurt the rifling, you may need to clean it more often, but the shotshells won't hurt the gun.

My mice and chipmunk eradicator is full-auto and weighs 12 pounds fully loaded, but it stacks up little rodent bodies like cordwood...
 

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What would be sweet would be a smooth bored .22 made special for rat shot.
Click to expand...

There have been several guns like this offered over the years. I have a BSA Sportsman single shot bolt that has a smooth barrel and is marked for "22 SHOT". There is just enough market that one manufacturer can offer a gun, then lose interest after a few years then another gives it a go. Recently Marlin offered a Garden Gun in 22 Mag smoothbore. Savage offered a 22 version recently, although it's no longer listed as a production item it may be available on custom order. It's not like they are hard to make. :)
 
The notion that softer materials will never effect harder substances is a myth. Have you ever seen the steel eye on the tip of an old fishing pole that has a groove in it? I have and it was caused by the constant friction of plastic monofilament line. So softer substances can, over time wear on even the hardest steel.

Saying that, I don't think that a couple of hundred rat shot rounds will destroy the barrel, but if that was all you used over the lifetime of the rifle, there might be issues.

I got this fishing pole eye comment from an interview with Gale McMillan. He was being asked about barrel break in, and barrel life. He was against the use of any brush in one of his target barrels, jags only.
 
handlerer2, why would lead rat shot wear a barrel more than regular .22 LR bullets? Opinions are all well and good, but opinions should have a physical reason or at least some gazillion rounds' worth of experience, seems to me.

I note that fishing lines can bring in sand; I've had to replace bearings in a couple of reels used in surf fishing.

And cleaning with a hard-bristle brush isn't the same as lead-bullet wear...
 
the wear in a fishing pole is due to the dirt particles in the water on the line, and heat caused by friction. NOT due a softer substance being able to wear a hard substance. Though you can bend steel with say a 3 pound brass hammer, but you are not damaging the steel with the brass, but deforming it with the momentum... simple physics there.

You would have to shoot an awful lot of rat shot to lead up a .22 barrell... at least IMHO. though i agree with some previous posters. maybe find and old NEFA .22 or something cheap to shoot it out of and then you dont have to worry about any damage at all.
 
I can not even start to count the number of rat shot shells that I have fired through my .22 or my .357 over the years. I have used both crimped and plastice type never had an issue. My 10/22 has fired hundards of rat shot mostly at barn birds and I have no trouble taking it straight to my range and shooting 1 inch groups at 100 yards with out cleaning in between. I load my revolvers with rat shot then a reg round in that patteren when I am out on the farm. I do this mostly for snakes and still have a solid bullet in there for the varmint that may show up. I have pacticed with that set up a bunch and the rat shot just splatter on paper like it should and my normal rounds hold the same grouping as the always do so I dont see the issue.
 
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