Been wanting to try this for a couple years.
I picked up a shotgun 10 or so years ago that, even, shotgun guys don't know exists. It's an Iver Johnson Champion single barrel..........which is not at all uncommon. What IS uncommon is that it's in .44XL chambering. The gun is (near as I can figure) 105-110 years old. The .44XL was marketed as "the farmer's gun" and came with 2 choices of loadings. One load was either a paper or wooden capsule with 3/8 ounce of #8 lead shot. The other was a .43 caliber round ball. Theory being if a farmer had this gun on the tractor and a few of each shell in his pocket he could shoot whatever he saw.
So, after a bunch of research, I learned how to handload for it as original shells (if you can find them) are collector's items at $10-$15 EACH. I obtained 1/2 pound of 19 g/cc #10 TSS and loaded some plastic Speer shot capsules. The HTL shot ends up with right at 1/2 ounce of shot. Yesterday, I loaded up one round and went to the patterning range (my back yard).
Knowing this would be a short-range deal AT BEST........ I set up shop at 17 steps (50-ish feet) and had at it. Chronographing shotshells is an inexact measure with the chrono I have. So, to "test" velocity/lethality, I clipped a Bush's Beans can to the back side of the target to gauge penetration.
To say I was amazed would be the understatement of the year !!!! Almost the entire pattern was inside an 18" circle !!!! It was pretty uniform..........and printed EXACTLY to point-of-aim !!! The bean can was full of entrance and exit holes with not one pellet held inside of it.
I'm ready !!!! I'm fully fixing to fill my first tag with this gun. Again...... Gonna be a close-range proposition. I'm certain I could stretch things to 20 yards if need be. The .410 guys can kiss my butt !!!
.44XL handload on the right 3" .410 on the left
The tale of the paper:
