Others Break barrel shotgun

[Doc Holiday]

Wondering why there can’t be a better break barrel shotgun. We have the Gamo Viper Express. Never owned one but from all I have read, it’s more of a novelty. Its a .22 cal? Wouldn’t the Hatsan 130\135 in .30 cal be better. I believe this is the current most powerful break barrel. Seems like a much better platform for a shotgun. Thoughts?

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Good question. Why not .410? At least there are readily available wads....

 

[Doc Holiday]

Good question. Why not .410? At least there are readily available wads....

Yes. I think it’s silly that the gamo shot shells are/were more than 20/12ga field loads. And even pcp shot shells are silly high for what you get. Can you imagine if pellets cost more than centerfire ammo?

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

There's quite a few pellets (even in .177) that cost more than the cheapest .22 rimfire, too. I just can't wrap my head around .22LR for 6 cents a round, unless it is a loss leader.

 

[Chief55]

Brake barrel airguns are not powerful enough to do the job. You can fire 45 long colts in a break barrel .410 shotgun all day long safely. .410s are 45-46 caliber. So, if you had a single shot .457 such as an AEA Element Max 457. Which I think is an awesome gun, I had one. You could get a barrel reamer from Brownell's and ream out the rifling or use an extended drill bit too cut it out then polish the bore. Then load it like a muzzle loading shotgun with a ram rod. It would do better with solid shot cup wads and fiber wads. They used to have aftermarket adjustable external chokes that would be easier to install than an internal choke using a die and some cutting oil to cut the threads. If there isn't enough diameter to cut the threads you could use a dowel as a jig to hold it straight and some JB weld on it. Here is some screw on 410 chokes. The biggest draw back with air shotguns is having enough pellets too have a good pattern at a fast enough velocity to make enough FPE per pellet to kill. In general, you have to go up from using #6 shot to using #4 shot instead to get enough FPE. I experimented quite a bit with a Seneca wing shot loading it with wads using a ram rod. The gun wasn't powerful enough in my opinion past about 15 yards with shot. But it was amazing shooting air bolts.

Mossberg Accessories

 

[Doc Holiday]

Brake barrel airguns are not powerful enough to do the job. You can fire 45 long colts in a break barrel .410 shotgun all day long safely. .410s are 45-46 caliber. So, if you had a single shot .457 such as an AEA Element Max 457. Which I think is an awesome gun, I had one. You could get a barrel reamer from Brownell's and ream out the rifling or use an extended drill bit too cut it out then polish the bore. Then load it like a muzzle loading shotgun with a ram rod. It would do better with solid shot cup wads and fiber wads. They used to have aftermarket adjustable external chokes that would be easier to install than an internal choke using a die and some cutting oil to cut the threads. If there isn't enough diameter to cut the threads you could use a dowel as a jig to hold it straight and some JB weld on it. Here is some screw on 410 chokes. The biggest draw back with air shotguns is having enough pellets too have a good pattern at a fast enough velocity to make enough FPE per pellet to kill. In general, you have to go up from using #6 shot to using #4 shot instead to get enough FPE. I experimented quite a bit with a Seneca wing shot loading it with wads using a ram rod. The gun wasn't powerful enough in my opinion past about 15 yards with shot. But it was amazing shooting air bolts.

Mossberg Accessories

I would have thought it would have been powerful enough. If I recall correctly, the C02 powered Farco (?) shotgun was. I think it was .380 cal?

 

[Doc Holiday]

For me personally, it doesn’t have to be a powerhouse. I love using 22 snake shot (rat shot) on carpenter bees and other pests. But the cost is silly compared to 20ga field loads. Heck I would have even got the Gamo if shell were plentiful and priced much lower.

 

[Chief55]

For me personally, it doesn’t have to be a powerhouse. I love using 22 snake shot (rat shot) on carpenter bees and other pests. But the cost is silly compared to 20ga field loads. Heck I would have even got the Gamo is shell were plentiful and priced much lower.

The main problem is PB shotguns have a muzzle velocity of 1200-1300fps were as air shotguns have a muzzle velocity of around 750fps. So, it's like the shot coming out of an airgun has already traveled 30 yards right at the muzzle. Thats why you would want to go 2 sizes larger on the shot size to try to have enough energy remaining and you are also limited on the amount of shot to be able to have enough velocity hurting the size of your pattern. Yes, for small stuff like snakes it would be fine but then so is a CO2 pistol. I have killed dozens of big water moccasins with an old Crossman 357 now call the Vigilante.

https://rangeservices.nra.org/media/4074/shotshell-ballistics.pdf

 

[Madhatter]

There was someone converting a.72 cal PCP to a shotgun.

 

[Chief55]

This calculator gives you some idea what you're dealing with trying to achieve 9FPE for squirrels. At 800FPS you need BB size pellets to achieve 8.2FPE at the muzzle.

Shotgun Ballistics