30-30 for squirrels

[Cosmoline]

Probably not effective and I have done no reloading in my life so this may be hair brain but could you load a 30-30 with shot? make a 30-30 shot shell for varmints?

It's bottleneck with a mere .308" opening, so your shot load would be a tiny puff and would not be enough to kill anything more than a snake. Would be kind of an interesting experiment. But impractical for anything.

 

[meadmkr]

Many, many years ago I used to make 'gallery' loads for my 7mmMag using lubed #2 buckshot (I believe it was anyway) . I don't recall the recipe anymore but it was only a couple of grains with a filler holding the powder close to the primer. It shaved the slightest amount of lead seating the ball. It was more of a novelty load and a PITA to reload but lotsa fun; out to 25 yards or so it lethal on jackrabbits, desert cottontails, more than a few sidewinders and even a coyote that got way too curious!

 

[frankt]

Your 30-30 will be fine for squirrels, we use it a lot in Georgia.
The secret is to shoot about 1/16" from the squirrels nose. The bullet going past will suck all the air out of it's lungs and it will fall over dead.
Doesn't mess up any meat either.

 

[ljnowell]

I used to hunt squirrels with a .45acp. Really. We lived outside of town and had a nice stand of nut trees. The nuts end up on the ground, the squirrels go down there to feast on them, and BANG! My dad used to laugh about it, but it really worked pretty good, with a 200gr LSWC loaded at about 800fps, it didnt blow them up to bad.