SHTF Scenario: Powder from shotgun shells to reload pistol rounds

[gotime]

Ok, so I've been reading the popular SHTF books (One Second After, Patriots) and I had a question to pose to you guys. Say you had the equipment to reload a pistol/rifle caliber, but had run out of powder. Would it be feasible (safe and reliable) to gut a shotgun shell and use whatever powder is in there?

I've been reloading for a couple months now (9mm) and I understand the amount of science that goes into reloading, but this is in a SHTF scenario. We're not looking for MOA here, just something to go bang to kill the bad guys.

[TimRB]

If I were going to face bad guys, there's no way on God's green Earth I would trade a shotgun for a 9mm handgun.

Tim

[z-bob]

If you knew what you were doing, yes it would work. But why would you want to?

[Sunday]

Doesn't make sense to do that but it can be done. Shotgun shell powders are close to Bullseye or 231 and maybe unique etc burning rates.

[racky]

the powder i use for pistol is 700x. it's primarily used for shotguns.

[z-bob]

Doesn't make sense to do that but it can be done. Shotgun shell powders are close to Bullseye or 231 and maybe unique etc burning rates.

You can use the powder from .410 shells to load your magnum pistol ctgs.

[AEC1]

Ummm 00 buck is 8-9 30 cal balls, why on earth would you attempt to take that apart to launch 1 9 mm ball (.38)

[Abenaki]

The only way that I would do that is......
I loaded the shot shells, so that I knew what powder I was dealing with.
And if the shot shells were loaded with #8 birdshot....or some thing like that.

Take care
Abenaki

[cudakidd]

I reload for both. I use some powders that have dual use. If you reload there are powders that function in multiple uses...Unique powder is one there are others. But without reloading data and knowing what kind of powder you may be building a small bomb!

[AJAX22]

My (extremely limited) understanding of shotgun powder is that it is slow burning.

Pistol powder is typically quick burning....

I would think it would be readable to load most pistol cartridges with shotgun powder, but not shotgun shells with pistol powder....

Could you even make a gun kb using shotgun powder?

[grossekatz]

I was running red dot in my 45 loads for a while. it was dirt cheap only running 4 to 4.5 grains at a time. that 1 lb jug lasted forever.

[TKM]

Another nod to Unique.

Alliant calls it the world's most versatile reloading powder.

Pretty good for a powder older than George Burns.

[CSACANNONEER]

My (extremely limited) understanding of shotgun powder is that it is slow burning.

Pistol powder is typically quick burning....

I would think it would be readable to load most pistol cartridges with shotgun powder, but not shotgun shells with pistol powder....

Could you even make a gun kb using shotgun powder?

It is extremely common to load pistol cartridges with many shotgun powders. Many of these powders even have recommended loads for each right on their bottles.