Aguila Mini Shotshells - Anyone tried them?

[SilverZuk]

http://www.aguilaammo.com/minishells.htm

I bought a box the other day. Still haven't tried them.
The gun store has had them on the shelf for a couple of years.

I bought the 4B + 1B.
Should have bought the 7.5 shot so I could compare with other rabbit loads I shoot regularly.

[4in100]

are you going to become the Aguila Gorilla

[Fisheadgib]

I've never shot theirs but I've been curious as to how they compare to mine. I was making shorties about 17 years ago when I was shooting a lot of USPSA 3 gun matches. My 1100 can hold 13 of them. My shotshells push 1-1/4 oz of #4 at 1220FPS with a 1.65"OAL and my slugs (which I cast) are 1oz at 1200FPS with a 1.85"OAL. The Aquila ones even look like they're made from the same Remington hulls that I use.

[87manche]

Ok, just to bring this up again.

Considering makeing the mod to my 500 to shoot these things.
Apparently it's a simple bit of gunfawkery to the elevator, just a stop to keep them from going to far back and flipping over.

A couple of pros to these things:
They're cheap as fawk, so it would be good for the range.
I could fit 8 of these in my 5 shot 500.
They would be nicer for the wife to shoot.

Downsides:
Looks like the slugs weigh about 270 gr. I'd lose some knockdown power in a home defense situation. It might be nice to have those 3 extra shots though. Opinions?
The numbers I've seen show that these things have about 60% of the ft lbs of regular 2 3/4 shells. Still, there's more knockdown power in one of these mini shells than in a 7.62x39 cartridge.

Give me opinions. I don't use the shotgun for anything other than home defense. It's an 18" mossberg 500.

[jeepman775]

I sure as fuck wouldn't want to be hit with a 270 gr 12 ga slug at a home defence range.

I would be surprised as hell if someone or something wasn't knocked down by a short but would from a standard 2 3/4" slug.

:shrug:

[ZjSteveO]

i want to make some of those slugs.

[4runner]

I used to have one of those south african mag thru hand grip shotguns that those were imported for...fun to shoot, couldnt hit crap...LOL

[unimog]

I have put 14 of those little shells in my Mossberg extended mag pump. If you hold the gun level and pump smoothly they all chamber and shoot perfect. Not really something to count on, but fun.

[muddinmike]

Originally Posted by Fisheadgib

I've never shot theirs but I've been curious as to how they compare to mine. I was making shorties about 17 years ago when I was shooting a lot of USPSA 3 gun matches. My 1100 can hold 13 of them. My shotshells push 1-1/4 oz of #4 at 1220FPS with a 1.65"OAL and my slugs (which I cast) are 1oz at 1200FPS with a 1.85"OAL. The Aquila ones even look like they're made from the same Remington hulls that I use.

have to do anything special to cycle them through a 1100? i would love those for shooting jack rabbits.

[ROCKILLER]

neat idea but I wouldn't count on proper feeding for any type of home defense or hunting. If you want more rounds, get a saiga 12.

[operose]

Originally Posted by 87manche

Ok, just to bring this up again.

Considering makeing the mod to my 500 to shoot these things.
Apparently it's a simple bit of gunfawkery to the elevator, just a stop to keep them from going to far back and flipping over.

A couple of pros to these things:
They're cheap as fawk, so it would be good for the range.
I could fit 8 of these in my 5 shot 500.
They would be nicer for the wife to shoot.

Downsides:
Looks like the slugs weigh about 270 gr. I'd lose some knockdown power in a home defense situation. It might be nice to have those 3 extra shots though. Opinions?
The numbers I've seen show that these things have about 60% of the ft lbs of regular 2 3/4 shells. Still, there's more knockdown power in one of these mini shells than in a 7.62x39 cartridge.

Give me opinions. I don't use the shotgun for anything other than home defense. It's an 18" mossberg 500.

were you reading about my experiences with them?

They work fine in my mossberg 500 but the elevator really needs a little working to make them feed 100% of the time

[87manche]

I hadn't seen any of your experiences with them.

It appaers that it's a simple modification to a 500 to make it load these mini shells reliably. Nothing more than a nylon stop istalled on the elevator to keep them from going back to far.

[Fisheadgib]

Originally Posted by muddinmike

have to do anything special to cycle them through a 1100? i would love those for shooting jack rabbits.

They'll run about half the time in a stock 1100, which for shooting jackrabbits is good enough. If you modify the gun to run the shorties, then you can't go back to running regular length shells. Adjusting the elevator is just a matter of bending the tabs on it but I also had to grind off the ejector and weld a new one into the reciever in a more forward location. My 870's on the other hand, will run them all day with no modifications.

[SilverZuk]

I shot them all.
I never did any penetration testing or patterning.
They are weak. They don't hit hard indicating the velocity is low.
On that same note, they had essentially no recoil.
I shot most of them out of my double barrel "stagecoach gun".
That short gun is fairly light and has a lot of recoil.
The recoil on the mini-shells was so light I was shooting them one handed "pistol style".
I let my neighbor's 6 Y.O. shoot them.
He wasn't even strong enough to hold the shotgun up by himself. We helped him hold the gun. After he shot, he wouldn't quit until I was out of shells.

Yes they work, though fun to shoot I really deem them too low powered to do much of anything with.

[Mo]

probably be good for a 3 gun comp.

[87manche]

Sounds like the 500 is keeping the standard shells then.