Is "Rat-shot" bad for a .22 rifle?

No, but it will probably lead up the barrel if you shoot a lot of it. I've killed a lot of rats, mice, and flying wasps with it over the years. It has very limited range out of a rifled barrel.

We converted our rifles to smooth bore and performance was greatly enhanced. We formed a club called FlyMasters. We shoot dragon flies. Two of our members have pump action guns. They are very useful on snakes and mice in the garage.

Don't forget about the Marlin Garden Gun! 22Mag smooth bore bolt action. Always wanted one. 22 Mag is so much more powerful than a 22 lr. I have numerous 1-2feet away one shot opossum kills in locations where a solid bullet could have caused auxilliary damage.

Andy B

The CCI encapsulated shot cartridges work pretty well. I'm not sure that they entirely protect the bore from leading (or embedded plastic), but they hold a little more shot than the conventional crimped brass shells and seem to deliver a little more shot to the target. You're not going to damage the bore with any shot cartridge -- it can always be cleaned. That said, I would use some .22 other than my $1,200 match rifle for shooting shot.

i thought it looked like a ball going a bug safari with 22 shot, until i looked at the price on a box of shot loads and found i could buy 12 ga shells cheaper