Anyone ever loaded blackpowder revolvers with shot? I was thinking of trying a standard load of powder with a wonder wad and then a load of #8 shot and then a cardboard wad or a second wonder wad on top, figure it would be good for my snake hunting in grass or on small pests.

That would be interesting. I just started playing with a couple smoothbore ml rifles. One is a .56 and the other is a .62 caliber. They are very versatile since they can be loaded with both shot and ball. If the shot works out in your revolver, you could load half the cylinder with shot the other half with ball/connicals and get the best of both worlds.

What caliber? I loaded some .45 Colt BP shotshells using cut down .444 Marlin cases. The way I did it was to cut the .444 brass down to the same length as the cylinder, primed with Win WLP primers, added I think it was 2 cc of APP FFg, folded a half square of one ply toilet paper in on top of the powder and tamped it in, topped it off with 7 1/2 shot, and glued a piece of lightweight card stock in on top with clear nail polish.

With the .444's cut the same length as the cylinder, you have to squeeze the case mouth down some before you load it. I used my .44 mag sizing die and pressed each case into the die roughly 1/4" or so which lets the new cases fit in the cylinders of my Uberti 75 Remingtons.

I did some patterning at various distances. At five feet, it looked like all the shot hit a piece of typing paper and it would probably work for snakes. At ten feet, there were obvious gaps in the pattern. At fifteen feet a large skunk could crawl through the pattern unscathed...

Okay, I went back and read your post. It looks like you're talking about cap and ball, which I've never done. Sorry about the confusion...