Shot in a Rifled inline?

[flmason]

Ran into this quote regarding .45-70 variants over on Wikipedia:

Also issued was the .45-70 "Forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot, intended for use hunting small game to supplement the soldiers' rations.[9] This round in effect made the .45-70 rifle into a 49 gauge shotgun.

Is there some sort of equivalent using say, a shot cup, for a .50 caliber inline... that would actually be effective at reasonable ranges? Maybe even in flight birds?

Strikes me as a bit of a non starter, as last I knew, rifling tends to throw shot in a donut pattern, but apparently this was done at some point.  (Could be that the useful range was rather short too... along the lines of using snake shot in a handgun?)

[Semisane]

Yep.  It's pretty much a waste of time.  Most of us have been there/done that.  Useful range is about 15 or 20 feet. 

[mcwoodduck]

Yep,
I have tried snake shot out of a 44 rifle and while it will kill a tree rat at 10 to 15 yards up a tree.  that is about it.
At the same time of the trap door was issued the cooks were also issued a 12ga single shot as a foraging gun.
if you need to shoot small game with your 50, a round ball will work fine.  I would work up a simple load of either loose powder or a single pellet and a patched ball for small game out to 25 yards.  Carrying some greese and patches in a 35mm film can as well as some loose round ball in your bag will be easier than having to carry and measure shot, not to mention the limited # of shot you can fit in a 50 caliber.