Another possibly 'stupid' question, but curiousity has the best of me.

Does running 'self defense' shot through a revolver damage it in anyway?

Can you use the shot for hunting small game, ex. squirrels, rabbits...?

Curious.

The only shot shells that I know of are for use against snakes and such....is that what you mean?

CCI shot shells CCI Ammunition - Product Detail

For snakes and rabid chickadees, I guess that it is fine, but not for use against humanoids....

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On the Oak Savannah

Shot will not hurt your revolver. Shot loads typically feature very small shot; furthermore, the rifling in the bore tends to cause donut-shaped patterns. They are adequate to quite effective for very close-range work against snakes, rats and such, but not really much use for typical small-game hunting.

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Pisgah

What the folks said above... you might check your firearm with the CCI's. Try a pattern board (big piece of cardboard). this will prove what you and the gun will do. Start close though, 6 foot or so. I did a fair job on a moccasin at about 6 foot with two 38 shot shells... one was probably enough but it was a big snake, in my back yard, we had the youth group over for a cook out. can you say "SUPRISE"?? To off-set the doughnut hole pattern, find where your pattern is, at what distance, with your gun and you can place the hole away from where you want the shot to go... needless to say, it takes a bit of shooting to learn where to “place the shot”.