Last week, I killed a 4 1/2' water moccasin that was crossing the road in my neighborhood. It took (3) shots from my snub nose .38 TO THE HEAD from 8'-9' away before he conceded! The first shots barely stunned him. BTW, in addition, I initially ran over him 3x with my car (thinking that would do him in) but he ignored me. Although my car is not heavy - it is still a car! After the 3rd "run over", I decided to go home to get my gun. I will admit that this was the toughest, strongest snake that I have encountered, but evidently, they are out there.
I read all of the time about people claiming to have killed dozens/hundreds/millions of snakes with CCI shot shells, but my experience was not so fortunate. In the past, I have killed iquanas and rats with them, but they were very soft-skinned creatures - not water moccasins and not a major threat to me, my wife or my dog.
I will now be trading in my .38 for a .44 and hope that the new CCI #4 shot will work better should the need arise.
This was a very sobering experience..........

Reptiles tend to die slowly. Cut the head off a snake and the body keeps wiggling for a long time and the head can still snap the fangs into you if you move into the wrong place. But the snake is dead, just still wiggling. I prefer a long handled shovel for any snake killing.

My Father always kept a single barrel shotgun in his car trunk for snakes

I shot a water moccasin last year at my farm. It was late November and I was riding the 4-wheeler to one of my deer stands for an afternoon hunt. All I saw was a flash of white as the snake struck at my foot/ankle. Thankfully the snake hit the foot pad on the 4-wheeler and not me. Two shots from the 45 and the poor snake lost his head. I picked up the body on the way back to the house, it was still squirming. A full 24 hour after being decapitated that snake was still moving, striking at anything that touched the body.


BTW, I usually let snakes go their own way unless I find a poisonous species up near the house or barns. This one was an exception. Strike at me and I'll strike back.


Class III

i don't believe a 38 to the head won't kill a snake.
i've killed two dozen rattlers with a 22 to the head.
a couple were over 5' long n thicker than my upper arm.

they do keep moving after death, for hours n hours.
i'm sorry uncle but your story is not possible.

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susie

If you want to kill that moccasin when running him over with your car, don't just roll over him. You need to lock up the tires when going over him and that will do the trick. Snakes aren't skid proof.

Had a cotton mouth keep striking at my buddy's Olds 88 about 20 years ago in W.V. We laughed our butts off at the very authoritative dinging noises as it keep striking the cars steel body. We did several back and forths over it to euthanize it as it was in the middle of the road in the summer time and powerful angery after being struck by accident the first time.

Did you actually hit it, or just get close? I refuse to believe that I need a .44 magnum for a ten cent snake . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I love to shoot just under them if they are on pavement.....Bullet cut 'em" a flip.......

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S&W Accumulator

When I was working the deserts I would encounter a rattler about every week. I would often run over one with light trucks with no apparent damage when not on asphalt. When driving the water trucks with 2000 gallons of water onboard the thing to do was lock up the brakes just as you reached him. A set of 10 hundred 20's skidding over a snake with 16,000 pounds of freight, skinned them on the spot.

A hoe, shovel, or machete all work pretty well on snakes. Not as much fun as shooting at them, but, usually more efficient. I do keep a machete in the car.
Steve W.

When I lived in the Georgia Mountains I had many opportunitys to kill snakes. Number 8 out of a 12 gauge and the head just disappears-never saw one move after that.

Take your time and you bet its enough, hit the head the snake will be dead!

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Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

Hey, any excuse to get another gun. Even a 10 cent one.

Back in the 40's my father had a fish camp and one of the jobs was to
get into the old low rider jeep and go and collect fire wood.

John was the driver and Joe was in the front passenger seat.
On the way back to camp, there was a rattle snake on Joe's side of the dirt road.
They decided to give it a wack on the head with one of the dry tree
limbs to do it in.
Joe grabbed a nice long branch and..... "Bang" a neck shot.
Followed up with a second....... but with every stroke, a little of the branch would break off.
In all of the excitement, John had to reach over and grab Joe's shirt
and pull him back into the jeep.
Joe finally realized that he was swinging at the striking and mad snake with just a 14" "Club" !!
A new, LONGER branch, finally did the job.

Lucky day............

Yea and grind them up with a drive tire , they pop when run over with a Semi

You must be either a bad driver, bad shot or using the wrong weapon.

I try to not get close enough to snakes to read the price tag.

Reading between the lines, I believe the OP was using shot loads in the .38. From personal experience the ..38 shot loads and a snubby are not a good choice for snake elimination. After my first experience I patterned the gun/load and decided that if you want to use shot loads to kill snakes, a longer barrel/heavier payload is a really, really good idea.

Oddly, the .22 Magnum shot loads and a High Standard derringer seem to work very well on rats/snakes.

I must admit I'm one of those rare individuals that doesn't like snakes, or spiders either. Both are a fact of life where I live. I learned to deal with 'em. Rattlesnakes rarely bother me too much. Usually, if you go your way, they'll go theirs. Cottonmouths, on the other hand are highly aggressive and highly territorial. I kill every one I can. I bought my property to have a horse ranch. After a few years of clearing land, building barns etc, I began to acquire horses. I noticed in short order that the snakes disappeared. I don't believe the horses were eating them. I believe snakes just don't like being around large ungulates. Although, I did occasionally see yellow & red rat snakes crawling along the barn's rafters.

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NRA Benefactor

I used to use a 20ga. shotgun with #8 shot to shoot poisonous snakes. They were a real problem; seeming to multiply faster than I could shoot them.

That all changed when my Dad got a 4 foot long King Snake. She's 6 feet long now and the copperheads and cottonmouths are rarely seen.

As a boy some friends and I would walk the creek banks and use M80 firecrackers to blow them out of the water. Sort of like depth charges. It usually took several M80's to kill one because timing the throw to have it explode as it hit the water under the snake was a challenge.

Well, I've been accused of not being so bright. And I really don't particularly like sobering experiences, having paid out good money to get "unsober". But I don't like snakes so much, either. Were any of you here aware that S&W makes a knock off of the Taurus Judge? Both serve t he same purpose, to shoot weak little 410 shotgun shells from a tool that's handy to carry. Time was, you could even find single shot 410s at a fair price. I guess most vanished when the owners made bicycle type guns and then learned it was illegal. Doesn't matter so much.

At most small town gun shows they have little derringers that use the same rounds. I once passed on a double barrel 410 derringer for $75. It won't happen again. I just wished they used the longer shells, not the shorty's.

The wildlife folks here seem pretty backward. They refuse to believe we have poisonous snakes around here. Next time I see one I'm thinking about lassoing it and taking it to their office. I'd like to live trap a cougar and drop it off at the same office. Just to see them deny it was alive.

I can tell you that a 20 gauge with #6 shot at about 10 feet will make the head vaporize on a copperhead. Pink mist its called.

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Dick Burg

Wete you using shot cartridges? I think a regular bullet works better.

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Doug

You do know that snakes don't die until sunset?

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I totally agree.
Years ago, I found a large copperhead that had been run over by a car and I decided to take it home and skin it for the beautiful coloration of its skin. I started by cutting its head off. Despite having no head, the snake still attempted to strike at me when I started skinning it. It continued to writhe around on my porch for an extended period of time.
Snakes have more than just a brain to control their movements. They also have several structures along their spine called 'locomotive centers' that control autonomic (involuntary) activity.

Speer shot cartridges loaded with #9 or #12 (if you can find it) work great in .38 Special revolvers, even snub noses.

I always use a long handled shovel for snakes mostly b/c I live in a community where shooting is frowned upon.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

I shot this one several years ago with CCI 38 shotshells when this Western Diamondback became aggressive and came over a rock after me. The shot didn't kill it and we finally took off its head with a shovel. As I'm holding it up for the photo it tried repeatedly to come up and bite me even though it was headless! I finally skinned it out the next day after it quit moving. BTW: This was in February and all the snake 'experts" will tell you they are all in hibernation at this time. This one apparently didn't get the word.
Jim

It is said a snake will not die till sundown. I don't think that's true though. Blow their head off with a shotgun and I think they are dead.
Yep running over them often will not kill them and the skid on them is the way to kill them.
I hate snakes no matter what kind they are. I saw one in the grass where I had just been walking. It then climbed a tree quicker than I though it could. Made me think we seldom look up in trees for snakes. I blew that snake's head off. It was a scary thought that snake dropping down on me without my knowing it was up the tree. Let alone I had just walked striking distance from it in the grass. I got luck it didn't strike and bite me then. From what I understand water moccasins are easily provoked to strike.

I usually have to read the gun sites for weeks to get this much BS about snakes. Thanks, guys!
My grandpa showed me the ideal snake-killer -- a limber green branch, 4-5' long and no thicker than your finger. Whip 'em right behind the head and they may still wiggle, but they are dead -- and often the head pops right off in the process.

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Pisgah

YEP !!!

What kind of neighborhood do you live in where it's okay to stand out in the road shooting a gun? You state that the "first shots barely stunned him." How many times did you shoot at him? Three? Or more?

And Mr. Snake just waited patiently there in the road for you to return and shoot him.

Where do you live that you can shoot iguanas? They aren't native to this country. And why would you shoot an iguana, anyway? They're harmless. Ugly, perhaps, but harmless.

Well, if you live around here, I can think of at least one LGS that'll love to see you walk in the door.

I take it you are sober now? Good. I'll take this opportunity to welcome you to the forum.

But...

NO alcohol sold on Sundays, Or (the horror) a dry county.
Don't forget to bury the heads. My former Brittany Caesar set his record of 8 snakes and a possum @ 14 1/2 mostly blind & a gimpy leg. He did get bit with the last one, non poisonous fortunately.

The large ungulates drove 'em off to the high ground!

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

What is the minimum caliber for snake defense?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

.17 if you're a good marksman.

In my experience, CCI .38 shot shells are not especially effective outside of about 10 feet. The .22 version is useless outside of point blank range even on a small snake. I shot a snake recently with a CCI .38 shot shell that almost cut it in two. I was 4 to 5 feet away and fired it from a 4" revolver. So, there is not doubt in my mind that the .38 shot is effective if used at the proper range. The OP was either too far from his target or needs to work on his marksmanship.

Yes! ...tho never seen the head pop off.