A slow day & a sharp pencil. I didn't know you were on the undesirable list.

Thankfully we don't have any rattlers around where I live (although some reported not far from here), but I keep shotshells in my 22 WMR as the first chambered round this time of year. We do have copperheads and such.

Years ago I had an infestation of flying squirrels in my tractor garage. They got into shelves, cabinets and drawers even to make their nest (and mess). The 22 WMR shot shell wore them out at distances of 4'-6', and even had a grey squirrel move it, but they are too fast and it got away. One ran out the door crack (I gotta fix that) and jumped into a nearby dogwood tree. That 22 WRM shotshell knocked him outta the tree and I quickly chambered another round and finished him/her off.

The round isn't strong enough to fully operate the slide on my PRM 30, (or kill the squirrel) but knowing that I was ready to manually eject it for a 40 gr bullet. I'd be shocked to see it not take out a snake it 5'. But honestly, I haven't had the opportunity. However I did take one out with my hand loaded 44 special shot shells 2 years ago. One shot, maybe 8' away, and it went into a twisting rolling fit, unable to crawl away. I had another shotshell round in the cylinder and shot it's head off from about 2', the gas checks probably had something to do with that too, I will admit.

Powder in case, gas check pressed in to near bottom, #12 shot inserted and a gas check crimped in over that. That load came from a magazine article some 20 years ago.

I think she originally had this in the Lounge, which resulted in the ding.

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NHI, 10-8.

Cocked&Locked, treasure your remington 45acp shotshells as they stopped making them some years back. I took a few to the local gun club I belong to and tried them out at 15' on some old targets. Respectable patterns and shot density. I was using a 1943 Ithaca 1911A1 and did notice that the crimped portion of the shell would unfold into the throat of the barrel. No biggie really but as nothing broke off the pistol would fire normally. There is a long thread at the castboolits.com where folks who want to make up their own shot loads but using 30-06 cases suitably trimmed. RCBS does sell a die set for making shotshells for either 34 pistol or revolver. Think I have about 45 shotshells left. So maybe I'll have to follow my own advice. Frank

Nope, Straight to napalm for that gang!

I have only one experience with .22 shot shells. A small Western Diamondback under the wife's hose reel. 2 shots from my model 17 each shot the snake jumped. It quit moving shortly after the second shot. (I wouldn't let my wife skin it or cut off the rattles)

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Paul
Salome, AZ

I only have killed one diamondback. It was at about 6' with .38 SPL snake shot, fired out of a S&W model 28-2 with 4" bbl. It worked as advertised.

The little .22 shot shells always worked fine out of my H&R revolver with any snake close enough to worry about.

I've found the .22 shot shells were pretty much ineffective on snakes and rats unless you were about arms length away......however, I've had fun with them sitting on our back deck shooting carpenter bees with a K22 from about 10 ft. in.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

For decades, I have loaded 44 special shot loads, speer plastic cup and #9 shot over Unique, about 6 grains or so. I have killed several timber rattlers, all at distances of 5-10 feet and never needed but one shot to the head. All were shot from 3 inch barreled 44 special revolvers. Yes, shooting carpenter bees on slow summer days can be fun also. I am a believer in the shot cartridges for roaming around outside in the summer months in the south. They have not failed me yet.

Truth to tell, I'm guessing there are two factors here with satisfaction with these shot shell loads from handguns. First is where does the shot land ... where does the center of the shot load actually land? A head shot is always, always! going to be more effective on a snake. And heavier shot will always give more penetration than smaller.

Second factor may involve a lack of experience with killing a snake. I've killed a great many, and a lot of those were dispatched with a shovel or hoe. Cut the head of shortly behind where it is attached. I have never killed a snake that did not continue to move around, sometimes quite a lot, for some time after it's head was cut off. And I have touched the head with the shovel or hoe after it had been cut off, sometimes several minutes after, and the mouth would still open with fangs displayed and shut against whatever touched it. It takes a while for a snake to quit moving!!!

The important bit of information here is not to handle a poisonous snake by hand after killing it!! Just don't do it!! And don't step close to it either. I've killed a rattlesnake more than once by throwing one of my dad's wrenches from the tractor tool box at the snake and had to leave the wrench there for a good while before I could recover the wrench. And failing to recover the wrench would have been more tramatic than getting bit by the snake! Which is why I started hanging a hoe on the tool bar or frame of the tractor with a couple pieces of baling wire just for the purpose of killing snakes.

Shot shells, what ever they are fired from, and especially at very close ranges, must be aimed in the same manner as you would aim if you were firing a regular cartridge load. You can miss! It is worth your time to tack up a piece of heavy cardboard on something you don't mind marking up with shot and drawing a bullseye on it and shooting at that with your shotshell loaded handgun. Start shooting no more than a yard away. See the pattern and the area that is covered by the majority of the shot. Also check to see if any or all of the shot penetrates the heavy cardboard! Then move back about a foot at a time and shoot again and see where the pattern lands in relationship to your aiim and where the pattern gets too large to land many or any of the shot on the head sized area of the snake. Put up another piece of cardboard and shoot from the distance you determine is as far away as you can get a decent shot pattern on the snake's head. Then check to see if you get full penetration through the heavy cardboard. If you don't, that's too far away to shoot at a snake and expect to kill it. You can find the maximum distance from the snake that you can expect a sure hit with your shot and adequate penetration to kill that snake. From that distance and closer, you can expect your shot shell to do the job pretty well IF you put that shot where it must go (into the head or directly behind it) to disable and kill that snake. Remember that a snake cannot likely strike and hit you if you are more than half the length of the snake away. Some snakes are long enough that I'd stand more than a yard away!

Then stay away from it unless you have something with a long handle to dig a hole and drop the snake in and cover it up!

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So long ... Ken

I usually have a H&R 410 shotgun loaded with 3" shells and have one of those ammo slides with about 8 rounds of the same ammo. The funny thing is I've never seen a snake even down by the bayou. Though I have killed and disected two cotton mouths with my Kubota L3800 and the bushog when cutting the grass. My buddy carries one of the double shorty barreled 12 guage shotguns when he cuts the grass. He generally shoots them once and for good measure let them have the second barrel. Frank

"Even a 12-gauge shotgun is unreliable on large rattlers. I was dove hunting near Albuquerque many years ago, and we encountered a diamondback, later measured out to 6 feet plus. I backed away a few yards and let him have it in the head several times with a 12-gauge 870, using dove loads (7 1/2 shot). The darn thing just writhed a lot."

RIO brand made a run of 12ga & 410s with # 12 shot - appears to work good. The 12ga has 2000+ pellets so you get plenty of chances!!

Next thing yer gonna tell me yer Rolex watch fell into that hole, right?
One time I saw a bunch of puff adders like that in South Africa.

I ,also, have had found 22 shot a waste of time and money. I attempted to kill a rattle snake with several shots and finally succeeded when I got within 2'. Took the revolver back to the house and found that the 22 shot would not penetrate a cardboard box. Have loaded my own 38's and they work well. I heard that people shoot rats in the attic with success. But with my luck I would hit an electrical or water line.

I think that the .22 CCI Shotshells are fairly effective at no more than about 2yrds & out of a short barrel gun like a 317. I killed a lot of Copperheads with this rig & ammo.
The other Posters are right imo about being careful to aim right at the head as if you are shooting a single projectile.
Also, like others have said, even though the snake is writhing and flipping around, that's just what snakes do when they expire. That's just normal & they think the shotshell didn't work.

That right there that johnnywitt said

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C & L