We have Rattle Snakes, Oak Snakes, Coral Snakes, & just plain Snake Snakes around here. I use the CCI brand 38/357 shot on them. Supposedly theres 109 pellets in each shell. Its like a mini shotgun shell. Will these mess up any rifling in the handgun barrels ?

The CCI brand have number 11 or 12 lead shot in them they have never damaged any of my handguns in the past 20 years.
P.S. the 22cals work well on the on-sholdered bretheren as well.
Oliver507

You might want to pattern a couple of rounds. I've found in most of my .38s' 12-15' is the maximum range for a good pattern.

"The CCI brand have number 11 or 12 lead shot in them"

I think you'll find they use #9 except the 9mm which is #12 - almost all 22s are #12 with Rem using #11

That's a great question on wear and tear. I've shot the rattlers with CCI 45 colt shotshells. It's like hitting them in the head with a golf club.

Doubt that you will have wear and tear-just bore leading.

No damage at all, and any leading will be all but undetectable unless you're firing off 100 shotloads at a session.

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Pisgah

No damage to the gun, but they ricochet really bad, even against backstops like wood. Be careful of your eyes.

Lead will not damage steel - period. Now, that does not make the shot accurate but you just have to see what the limitations are with some testing.

I have only used the 22 lr version and have nothing good to say, the rifling, unlike the smooth bore of a shotgun, causes the shot to exit a pistol/revolver barrel with a spin causing them to spread into a large pattern pretty quickly, this results in an almost instant loss of power.

I recall shooting a rattler at about a two foot range and the pellets failing to penetrate the scales, finally killed him with a rock. I guess it worked out because I did not have to worry about biting into any pellets when I had him for dinner that night!!!

Interesting. I've fired some CCI snake shot & yes you really can't be a great distance away. Have fired it thru my older 10-5 4" The barrel seems clean with a couple patches & Hoppe's #9. Over 20 feet gota wack 'em 2-3 times. Thanks guys for your insite.

I have killed a lot of snakes with .38cal. shot loads. I load my own, with the Speer empty capsules. they come in a box of 50, with the base plug. even with CCI/Speer factory loaded shells, I get no leading, but their is plastic redidue from the capsule, that contains the shot. just like a shotgun shell wad.

That's why they work better in snub nose handguns. Longer the barrel, greater the pattern. I would not recommend shooting them out of a rifle, unless it was one of the Remington smooth bores .22's made specifically for this load.

tends to give a "doughnut" pattern with the shot concentrated on the outsid edge and a hole in the middle. With the SPEER/CCI shot caps, only the plastic cup touches the bore so no leading, just plastic residue. I have found limited utility beyond about six feet due to the pattern spread but if the snake is farther away than that, take your time and use solids.

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Big bang, much smash'em.

I always have a handgun with me when working around my ranch, and the first round in the chamber is a CCI shotshell. I've used them in .45Colt, .38 Special, and 9mm, and all work exceptionally well, and have never caused any kind of problem with the gun. I did have a stovepipe ejection failure once with a 9mm, but it was quickly and easily cured.

Not if used sparingly. They will mess up a rattlesnake, though. I shot this one from about 10 feet with the CCI rounds and a three-inch Chiefs. Like safearm, I always have a handgun with me on the farm, and during snake season, the first one up is a snake shell. Always one-shot kills.

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Georgia On My Mind

BE CAREFFUL DOING THAT! Pardon the shouting, but mixing hardball and shot shells in the same cylinder can cause big problems when you shoot the hardball first. The plastic cups from the shot shells are not tightly fitted, and will pull forward thru the charge hole, and stop the cylinder from rotating. This is fairly common, and has happened to me twice with Model 60. To get around this, put a very small dab of super glue where the plastic and metal case meet. I carry mixed in the same cylinder, but only after the shot loads are made safe.

I've loaded the shot capsules for .38 Special and .44 Special. The .38's hold around 110 #9 shot, the .44's right at 200. Out of a 3" Charter Bulldog I used to have, those 200 shot would do a number on the few snakes and rats I tried them on.

Stiab's suggestion of a little glue is probably a good idea. That plastic is slick and also a bit undersize for ease of loading them without damaging them.

The old style caps that Speer made were yellow. I tried crimping them in place with a roll crimp and had a few fracture at the crimp. I then went to a taper crimp and had no more problems. I think the blue capsules they sell today are a little more pliable than the old ones. I also found that the ends of the capsules were susceptible to breakage from a standard seating plug, so started seating them using a common wooden ruler or other flat surface held against the base of the taper crimp die, seating the capsule with that and then immediately running the cartridge up into the taper crimp die. A little tedious, but these aren't the sort of things you make up a big pile of.