so, a few minutes ago, i decided to walk in my garden.
as soon as i opened the door, i heard something. at first, i thot it was a busted pipe spraying.
but, maybe a rattle.
so i went in n picked up my 15-4. i loaded it with 4 cci shot shells, all i had.
as soon as the door swung wide open, i saw the coiled snake, rattling away.
it had been constantly rattling for more than 5 minutes.
i fired all 4 shotshells, at long range.
2 yards.
the snake ignored them.
then, i went n picked up my 22/45, which i keep loaded.
stepped back out, fired one shot, hit between the eyes.
the snake didn't even writhe. it just died.
so, i fired off more than $2 of shot shells n that snake could have got me, if i wasn't on the steps.
then, i fired 5 cents of 22lr n fixed things.
CONCLUSION
shot shells are not cost effective.
worthless in fact.
when i gotta shoot a snake, i'm real scared.
i want that feeling to go away fast.
from now on, i stick to 22lr.

__________________
susie

I've only shot one rattlesnake with snakeshot and it was at about 1 yard. Ended up holding the snake's head down with a stick and cutting it off with a knife to kill it, The shot had little to no effect on the snake so I quit using it and went back to real ammo.

Oh, and this was with a .38 snub nose. Maybe if I had a 20 inch barrel it would have worked better, in other words a rifle.

by the way, my kits maybe saved me a bite.
i thot my garden was snake proof so i'm not as alert as in the pasture.
but it was rattling because of the kits.
if they hadn't disturbed it, it might have been silent til it bit.
they don't always rattle first.

__________________
susie

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^**

I hope all the folks who drivel on and on about carrying shot shells in their revolvers read these posts.

Yeah, wee have a lot of them out here in the desert and if they don't feel threatened they won't rattle. I've walked right up to them, pinned their head and picked them up and they never rattled till I pinned their head. These were snakes I wanted to skin so didn't want to shoot them and cause damage to the skin.

Now these were western diamondbacks the Mojave is another story, they rattle and get ready to strike way before you get to them. The Mojave was born with an attitude and they like to let you know it. They are also more deadly than the Westerns are.

.45 shotshells work on red squirrels.

__________________
Common sense isn't so common.

I load my own with #11 shot. I carry around the farm because this is a particularly bad snake season. I get a cottonmouth or copperhead almost every day form a range of 6’ to 12’.

I use a Pre-Model 10 with a 5” barrel. I tried a Chief’s Special with a 2” barrel but it’s not very effective. The short barrel allow for too much spread.

__________________
A gun has no brain.. use yours

22lr is cheaper, bob.

__________________
susie

A surprisingly effective load that I have used on coons and possums, and would work well on snakes, is the 148 grain .38 special wadcutter. That flat, wide meplat really does some damage even at the mild 700 fps or so the round is traveling when it leaves the barrel of your Model 15.

__________________
Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

If my old eyes and my aim were better I would consider .22lr. When they are moving I have trouble hitting the darn things with a .22.

__________________
A gun has no brain.. use yours

Do you skin em and dry them like leather or thin like paper?
I’ve used the paper thin dried diamondback skins to put on Recurve and longbows.

__________________
I reckon so

I have found that a double 00 spade works pretty good. I decorated hat bands and the cantle on my saddle and all kinds of stuff with Ray Rattler's hide.


You old timers brace yourselves.. Here comes that picture again.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

i mostly shoot 38spc wad cutter because that's all my 15-4 likes.
but, that's 40 cents/round.
when a snake comes visiting, i want it dead, but i don't wanna spend lots of money on it.
with 22lr, i practice shooting lumps of charcoal. the size of a snake head.

__________________
susie

I use my own hand loaded "snake loads" with #8 shot in a .38 spec. They have worked for 40 years or so. You do have to be within about 6 feet though, if the shot don't do it the gas check will.

The recipe was in the American Rifleman way back in the day.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

The knot on the end of a lariat has probably been my most effective snake killer. Whup them to death with what you got.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

The load I shoot carpenter bees with will kill a snake. 38 spl case. 1 1/2 grs of Bullseye, tamped cardboard wad. Fill to the top with #9's. Tamp a cardboard wad on top and seal with glue. At 6 ft or so a snake can't take much of that.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

My only snake kill was a red mojave in Arizona. A .40 S&W shot cartridge did the trick from about 6 feet. I still have the skin preserved in alcohol somewhere around here. (The original plan was to treat it and make a hat band of something. Never got around to it.)

One thing I did learn was that the CCI .40 S&W shot rounds would cycle the slide on a Sig 224, so when out and about in the desert I carried 2 or 3 rounds of shot, backed up by hollow points.

__________________
Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I make my 45 Colt shot shells from trimmed 460 cases and put 1/2 ounce of 7.5's in them at about 750 fps. At 12 feet they rip coiled Copperheads to little spreads! (Not any Rattlers in Harlem anymore! And a couple less Copperheads.)

Ivan

44 stuff out of a 5.5" barrel works very well at about 10 feet or less.
As to the photo provided by Iggy in #12, I'd approach at with something other than my pistol.

Attached Images

13427722_736371719838871_5441201577279791623_n.jpg (72.5 KB, 126 views)

__________________
Expert at not being an Expert.

I do mine thicker like leather, I say like leather it's thinner than leather but thicker than paper. I give a lot of them to friends and they use them as some sort of display around the house. Some end up on hats and others just as decorations. Don't do much of it any more, cause as I've gotten older and not as quick or nimble as I once was. I no longer catch them at all, just pin them and cut them.

What y'all need is a snake pointer like this'n here.

(We had a LONG talk about taking all the snakes to Mom)

Attached Images

IMG_0571.jpg (237.4 KB, 594 views)

__________________
James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Might need to escalate to grenades...

__________________
Common sense isn't so common.

I've had fair luck with CCI from my model 60. But you do have to within 6 feet of the target. My son prefers a Taurus Judge. The last 2 I've used an 870.

No Thanks,,Time to move...

Re: Snake loads. Use what you've got! I've shot 'em w/ 12 ga. birdshot ... works every time! Used a .30-06 once. Yep! It worked! Shot a really scary big impressive rattlesnake w/ a .44 Magnum. First round blasted his royal hissing highness up in the air. Second shot caught him right ... blasted skin and flesh everywhere! Distance muzzle to target was maybe 16 inches. Had to put the laundry through the washer again. Shot a copperhead with a load of Speer/CCI .357 snake shot. Very effective. One shot. Head looked like it'd been chewed by a thousand needles.

Once out running w/ my dog ... ran up on a whopper of a swamp rattler. That thing was a real man of a snake. Wasn't the least bit afraid. No interest in getting away. Kept my dog away. Hit it with about half of a old concrete block. Hit it real hard. Also used a brick. Took a lot to finish him. Just wouldn't give it up and die. Since that night I always carry a pistol when I'm out walking or jogging. Got to figure if I'd had a pistol, I'd have been able to kill that whopper snake with a whole lot less drama. Sincerely. bruce.

__________________
<><

CCI also makes them with #4 shot, at least in 44 and 38. I haven't tried them yet though. They should carry their energy a little further, but spread will always be an issue from a rifled barrel.

I've had great luck with shot shells in both .38 & .44. I load my own with Speer Shot Cups, Unique powder, and #7 1/2 shot. This larger shot size does a good job.

.38 Special


.44 Special



Copperhead



Timber Rattler


Barn Rats


etc

etc

__________________
C & L

I too have found shotshell ineffective and in my bulldog they jump crimp and come apart after the first shot, I just stick to actual bullets.

I use to just let the snakes be, however if I catch venomous snake anywhere my child might be, it's done in. I shot an adult copperhead with a 4" model 65, and CCI shot cartridge, from about 4', the snake's head was disintegrated completely.

Is this with store bought CCI shells or hand loaded ones?

__________________
C & L

Here ye are, just needs crimping.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I have rattlesnakes on my property. Walking around my property, I see .410 shotshell cases. I assume the previous owners were using a .410 shotgun on the snakes. During the Summer of 2016, I was using my S&W K22 Masterpiece. What was surprising is that I never saw a single rattler during the Summer of 2017.

I have some shot shells for my .44, and that is what I would carry if hiking or had other reason to be in the areas where an encounter was more possible.

As a side note, I remember someone a few years back posting that they carried shot in their defensive revolver for what I considered horrible reasons (didn't want to do the necessary damage an assailant, in short). A friend's agency just had an incident in which a deputy was shot with 9mm snake shot - it was not debilitating at all. Offender's pistol malfed and he then surrendered.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

Store bought I have yet to handload my own

....and came to the conclusion that out of a .38 snub you would have to get really close. I could test them in my 6" barrel but I don't think it's.

I'd give a .44 caliber shot shells a chance. They hold more pellets, but unless I see something more effective in shot shells I'm not impressed.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

It's whatever works for you. A good sharp hoe works as good as a 12 gauge, lot quieter too. :-)

I do agreed with hand grenades, a lot of them, for the den shown in Iggy's photo though.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Grenades, followed by 2 gallons of kerosene and an A10. There is no such thing as "overkill".

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

Looks just like my "bee' loads "cept" I use cardboard wads instead of expensive gas checks.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

FUN FACT: "Snake shot" using dust in 22 caliber were used to collect butterflies without damaging them . Mine, except the 22 caliber ones (I don't bother with them anymore) are all #9 shot in 38/357, 40, 45acp. I would feel much better if they were 7.5 shot. While true there's a good chance that by the time you notice a snake, you may have already been bitten, or you have time to move away, THEN AGAIN MAYBE NOT. A 22 shot DID KILL a mouse from a 22 rifle, & a 38/357 #9 shot that ricochet'd off a wet cardboard target, hit me square in the belly @ app 20' & I did not feel it AT ALL, I did have "a rash the following day & no holes in my T-shirt. NO other animal experimentation to report.

I load my own 44 Specials with Speer shot cups loaded with #11 shot. I did some testing and the shorter barrel was more effective as there was less rifling twist to spin the capsule. The longer barrel spun the capsule more and scattered the pattern. I use my 24-3, 3" and it does fine.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Hell, I just whack them with the ho. A lot quieter than a gun. Problem with the .22 shotshells is that they are loaded with #12 dust which ain't effective for squat. #9 is minimum and that would be reserved for .38's and .44's and that is much louder than a ho and you have to get within ho distance. Usually my go to snake medicine is 3" #3 steel shot out of an SBE II while duck hunting.

__________________
Forum consigliere

I've got a full box of vintage Remington .45 shot shells. I wonder how they would do...but I don't want to shoot them.

Might not be able to find another box.

__________________
C & L

22plinkster uses them to shoot Carpenter Bees:

They will probably work, but won't cycle the action. I prefer my 625 for shotshells.

__________________
Common sense isn't so common.

i do't see why people love snake shot.
it isn't worth it.
you worry you can't hit a snake in the head?
practice.
the fact is, if he's coiled up n ready to strike, you have a stationary target.
if he's moving, the shot is harder, but you get more than one shot.
when a snake is stretched out n moving, he can't strike, so you can empty your gun at him.
you have all the time in the world to hit him.
in either case, a cheap little bullet is all you need.

__________________
susie

Flame thrower!

I don't have any problem with .45 Colt CCI shotshells. Killed a water moccasin earlier this spring with it.

Shotshells are effective on snakes... you just have to use the right ones!!

Instead try putting a touch less shot and topping with a round ball. Seal it with Liquid Alox [Lee brand] and shoot a few of those.

__________________
Front sight and squeeze

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. We decided to go on hunting and come back in a while to see if he died. About half an hour later, we came back and he hadn't. One of the guys had a 1911 pistol and shot him in the head. I know he was brain dead, but his body still kept writhing. We finally cut off his head, and that seemed to do it, eliminating the possibility of a nasty bite.

These are tough critters.

I took the carcass home, skinned it, pinned the skin inside out on a large sheet of cardboard, and salted it down. I sold it for a good price to a guy who wanted to make hatbands out of it.

Now, if I hear a rattler, I just give it wide berth. They are nasty to encounter.

John

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -