Racoon and .38 Special +P FBI Load

[SmithSwede]

I had a medium size (10-15 pound) raccoon show up on my property yesterday with obvious signs of distemper. It got into the yard where I keep my pet goats, chickens, and ducks, so I was forced to shoot the sick thing.

It was standing up and slowly walking. I normally EDC an old Colt Detective Special loaded with Remington factory 158 grain soft lead semi-wadcutter hollowpoints, which is supposed to be the old "FBI load." Using that snub-nose from about 4 feet away, I shot it once just above the left front shoulder, meaning center chest. It did not react at all to this shot--just kept walking as if nothing happened. So I shot it again in the same general area. This time it moved its head towards the wound like it had been bitten by something. However, it did not drop, nor did it seem to be in any obvious distress.

So then I shot it in the head near the ear, and that obviously worked--it rolled over onto its back, convulsing, and died within 20 seconds.

I'm still trying to figure out what, if anything, this experience means. I fully expected a .38 +P FBI load to the chest of a raccoon would kill it promptly or at least "stop" it. And if one shot didn't do it, then two would. Yet that didn't happen. And yes, I know for certain that I hit where I described---so I'm wasn't missing the thing.

OK. So maybe that's not the right place to shoot a raccoon. Maybe a raccoon with distemper isn't going to respond like a normal animal to being shot. I'm not a hunter, so for all I know raccoons are super-tough animals and this is a typical experience. Maybe I would have obtained the same result with a different caliber of pistol.

I have to say I'm not impressed with this performance. Next time I think I'll use a .45 ACP or a .357 Magnum.

Thoughts or comments?

 

[murphydog]

It sounds like it was hit multiple times in vital areas. Did you have the impression the bullets stayed in the body or passed through? If they deposited all their energy into it that is not a ringing endorsement of their effectiveness.

 

[ContinentalOp]

So your making judgements based on a single incident?

Guess what? No ammo is 100% effective, even if it hits vital areas. Not even .50BMG.

I'd rather rely on knowing that the FBI load has been successful in stopping violent attackers in several incidents than its failure to stop a diseased racoon. I'd also rely on knowing that any ammo can fail and doing my best to be prepared if that were to happen in a self defense encounter.

But that's just me.

 

[ContinentalOp]

I normally EDC an old Colt Detective Special loaded with Remington 158 grain LSWC.

I fully expected a .38 +P FBI load

I just re-read your post. Which load did you use? LSWC or FBI load? They're not the same thing.

 

[old tanker]

I would not call your experience atypical. It is entirely possible the first shot to the raccoon would have eventually proven fatal. Even shot clean though the heart, it is not all that unlikely the animal might have continued for another fifteen or twenty seconds without showing any signs of distress until just keeling over. Killing living creatures can exhibit exceedingly varied results. Aside from destroying the central nervous system, a high neck or spine shot nothing is a "sure" stop.

 

[robertrwalsh]

My first hand experience with the FBI load out of a snubbie is limited to one incident. I shot a male pitbull once face-on in the chest with the round out of my Colt DS. The dog jumped once, did a 360 in place and then dropped dead. Maybe the raccoons medical problems contrtibuted to the issue. Maybe it was just excrement occurs. It is still a good load. Also, as noted be before the FBI load was as HP-SWC.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...the way to instant lights out is a brain shot...second best is lowering the blood pressure to zero via heart shot or major vessels close to it...a lot of game animals run a long ways with fatal wounds...some miscreants kill after being fatally wounded an example being the 1986 Miami FBI shoot out...

 

[viceunit]

This reminds me of my raccoon story from around 1985 or so. We carried 586 revolvers. What was common on animal calls was to slip out the duty ammo and slide in a wadcutter round. In a very urban area with houses 10 feet apart there was a raccoon in a garden that had been injured, probably from being hit by a car. But, he was testy. So I slipped in one wadcutter - that ought to do it, took aim at his head, and missed - hitting him in the body. Now he was really pissed. It is summertime and kids are out playing and I have just made the situation potentially worse. The coon scrambled under a car in a neighbors garage. With rakes and other garden tools I shooed him out, right into another garage. In the meantime, I slipped in a couple more wadcutters. We went garage to garage about three houses up from where we started. It was starting to get dark. He must have tired from the chase and finally gave me a target in the middle of a backyard, where I was finally able to put him down. The sound of the shot alerted the resident of the home I ended up at, and I could see the silhouette of a very pregnant lady coming down the stairs. Not wanting her to go into labor at the sight of the now bloodied raccoon, I was able to keep her from coming out into the yard. After this "mishap" I always put a couple extra wadcutters in the gun. Prior to that, I never had to use more than one wadcutter to put down an injured small animal like a raccoon or dog.

Apologies to the OP for the slight drift...

 

[Muley Gil]

Sounds like a rabid coon to me. I have had to kill several around my place.

 

[forrestinmathews]

You kept shooting to solve the problem. Good job!
You appear to have marksmanship skills sufficient to make headshots under pressure. Good job!
Your ammunition didn't work as expected. That is a bit unnerving with forty percent of it expended. It's a .38 +P out of a short barrel. You can't expect the hand of God to pop out of the barrel and smite the target. Take a look at the lucky gunner article and find a bit of enlightenment on bullet expansion.
If you had a choice of weapons ahead of the shooting then you made a very poor decision. I would have responded with a 12 gauge and buckshot if I had a choice. I almost always choose a long gun for deliberate killing. If you responded with what you had on hand, then you got the job done effectively and gained some valuable experience.

I once shot a suspected rabid raccoon with a 20gauge loaded with #6 shot. The result was one pissed off animal. I did not hesitate to follow up with a 3" #3 Buck as it started to turn toward me. Bring enough gun and don't hesitate to use it.

 

[nachogrande]

YOU WON'T NEED A 375 H&H FOR COONS

It wasn't a bang flop,THIS TIME. Had the same bullet have been the head or a CNS shot it most likely would have been. I think you are well armed for coons, just go with the head shot next time.

 

[haywood]

At the City I worked the Animal Control Officer brought a Racoon in to be put down. My friend a part time Officer shot it with his 45. It took Three shots before the Racoon quit trying to get out of the slip noose. They are plenty tuff to put down.

 

[Catwrangler]

I lived in the 'burbs of JAX Fl., came home one night and a racoon was eating the cat food I had out for a semi-feral cat that had adopted the family. I shooed him off the porch twice and the second time he came back growling and showing teeth. I went in the house and got a 3" 36 loaded w/ LSWC and from 6' away shot him in the chest. He reacted w/ screaming and rolling around in the hedge then took off,down the sidewalk and across the driveway. There was a Blood trail but I lost it after he went under a neighbor's fence. Next morning I found a piece of shoulder blade about the size of my thumbnail. I checked w/ neighbor's within a block radius and,no one had found or smelled a corpse. Bull raccoons are tough birds. Head shots are the ONLY solution.

 

[andy52]

My thoughts are that a .22 rifle shot to the head will dispatch most any critter in north America short of a bear or moose. I've taken down more than one coon in such a way, they just curl up in a ball and twitch.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I think any of us who have hunted have had the unpleasant experience of firing a killing shot into a game animal and then have to look for it because it took off running. It is far more satisfying when the animals are DRT - dead right there. Firing a 150 or 180 grain .308 into a whitetail buck and then have to figure out where it went will make you wonder.....but when you find it then you know - wild animals are just tough that way.

Then again, I have no idea why raccoons think it is a good idea to enter my backyard when my dogs are out there. Since the mid-1990s the score is dogs 19, raccoons 0 - and last night was number 19 and my two dogs ripped it open this time. That was different.....and somewhat less than pleasant. But I digress.....

Good shooting! Sick animals are a serious problem.

 

[Buford57]

My F-I-L used 2 rounds of the old 200 gr RN "Super Police" load from a Cobra to put down an opossum. Once watched two men I knew could shoot put a full box of .22 LR into a porcupine. Heard each round hit. Ran out of ammo. New morning the porky was gone from the tree. Never found him. Have also seen the quills dampen a .22 Special (WRF) round enough to prevent penetration. But also a 145 gr Silvertip .357 drop one without a quiver with one body shot.

As someone else has said: nothing is 100%. Final score: SmithSwede 1, Racoon 0.

 

[andy52]

I think any of us who have hunted have had the unpleasant experience of firing a killing shot into a game animal and then have to look for it because it took off running. It is far more satisfying when the animals are DRT - dead right there. Firing a 150 or 180 grain .308 into a whitetail buck and then have to figure out where it went will make you wonder.....but when you find it then you know - wild animals are just tough that way.

Then again, I have no idea why raccoons think it is a good idea to enter my backyard when my dogs are out there. Since the mid-1990s the score is dogs 19, raccoons 0 - and last night was number 19 and my two dogs ripped it open this time. That was different.....and somewhat less than pleasant. But I digress.....

Good shooting! Sick animals are a serious problem.

You are absolutely correct how tough a animal can be without a properly placed shot. I hunted coons for years when I was younger. One of my hunting buddies was really a poor shot and we would tease him after several shots on a treed coon if he didn't get it done soon it would just climb down and beg to finished off. A coon can do some serious damage to dogs if they are inexperienced and don't work as a team. I only had one dog that could take a coon by itself and had the scars to prove it knew how.

 

[old tanker]

Don't feel bad, my buddy was standing on his porch when he shot a good-sized groundhog in the flower bed with a 1917 Smith. It was almost straight down and through his spine, between the shoulders. Dead right there! What was surprising was when I picked up the carcass, the flattened out bullet was laying on top of the mulch. A .45 caliber, 200 grain Speer "flying ashtray" factory load from a yellow "Lawman" plastic box.

 

[hammer 1]

Raccoons can take some serious punishment, a few years ago, I had a rash of sick ones on the property. Shot them with everything from a 45 auto to a 22 mag, and a couple with a 243, and even a 3006. Head shots were lights out, but one big male, that was just staggering about, took a 85 gr sierra 243 round, just sort of kept staggering. The 22 mag head shots usually ended very quick.

 

[apollo99]

I was always surprised how much an animal can take before they go down, I've seen deer heart lung shot run 900 yards(measured) before it dropped. One thing, I figured out is the vitals aren't in the same area as a human, I left shoulder/center chest shot may not be a kill shot on a raccoon. I had a NYSP friend shoot a black bear over 13 times in the head and the darn thing still chased him around his patrol car. One thing for sure good thing that raccoon wasn't armed it sounds like he had plenty of time to return fire.