Racoon and .38 Special +P FBI Load

[white cloud]

Raccoons are very tough. The one you shot may have also had CNS issues from distemper. All that said, I have shot a number of animals with cast semi wadcutters in revolvers ranging from .357 to .45 Colt. I guess I cast them wrong or something but they never seemed to kill very effectively. I have wondered how my experiences and the information in this thread applies to dealing with drugged up humans. I hope that I have my 590A1 handy if I have to find out.

 

[andy52]

With deer I've found that a double lung shot brings them down quicker than anything other than a spine or head shot.

 

[gman51]

Next time if you use a 357 then you will be saying WHAAAAT and what is that ringing sound. A 9mm is plenty bad enough on the ears but a 357 just plan on losing a good bit of your hearing for could be a long time. I quit carrying 357 because of that and the over penetration.

Use a shotgun with 8 shot 00 buck. If that don't put it down then run like fire lapping at your britches.

A friend shot a dog broadside chest with a 22 rifle and the dog went to howling. I told him take a head shot and put the dog out of its pain. Stupid inhumane action on his part. He shouldn't have shot the dog in the first place.

 

[Topsarge]

Having had to dispatch many raccoons during my LEO career, I can tell you this. They are very tough ones to kill. What you described is common with them. You need a good solid head shot and that is no guarantee. Not unusual at all.

 

[SmithSwede]

Thanks for the replies.

For the record, I was shooting Remington factory .38 Special +P loads, the soft lead semi-wadcutter hollow-point bullets. (My original post made it sound like they were non-hollow-point semi-wadcutters.)

I'm an old Bullseye shooter, and shoot revolvers a lot---I wasn't worried about accuracy. But frankly, that's exactly what bothers me. My theory has always been that many or most "failure to stop" incidents amount to poor shot placement, and that if you focus on hitting the right spot with a good round like .38 FBI it will do the job. And yet that's exactly what didn't happen when my single "adversary" was a little raccoon and I'm under no stress or danger. It took 50% of my capacity to kill the thing.

Was the weapon a choice poor? Maybe. I didn't give it much thought---there was a contractor I was expecting to show up any minute, and I didn't want the noise and drama of shooting a long-gun if he were to show up. Didn't want to go back to the house to get a long-gun. I just assumed that my daily CHL piece would be more than adequate for a raccoon.

I'm still not sure what conclusion to draw from this. From the stories above, it sounds like sometimes you have a "failure" even with 20 gauge shotguns or center-fire rifle shots. So I'm not sure that a .45 or .357 would have made a difference.

If the headshot is the guaranteed way to proceed, and works even with a .22, then I might be better off with an accurate .22 rifle or 6" .22 revolver. Don't mess around with body shots--just shot at head from the beginning.

 

[petepeterson]

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.

I watched a raccoon take a 12 gauge with 6 shot from less than 20 feet. It was obviously in distress (and blind, I would guess) but in no way was it mortally wounded. One .44 Mag finished him, but without that he was walking away.

 

[Rpg]

Folks who haven't shot many critters are often surprised that they don't react the way the shooter imagines they will.

Shot placement is the key here.

 

[andy52]

Folks who haven't shot many critters are often surprised that they don't react the way the shooter imagines they will.

Shot placement is the key here.

You are right it's not like in the movies.....

 

[riversalmon]

On my knees crawling through a blackberry thicket, foot of snow, one arm in a cast. My younger days, was after a snowshoe hare I had clipped with my .22 Frontier. Slipping over a small log, low and behold there's this mad masked bandit in the same tunnel, unwilling to yield the right of way. Popped him with the last three in the Colt , madder, pulled my SA .30 carbine , took two more rounds of 110gr. soft point to make him quit lookin' at me. Tough ..... ? coon skin cap with lead weighed 31lbs Tough...

 

[Ron M.]

Cousin used to trap them in Massachusetts (leg trap). Would dispatch them with Uncle's 38 special to the head. They were a pest in the garden, no pelts or anything like that, just wanted them gone. Don't remember any of them putting up a fuss after the first shot, but I was a kid then and didn't really want to watch in the first place. Edgar was a tough old cousin...

 

[kthom]

It's been my experience that nothing with flesh and blood stops instantly unless the electrical system is crashed. Any living creature can and has continued to be able to move and pretty well at times when body shots are made. The creature can be "dead" but it can still function for some time. Small animals like a coon will not stop any bullet I know of. It will almost instantly pass through. If a major bone is broken, it may be disabled somewhat but unless the brain or spinal column is struck solidly, things still work and function. It takes a bit to bleed out.

Bottom line is that every shooting is a situation unto itself. That's why it's important to be ready to keep shooting. Just because the creature falls down most of the time sure doesn't guarantee it's gonna happen every time!

 

[Muley Gil]

I have an old garage with a dirt floor. I went out there and found one of the rabid coons. I had my EDC .38 special Colt Agent in my pocket, but the coon was standing in front of a 5 gallon can of gasoline. I went back to the house and got the Ruger 10/22. It was loaded with Remington .22 LR hollow points. The coon had moved to a back corner. Three shots put him down at about 15 feet.

Another one was on the front porch. It only took 2 shots from the 10/22.

 

[Old cop]

My on duty shootings were with the FBI +P; one with a Colt DS 2" and the other a four inch Model 15 S&W. It did drop the bad guy but it took more than one round and shot placement was center mass. One shot stops are few and far between.

 

[VThillman]

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.

Those 13 shots were probably on the head, not in it. Black bear skull seems like a bunch of shallow angles that make for ricochets.

 

[smoothshooter]

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?

The distemper, or whatever may have slowed down the reaction to the shots, but more likely the coon's body was not large enough to offer the resistance to the bullet to get it to open up properly.
Also, those bullets are going to have to travel a little bit before expanding in any kind of tissue, and in your case, the bullet may have been almost all the way through the body before that started happenning.

 

[bmg60]

Hi
I live next to a river and a lot of open fields the raccoons come in to my back yard at night. I put up a light next to my dish where I feed my cats.
I started shooting them at 30 yards from by back widow with a 22 with hollow points i knew i hit them in the head or neck but they ran away and I would find them about 100 yards away. I got tired of them running away so I went to my 223 with 50 gain hollow points, since I started using them I have not had one run away. They are had to kill it you use the wrong ammo. My count this year is 10 that did not run away. I use a head shot or a neck shot they do not move after they are hit.
Jim

 

[Dennis]

I agree with the over- penetration idea. Smaller animals, but bunny rabbits and ground squirrels WILL still be moving after .44 special and 45 ACP hardcast thru the body.
44 magnums with 180 JHCs.... not so much. LOL.
Yup. Head shots on those little beasts.

 

[DD357]

I suspect it probably just poked a hole as well and I also agree they are tough little animals. I use an AR.

 

[forrestinmathews]

I watched a raccoon take a 12 gauge with 6 shot from less than 20 feet. It was obviously in distress (and blind, I would guess) but in no way was it mortally wounded. One .44 Mag finished him, but without that he was walking away.

I was a kid at the time and I was pretty fast with that pump gun so it didn't suffer from my stupidity for long.

 

[Watchdog]

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.

Are you sure you don't mean rabies instead of distemper?

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.

My opinion is that it most likely means that if you can't make a one shot kill on a raccoon from four feet away, you need lots more practice with your gun, because I don't believe this was the gun's fault or the fault of the load. Sorry, but that's just how I see it.

And besides, my question would be if you were only four feet away, why wouldn't you try for a head shot in the first place? I'm a little short guy, okay? But four feet away would be only fourteen inches past my extended right arm. I'd have been almost on top of the coon.