So here is my take:
Snakeshot is worthless
Carry self defense rounds
Carry a hiking stick
Be aware
Walk away from any snake
I have only had to shoot a few rattlers ON MY PROPERTY that threatened my animals
Otherwise in 25+ years of hiking the desert, I just make noise and if they rattle, I toss a rock and they go away or I walk around them.
The ones I shot, I shot with my self defense ammo. Head shots. One 135gr Speer gold dot from a 442, and one 158gr fbi load from a 4" model 19. immediate head explosion and bye bye.
The one I used snake shot on took three shots from my model 19. One of the cartridges lost the cap from the recoil, made a mess (CCI Stuff) and the snake suffered a bit before death.
The one I shot out of my 442 locked up the cylinder when the case separated from the plastic cover and interfered with normal operation. I ended up realizing I didnt have to shoot the poor thing and moved away then came back to coup de grace it with a speer gold dot once I cleaned the snake shot mess from the cylinder so it didnt suffer because shot one only hurt it.
Even snakes deserve clean kills.
I am not a fan of snake shot unless it is birdshot out of a shotgun.