Hello all,,,I fine myself overrun in my area with large poisonous reptiles
I have 44special shotshells, I know I should be fairly close but my question really is
how well they penetrate the heads of the large fellows at say five to ten feet.
I know some of you have had much experience in this situation, If you would share them

IF THEY ARE LARGE AND YOU ARE THAT CLOSE YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO HIT THEM WITH A BULLET.

I once read that if you want to test/see the results from your current critter shot load, shoot a potato at the distance you plan on plugging the critter.
Looking at patterns I think one wants #9 shot for max size and #12 for pattern density.

Are you in an area of new construction or has the area always been "Snakey"?
What kind are ya dealing with?

I have found shot shells in handguns useless . My .02 but think differently .

Found a few good articles by Jim Wilson and Richard Mann on the subject....That should handle my problems.
Cheers to all.

and 45 ACp CCI Shot Shells. CCI recently came of with heavier (6?) shot, in a red capsule for vermin/ bigger snakes. I have shot an small rattler and several pack rats with the blue shot capsules usually two shots to finish them off humanly.
I keep it around usually in a spare mag. or speed strip.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

The 38spl load will just piss off a big rattler from 5'.
I put 3 in him and then the next 3 were JHP's that hit all off center and he was still trying to get away.
I guess I suck according to JT since I cant hit a moving snake centered from 5'.
I went to a cut down pump 20ga for a ATV gun and my woods pistol now has more than 6 rounds.

Regarding snakes...

If you can see them...

Why not just walk away...

And I'm no pacifist...

Cheers,

Byron

to me and mine.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

A Lady named Florence passed thru the neighborhood a few weeks back....And relocated some of the residents of other areas.

As for shotshells I will be getting some of the Red Ones...(A large Box)

The water variety have a circumference of a fat mans fore arm and are four feet long.. If you lay your hand on a table and picture it without fingers that is the size of some of the heads...They also hang out in gangs I have noticed..

The buzzing variety come longer than that and there is nothing more exciting than stepping off the side of the road in calf high grass and it starts moving and making noise.

The darn things are everywhere............and are out in force , If I take any prisoners I will make contact for relocation to more friendly areas and recipients can pay the freight.

Thanks to everyone who has taken time to respond to the post....Hope you all are well.

With shotshells and snake heads, pattern density is everything. When the #9 and #4 shot misses the head and just hits the body, it just makes the snake angry.

The ones with # 12 shot, that is, .22lr, ,22 mag. and 9mm kill the biggest and meanest but you have to get closer than comfort for most folks.

As for real solid bullets against snakes.....not real smart in the yard or even in the house. I attended a wedding soiree at a hoity toity lakeside resort were a sotted john rambo knucklehead bravely killed a snake with his .40 glock and also shot an underground electrical feed and got arrested in the process. His fines and restitution to stay out of quod exceeded his annual take home pay.

In snake weather I keep a n.a.a. or two loaded with shot. I have killed snakes for people in their homes with no danger and little damage. Utility rooms, bathroom sink vanities, and even under a toddler's crib. The fine shot from a #12 cci shell scarcely scratches paint/varnish but patterns much better than the larger shot. Again, you have to get close.

A coworker of mine killed the biggest cottonmouth I've ever seen a few years back over in the Big Sandy. He found it coiled in the shade under his ATV when he came back from hunting turkeys. 12 gauge turkey load did right well. After seeing the pictures he took of that snake, I don't think I would have wanted to tackle that durn thing with anything less than a 12 gauge.

A+ to Byron and Hobie

employees. Out in the hills, no issue. Around my little place rattlers die.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

CONCLUSION YOU SHOULDN'T.

We don’t have rattlesnakes here, at least I haven’t seen one in 5+ years. But we do have copperheads, lots of them. I don’t tolerate them around the house and yard, I’ve killed them with 22 CB caps, killed a nest of them with a shovel, and will continue to kill every one I see. Friends of ours live in a lake house, the wife won’t go outside without her 22 Mag derringer loaded with snake shot.

I don’t understand the “I don’t kill anything I don’t eat” crowd. Do you eat coyotes? No trapping?

I live in the middle of nowhere and will walk away from snakes that are not around my house, livestock or dogs.

Those that are are killed on sight.

Our 6 year old Border Collie has been bitten on the nose three times by timber rattlers that came into the fenced front yard. Each time his face swells up to twice normal size and he mopes around for a couple of days and then is fine. FYI dogs are almost always bitten on the nose due to the way that they go about the snake however bites on dogs noses are almost never fatal. Cats on the the other hand are almost always bitten on the paws and often die quickly from a bite.

Those seen out in the woods are left alone.

Cheers,

Byron

My snake gun is a model 18 Smith & Wesson. I had to sight it in for the distance I want to shoot at a snake otherwise it would shoot high. It is my carry gun around the barn or places I normally encounter snakes. My other guns I have to aim low with Kentucky windage to hit them. If you set a gun up beforehand to hit a target at the distance close to you it will be less of a chore to use bullets. I load my own and it is hard to find small shot to put into the cci capsules. Larger shot just doesn't work well in my guns so far.

if they detect a snake. BUT, I have been struck, missed my leg, but hit the cuff of my overalls. a nieghbor almost died from bad wound advice from his wife. "Hold your hand up in the air" sent the poison into his system... Even our hippie neighbors with their "no kill farm", burn every rattler they see on their place.

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Had a Boxer that was bitten in the jowls on two separate occasions, says something for his learning ability. Vet injected cortisone in the puncture wounds to minimize tissue necrosis. He told me dogs rarely die of snakebite. We had a Maltese that would kill moccasins and bring them to us on the back porch, he was never bitten.

I carry a SS Bearcat that I purchased from tshirhart years ago. Over the years it has accounted for scores of rats (CB's) and about a dozen poisonous snakes (Federal 40 gr. hvhp). Miss Becky has authorized shooting the poisonous variety in deference to our(her) Yorkie. We went a couple of years without a King snake hanging around to keep snakes at bay and had several moccasins in and around the pond by the house. There is a trick to one shot kills on water snakes. When they swim there head is stationary, so aim at the base of the head. The little Bearcat is deadly out to 6 or 7 yards. Best practice for snake shooting is rolling shotgun shells.

Load your own for a model 18? Did you mean model 19?

vicinity of the house. There are exceptions to most every rule made by man.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

My model 18 is a 22 and I use a Paco Kelly nasty nose tool on the bullets I use in it. My other revolvers are 44 caliber. I have loaded cci shot shell capsules in them, but the only shot I could find at the time was number 8. It did not pattern well in those guns.