Snake Shot

[Brent Dowell]

Was discussing snake shot with another member of the group here (give you 2 guesses who, lol) and mentioned I had some in a few calibers and we were discussing the relative advantages of the different calibers and delivery vehicles.

It was suggested that I do a little research, so far be it for me to not share with the rest of the group.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that I recognize the ecological importance of snakes and their part in helping control the rodent population around my place. My practice is to live and let live whenever possible, but when a venomous snake happens to get too close to the house, my pets, and family, I tend to take action. I know of some people that will relocate rattlesnakes, but I'm not comfortable messing around with them. Out in the desert I would never think of shooting one since I would be the intruder in that situation.

All shots were taken at 5', except the .410, which was at 10'

1. .45 ACP pistol
2. .38 special pistol
3. .22 pistol
4. .22 rifle
5. .410 shotgun

Over all Results









Just kind of interesting to see the difference in shot patterns. I've never really felt comfortable with the .22 shot shells, and in fact, for my money, the .410 tends to be a one shot solution.

The .22's seem to be almost needle like in size. The longer barrel of the rifle seemed to generate a tighter pattern than the pistol.

The .38 and .45 seem to have a bit larger pellet, and payload and seems like to me they would probably do a better job.

You can see where the wad hit the cardboard from .45. The .38 had the pellets in a plastic cap and I think the 2 bigger holes there are from the cap and the wad.

At any rate, was kind of a fun, quick little research project that I had not done previously.

 

[Frank Fusco]

I have killed plenty of vipers by shooting. Many with .22 wmf shotshells. And also many with .44 mag. shot shells I hand loaded. The maggies had #7 1/2 shot in them. I always aimed for the center of the body, not the head. I seemed to get a doughnut shaped pattern on both the 22 and 44 so aiming for the body gave more certain hits. I am a respecter of nature also but draw the line at critters that have the potential of killing people. We belong in nature also.

 

[Brent Dowell]

I've found with the .410, it tended to have the effect of being a 'magic snake head eraser'.

No head flailing around with fangs intact. Just no head, period, to worry about.

I use a Little Ithaca M66 Super Single .410 shotgun though, so aiming is pretty easy and hard to miss at 10'.

 

[Darren Wright]

Good info. I'll put a .410 on my shopping list with all the copperheads we've had this year, it will get some use. In Missouri, all snakes are protected by law as there isn't a season for hunting them. The exception is when human life may be affected and they can be dispatched of if not relocated. Like Brent, I'm not taking a chance on getting bit. As a matter of fact, my wife's hair dresser just spent a week in the hospital from a copperhead bite, from stepping on it accidentally.

 

[Mike Stafford]

We had an old saw mill on our property growing up which turned out to be the nesting area for many, many copperheads.

The weapon of choice to discourage these snakes from further activity was a single shot .410 shot gun. I still have that old shot gun. I hate to think how many notches would be in the stock if we had carved one for every snake we killed with it. It was not unusual for us to find them in our garden. Many copperheads were dispensed with a hoe. As a kid I carried around a finely sharpened bush axe just about everywhere I went. Finely sharpened bush axes dispensed many copperheads.

My grandfather was bitten by a copperhead while picking tomatoes. He had to have surgery because the snake's fangs penetrated the bone on his right pinky. He ended up losing the use of that finger because of the damage done during surgery. My mother had an old foot tub with rusted holes in it. She brought a small copperhead into the house. The snake crawled into the bucket and she carried it and the vegetables right into the kitchen. I killed it with a butcher knife.

Hoes remove copperhead snake heads; butcher knives remove copperhead snake heads; bush axes remove the heads of copperhead snakes but .410 shot guns vaporize copperhead snake heads.

My grandfather called all snakes moccasins. Everyone in my family had a different name for a copperhead. I summed all those names up in one long name the rattle-headed-copper-leafed-moccasin-snake.

 

[glenn bradley]

Being a desert dweller I too respect and desire snakes to be around . . . just not in my outbuildings or house ;-) Mossberg Maverick shotguns are cheap, familiar, and tough as a sledge hammer. A great tool when out in the open. Certain situations involve the element of being surprised and a 'spray and pray' pattern can be helpful. A shotgun load makes even a hack like me able to handle Mother Nature's unexpected objections to me encroaching on her turf. Given your choices the .410 would be my go to for critters under 100lbs.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

We had an old saw mill on our property growing up which turned out to be the nesting area for many, many copperheads.

You don't say how they cooked up though....

 

[Jonathan Shively]

410 shot shells have come a long ways with the Judge series guns creating 410 personal protection shells. Both girls have their single shot H&R "snake tamer" 410's. As well as their Rossi combo, 410 and 22 barrels that interchange on the same stock. Just peppered a stray dog yesterday with a 410 and rabbit shell. It is the only warning he gets. Next time I see him here, 17 HMR and out back to the kill pile.

 

[Brent Dowell]

out back to the kill pile.

The Ole SSS

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

...I summed all those names up in one long name the rattle-headed-copper-leafed-moccasin-snake.

I always called them waterback rattlemoccasins.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I envy those of you that live in area where you can go out in the back yard and shoot.

When I worked at Winchester I bought a .22 model 94 rifle. Nice little gun.

I don't have enough interest to join a gun club or anything like that, but I would love to just be able to go somewhere close and shoot cans or targets without all the legalities.
So it is disassembled and stuffed away in a private place - unused.

 

[Mike Stafford]

You don't say how they cooked up though....

Chicken, they taste just like chicken.

 

[Dave Hawksford]

410 is what I'd prefer.
I have taken vipers on with the 12 Gage 3.5" super mag 7-9 shot when turkey hunting.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

I envy those of you that live in area where you can go out in the back yard and shoot.

When I worked at Winchester I bought a .22 model 94 rifle. Nice little gun.

I don't have enough interest to join a gun club or anything like that, but I would love to just be able to go somewhere close and shoot cans or targets without all the legalities.
So it is disassembled and stuffed away in a private place - unused.

That is a sweet little rifle, and it's worth a pretty penny on today's market. Have you investigated commercial shooting ranges (as opposed to shooting clubs)? Not sure what's available in your area, but many parts of the country have shooting ranges where you can pay $15 - $30 to go shoot for a day.

 

[Darren Wright]

That is a sweet little rifle, and it's worth a pretty penny on today's market. Have you investigated commercial shooting ranges (as opposed to shooting clubs)? Not sure what's available in your area, but many parts of the country have shooting ranges where you can pay $15 - $30 to go shoot for a day.

Also check with your conservation department for any ranges they manage close by, ours is about $3 per hour, very well controlled, and usually an hour or two is enough for most folks.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Also check with your conservation department for any ranges they manage close by, ours is about $3 per hour, very well controlled, and usually an hour or two is enough for most folks.

Might also look into whether the town/county/state has any ranges available for public use. The City of Albuquerque has a Shooting Range Park, with a variety of different ranges, from pistol to long-distance rifle, to trap, skeet, and sporting clays. I know they only charge $6.00 per person to shoot at the pistol and rifle ranges. The shotgun range prices are similar, plus the price of clays. For my shooting club, I can rent a private bay at the City range for $35 per day, plus $6 per shooter ($5 for seniors). They only rent the private bays to instructors, and they must have current liability insurance. The state requires us instructors to have a minimum of $1 million of liability insurance anyway.

In the southern part of the state, the City of Las Cruces maintains a public shooting range that's just a series of individual shooting bays, and last I heard there was no charge to use it. Other localities have some variation of the same.

Of course, we're in the wide-open West...things will likely be different up in Leo's neck of the woods, but it'd be worth looking into. He may not have lots of space, but he's got fresh lobster for a good price, so there's that.

 

[Frank Fusco]

Good info. I'll put a .410 on my shopping list with all the copperheads we've had this year, it will get some use. In Missouri, all snakes are protected by law as there isn't a season for hunting them. The exception is when human life may be affected and they can be dispatched of if not relocated. Like Brent, I'm not taking a chance on getting bit. As a matter of fact, my wife's hair dresser just spent a week in the hospital from a copperhead bite, from stepping on it accidentally.

My son is an ER physician at Mercy in Springfield. He once told me about a patient he was able to save with extreme measures who had been bitten by a rattler. Fortunately (if you can call it that) the bite occurred less than an hour from the hospital and he had a friend who rushed him there. Son said any longer and the guy would have been a goner.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I am npt interested in al the legalities of how I can shoot my nice little rifle. I just think it's sad that
I cannot just go out into the state forest and plink.
Yeah I do understand - the bullet can trave 1 mile and seriously hurt or kill someone.

So I just do not shoot.

There are local gun clubs I could join, but I am just not that interested.

We don't have rattle snakes here.

 

[Frank Fusco]

"We don't have rattle snakes here."

I once killed a pygmy rattler in the yard where my children played. I was told by an expert herpetologist PhD that they don't exist in my part of Arkansas.

 

[Chuck Ellis]

"We don't have rattle snakes here."

I once killed a pygmy rattler in the yard where my children played. I was told by and expert herpetologist PhD that they don't exist in my part of Arkansas.

Funny story on my dad... my mother used to tell this story... when I was about 4 years old we were share cropping a farm and Dad was across the road from the house, a state highway that ran between several communities... he was plowing, breaking ground for a new crop and up on top of a hill... he plowed through a nest of she called them ground rattlers... she said a sand racer (lizard) ran up Dad's pants leg, but didn't touch him until almost his hip... she looked out and he was standing naked on top of the hill shaking his overalls... he had thought on of the snakes had crawled up his pants.