Well written article on "snake guns"

[Greybeard]

Uncle Mas gets pretty thorough in this one. If interest in reading all the way down near the end, the Rednecky Texan quoted twice may be a name some will recognize.
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[carlson1]

Thanks for posting. A very good interesting article. I have to agree with his statement about hoes, rakes, and shovels.

My only experience with "snake shot" was years ago (late 80's) in Wood County. I shot a water moccasins with .357 shot shells and they just pretty much bounced off. To say in the least I wasn't impressed.

[Greybeard]

This past bow season I was walking to my tree stand before an evening hunt when I noticed a fox trotting TOWARD me adjacent to a fence line. Am unsure if it was just curious, rabid or what. Anyhoo, I dropped to one knee, pulled out the ankle revolver and squeezed off what I felt like was a perfect sight picture as the snubby want bang. The fox bolted into the bush and I could not imagine how I missed. Then l I opened the cylinder to reload and remembered ... it was keyed up with snake shot in the numero uno hole. The .38 stuff is even more ineffective on foxes at mid range than it is on rattlers or water mocs at close range.

[rotor]

I carry a S&W Governor with .410 8 shot when on the ranch. Without hearing protection though this is a true challenge to shoot as I have only tried this once. Usually have 2 rounds of .410, 2 rounds of 45 acp and 2 round of 45 long colt. As a last resort I guess I would shoot without hearing protection but only as a last resort.

[Greybeard]

Ya, that is one of the few practical purposes I see for the .410 revolvers like the Governor or the Judge - if someone does not mind carrying the beast around all the time.

[VMI77]

I haven't encountered any Water Moccasins or Rattlesnakes on my property but I have encountered plenty of Copperheads. .22 snake shot seems to work just fine on them, though it won't even break a bottle from just a couple feet away. I don't shoot from a distance, I get up close. I haven't been able to find .38 snake shot for years. Of course The Judge works even better, but it's a lot easier for me to carry a .22 snubbie in my pocket. I will use whatever I happen to have with me....so I've expended a few 9mm and .45 hollow point rounds on Copperheads too.

I only kill the pit vipers that are a threat to my dogs. I don't go stomping about my property looking for snakes to kill. A big Rat Snake in our carport had my wife freaking out the other day.....he crawled away unmolested. I may even cut the Copperheads some slack if they'll eat the mice that keep infesting our cars.

[Setxjeff]

I loaded up some snake shot of my own using nickel coated 7.5 shot in 38 special Speer shot cups it comes out to about 110 grain. The cotton mouths around SE Texas are mean and big. Between the shot cup and the nickel plating they do a good job out of a S&W 4" model 19. The non-poisonous snakes(free rat traps) get a free ticket until they start getting in the chicken nest boxes.

[RogueUSMC]

When I was a kid, we carried a .22 with shot shells when we went out camping.

We were canoeing the brazos once and a cottonmouth kept hanging around the canoe. I shot at it with the little .22...water erupted all around the snake...he looked around like, "what the heck?"

I shot again...water splashed all around him. He decided he would just go somewhere else and left.

I wondered what happened with that. Close to the bank, I found one of those signs that said not to shoot the trees, so I shot the sign...lol. A perfect circle of shot...looks like I hit all around him but didn't hit him...

I bought a .38 poly from a guy and it came with a few hundred round of ammunition. In that mix was two boxes of the blue shot shells. I haven't tried them out yet though so no report...

[TomsTXCHL]

He mentions FL water moccasins/cottonmouths will "aggressively attack humans" and thankfully while I have had some close encounters with rattlers, and one VERY close encounter with a copperhead, in no cases did they come-after me. So I don't carry a gun around the yard, but will get the shotgun if I find a monster that needs to be dispatched from this Earth in order to protect the wife, dog, and cats...

BTW I have some 9mm shotshells for my Ruger semi-auto handgun which have worked on the one occasion where a rattler was tight-under a shrub that the wife didn't want me to risk. Stuff that wants to grow in this harsh environment is mostly encouraged!