Rat shot/Snake shot reloads

There are plenty of ways to make snakeshot/ratshot .38 Special loads. I do it the easy way and use Speer shotshell caplets. I fill them full of #9 shot, load them over 5.0gr W231 to an OAL of 1.500" They work very well in all my 38/357 revolvers, even the J frames.

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Yep, the Speer capsules are the bomb. I only used them in .44 with #6 for birds though.. good close-up medicine.

I think in any pistol, you need the sabots. Loose shot just scatters to the wind.

1SOW said:

I think in any pistol, you need the sabots. Loose shot just scatters to the wind.

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Snakeshot is meant for up-close-and-personal work. Within 6 feet the wind will do nothing to #9 shot. It will work well up close with #12 shot too.

You can find some at SGAmmo.com.

Yep, just use the Speer shot capsules.

Larger shot load, more effective and easier to create than loading shot on top of the powder charge.

I made some 45 Colt shot shells before Speer sold their 45 shot shell capsules. The shot capsules are so much better to use.

I have loaded 38 Spl shot loads both with cardboard wads (punched from the back cardboards for legal pads, three over the powder, shot, one over the shot, crimp the mouth of the case heavily) and with the Speer shot capsules. Both work well on targets and soupcans at close encounter ranges. It is much easier to clean the barrel after using the Speer shot capsules.

Many years ago before the advent of the Speer shot capsules I used a Lyman gas check over the powder (base side down) and another over the shot (base side up). It's been so long ago that I do not remeber the powder charge but I amsure that I used Bullseye powder.

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These days it's surprising how expensive gas checks are.

I have an old deck of UNO cards that I use for an over powder and over shot disc. I use an old case that I sharpened the edges of with a knife to cut them out. In a 357 I use 5gr of AA#2 and over powder disc and fill the case with #9 then an over shot disc and roll crimp. They work pretty darned good.

I cut over powder and over shot cards from old Styrofoam takeout boxes with a belled, sharpened (chamferred) case...

Over the shot I do not crimp, but smear the edge of the card with 'school glue' and wait for it to harden...I know a guy that uses a small hot-glue gun for the over shot card sealing...

As to the expense of gas checks, there is a guy on eBay that sells aluminum checks dirt cheap...

I have patterned these at 20 feet, and have killed rats at 15' with .357 mag 100gr loads of #8 shot...

Like the other folk above, I've used the Speer capsules. I used #8 shot and Bullseye. My tool of choice was an old S&W Model 586. Sorry, but I don't have the load data anymore.

Since I was dealing with copperheads, which are not very aggressive, I ultimately switched over to a well-used, long-handled shovel. Of the 13 I killed in and around my home, I only shot three, and those were at a distance of about eight feet. A shovel would require more care with big snakes, like the larger diamondback rattlers, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on the smaller ones. A quick stab will pin the head and decapitate them.

1SOW said:

I think in any pistol, you need the sabots. Loose shot just scatters to the wind.

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Exactly. I loaded some 38's years ago using gas checks as top and bottom wads to hold the shot. Didn't work very well. I could have better results throwing the shot.

CCI Shot-Caps are the only way to fly in this day & age.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/products/components/empty_shot_capsules.aspx

(If you can find some for sale!)

In my experience, very small shot works on snakes much better then larger shot.

A swarm of #9, or even better, #12 shot seems to disrupt a snakes nervous system and leaves them DRT without a twitch or wiggle.

Bigger shot like #6 or #8 will eventually kill them for sure, but not as instantly as #12.

rc

Just buy the Speer capsules - they are cheap enough and easy enough, my kid loaded them when he was 6

Do a search for "snake shot" several threads on the subject !

this 1 is a good 1

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=570742&highlight=snake+shot

Just buy the Speer capsules - they are cheap enough and easy enough, my kid loaded them when he was 6

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This is what I was referring to when I said use a sabot. It needs to be contained untill it leaves the bbl.

I've made some using #9 shot in a case with a wad, and that didn't work well at all. It sprayed like an umbrella opening.
JMO

I use Speer shotshell capsules from midwayusa.com or lgs.

Also, you can load (3) #1 buck shot pellets in a 38 special shot shell capsule and use the same load data supplied in the box of capsules. They make a nasty ragged hole in a water bottle from 10 feet away. I just buy a box of #1 12 gauge buckshot loads and cut the shot out of the shell to hand load into a capsule. Works great. I use 000 buck shot for .44 mag/spl.

You can also mix and match buck shot and 7.5 shot or whatever you have. Same thing there, instead of buying a bag of shot just buy a box of shells and cut them open. Saves a lot of money for making only a few rounds.

I use 231 powder for them with no problems. Practice your crimp tho, too much will crack the casing and spill shot possibly causing your revolver to jam.

**If your firearm has a magna-port or any kind of porting, you may spray bb's everywhere including your direction.**

I agree it's easy to crimp too much and crack the capsule. I bought a used .38 Special taper crimp die I now use for making those shotshells up. It works very well with plated bullets too.

4895 said:

**If your firearm has a magna-port or any kind of porting, you may spray bb's everywhere including your direction.**

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That would get your attention.

With normally resized cases, the neck tension with the shot capsules is pretty good. So, all you really need to do is removed the mouth belling via a taper crimp.

A roll crimp die can be used but should be reset so as to not apply too much crimp.

Like RC said, smaller shot works better than larger. The pattern opens up to much to fast to be effective at more than short ranges. So lots of small shot hits does a better job than a few big ones.

Off topic a bit, I saw a TV review of the Taurus Judge where they were shooting skeet with it. The Taurus rep was breaking a few targets with the revolver.

This is what I was referring to when I said use a sabot. It needs to be contained untill it leaves the bbl.

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The Speer capsules are designed to shatter on the rifling, and do not 'contain' anything once they exit the forcing cone...

Speer also cautions against using their capsules with ported barrels:

http://www.speer-bullets.com/products/components/empty_shot_capsules.aspx

We loaded it powder, card board wad cut from cerial boxes, shot, and then 1/8" of Elemrs glue up to the roll crimp. We used Green Dot powder. Keep the velocity down or the pellets spray real bad even at only 6 feet!

But I think the shot capsules are easier and I never shot enough of them to make cost an issue.