Question about snake shot

[Drew78]

Hello to all!!!

New guy to the forum, long time firearms shooter.

A question for you guys about .38 spl snake shot that CCI makes.

Can I shoot those rounds out of a 2" bbl .357 MAG Ruger snubbie revolver or should I try to keep those loads in my .38 pll +p only?

Just curious if the .38 shotshell will work ok in a 357 mag chabered gun?

thanks in advance!

-Drew

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes.

 

[RyanM]

They work fine in a .357. Some people have also found that they pattern better in the shorter barreled guns. Lots of theories, but no one's sure why.

 

[ArmedBear]

The box I have says .38/.357 on it. They sell it for use in both chamberings.

I have never patterned it. I'm cheap. One day, I'll have to. Usually, it's in one of my snubbies when I carry it. It's close-range stuff, and I have never had to use it, though I've had my gun out and pointed at a coiled-up rattler. Unless I'm cornered by the terrain and truly under threat, or I have to defend my dogs or a child on a trail, I'd just as soon leave rattlers alone, where they can eat rodents, which are disease vectors.

 

[jmorris]

They are inexpensive to make if you reload. I use the speer capsules and #12 shot. I use mostly 45LC one's now but when I loaded them for 38/357 I made them all so they would fire from any 38, just to keep it simple.

 

[ArmedBear]

How do you load them? I mean do you use a crimp? Are they easy to smash?

 

[TonyRumore]

#12 shot is the way to go. The factory stuff uses #9 and it doesn't pattern well. There are so many big holes in the pattern you can easily miss a snake's head at very close range.

Tony

 

[ArmedBear]

That makes sense. Where do you get a bag of dust shot?

 

[rcmodel]

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=02612

I might caution you that a 25# bag is about a fourteen lifetimes supply when loading handgun shotshells, so you might want to find 3-4 friends to split it with.

I got an old exercise arm-band 5# weight at a garage sale many years ago that ended up being full of #12 shot. I still ain't run out of shot yet.

rc

 

[ArmedBear]

LOL

Got to look at garage sales for something like that.

WRT handgun shotshells, if I had 25 lbs. I might start shooting hand-thrown clays for target practice with my snubbies!

 

[rcmodel]

Hey, don't laugh!
I shot a mallard duck out of the air in front of two witnesses with a CCI shot-cap in a S&W Highway Patrolman years ago.

I had knocked him down across the pond in some cattails.
So I left the shotgun in the blind and went around to get him.
He took off again just as I got on the other side of the pond, so I did my best hollywood fast-draw imitation and snapped off a DA shot at him as he cleared the cattails.
He folded up like I hit him with a 3" mag load!!

I never did fess up to my hunting pardners I was using CCI shot-shells in my .357!
My reputation as a pistol shot went way up after that!

rc

 

[TonyRumore]

Well, if a retail gun shop owner was smart, he would just get one bag and break it up into a bunch of smaller bags and sell it for three times the price.
That's how I got it back in the 80's. There was actually one smart gun shop owner at the time. Believe it or not, that 25 pounds of #12 only lasted a few weeks and it was all sold.

Tony

 

[ArmedBear]

Well, if a retail gun shop owner was smart

back in the 80's. There was actually one smart gun shop owner at the time.

LOL

 

[oneounceload]

They work fine in a .357

Close, but not quite - they function fine and safely, but they do not work "fine" - the accuracy is lousy past 4-6 FEET. As to using #12 like they do in .22 shotshells, not worth the effort - I load mine with 8 or 7-1/2 so at 4-6 feet, it will actually do some damage to the snake; although a 1oz load from a 12 gauge works MUCH better

 

[TonyRumore]

Actually the damage to the snake is a lot less with #9 shot. I shot quite a few diamond backs with #9 in a 4" 357 and most times it took more than one shot, since they received very few pellet strikes due to the holes in the pattern even at very close range. With #12 shot, they were finished with one shot every time....time and time again.

Tony

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

My experience with .38/.357 shot has been limited to .38 snubbies. Results were so dismal that I quit using them and have used standard w/c ever since.

I would think they would perform better from a longer barrel, but the fact remains that there is only a small amount of shot and no choke so distance is very limited.

 

[oneounceload]

Take your shotshells and a potato and see what works best in your gunv- in MY guns, #12 sucks

 

[RevolvingGarbage]

When I get around to cooking up some more shot loads for my .38, I'm thinking I'm going to use something like #6 or maybe BB shot if I can get it. The issue of sparse patterns are somewhat of a problem, but then again, not being able to kill a snake anyway because the shot is too small seems a bigger worry, and in any case popping off 2 more rounds at the snake should solve any issue with the pattern not being dense enough.

 

[Drew78]

Thanks guys!

I dont reload.

I found a HUGE snake skin on my patio two days ago. He must of come on the patio to sun and scratch his way out of his old skin.

I hate snakes

I have 2 little ones that like to play outside

That snake is out there in my yard

I hate snakes....

 

[RyanM]

How huge is huge? The biggest snakes native to North America are, at the most, about 8 feet long and 2 or 2.5 inches or so thick. If the skin looked like it came from a bigger snake than that, you may actually be dealing with someone's escaped/released exotic pet.

Anyway, make sure your kids know better than to play with snakes.

 

[oneounceload]

A hoe or long-handled shovel will work as well or better than snake shot.

If you want to shoot them, use a 410

 

[Drew78]

Kids know for sure!

I am a big ol nancy boy when it comes to snakes...

 

[Drew78]

A hoe and 410 shotty don't fit as well in my pocket as my LCR!

 

[MagnumDweeb]

Black Racers always seem to have a tendency of running right past me when I'm mowing the yard. They are fast, real fast, but they are protected and not poisonous. It's the water moccassins that worry me but they tend to coil up and wait for you to walk by if they plan to strike.

Best thing is to keep the brush cut low. Rattlers I don't have a clue about.

 

[rcmodel]

not being able to kill a snake anyway because the shot is too small seems a bigger worry

I'd suggest you shoot some snakes first before you go off half cocked with BB shot in a handgun.

I'm here to tell you a cloud of #12 kills them limp & DRT.

Larger shot doesn't seem to over-saturate their nervous system nearly the same way, and fewer larger holes often leaves them still ready & willing to bite.

Big shot also increases the risk of perforating your own hide if they bounce back at you off a rock or something.

rc