Shot Shells ?

[gunzo]

I have used CCI shotshells in most calibers they offer & Federal in .22. Mice, small snakes & small rats have been taken out to about 8 feet with a 22 & 22 mag. For venomous snakes I prefer a .44. Have used .38's in a short barrel & the results were not satisfactory. CCI uses #9 shot in their bigger calibers & it's ok but I prefer smaller shot. I load my own using #10 shot & would use #12 if I had it. A lot denser pattern & a good stopper. A couple of very good articles on the subject of shot size by Mike Venturino in Guns a few years back. Sorry for no issue date but my copies are not cataloged well and couldn't find it.

Some say that if you have to shoot a snake, and with the distances involved, you should be a good enough shot to hit it with a single bullet & shotshells are not needed. I agree with the former but not the latter. Sometimes there are bystanders around or valuable equipment. Thats where a shotshell is much safer. By saying valuable equipment I use this example...



This was no place for bullet, we needed that truck for the 19 hour trip home. The prarie rattler had allready struck at a friend and missed by a mere half inch. Trying to shoo the thing away was not an option, having it get under all those rifle cases that we foolishly had on the ground would have made for long and dangerous day. The shotshell in use here was a no longer made Remington .45 ACP with #12 shot and was VERY effective. BTW the above photo was staged after the snake had died to depict the original incident as well as we could recall. No way anyone could have used a camera at the time with that angry rascall trying to eat us up. Usefullness? In my opinion.. YES. I'll allways keep them handy and as a matter of fact, would love to buy somemore of those discontinued Remington acp's, if anybody has some please let me know.

[steveb]

Thanks Gunzo ! I'll add, around vehicles, to around outhouse,etc.. Nice posting. steve b

[Lee Martin]

My dad always carried a Charter Arms Bulldog loaded with shotshells when we would cut grass. I saw many a snake get venilated over the years.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com

[papa]

I remember a guy used to make blanks using cut down 308 brass I believe. Said he had a special die for making the crimp like the one you've shown here. I wonder it someone still makes that die and if the brass would open enough to disperse the shot??

papa

That didn't take too long. Here's what I was talking about www.ch4d.com/

look under specialty dies for Blank crimp dies 45 acp set is 104.27

[steveb]

Ok, after throwing all the opinions into the mental blender...will keep CCI shotshells in stock here. Thanks folks. steve b

[cadillo]

Back when I was a member of management with a large manufacturer, we often attended seminars on identifying and correcting safety hazards. We were always told to give a greater priority to crippling hazards as opposed to deadly hazards. They said that the family of someone who was crippled routinely received more money than did the family of someone who was killed. While the cost of maintaining either family would be the same, maintenance of the cripple far exceeded that for the decedent, who required no further maintenance.

Bottom line is that if you are forced to use deadly force, it's cheaper to kill him than to maim him, and if you maim him with a home brewed cartridge, that will open up a whole new way to make you into the bad guy come award time.

[Kurt]

Papa:

I have the RCBS form and loading dies for 45 ACP and they work quite well. One change was made after some experimenting. Instead of a card wad I use a .375 gas check on top of the case. Depending on what recoil spring you have they will cycle the 1911. when I do my part I can break hand thrown clay pigeons at 10-15 feet ( just don't let your friends see the empty cases). with #7-1/2 shot. The form die says group G pn 55000. The loading dies are group I pn 55000. The information that came with the dies was from The American Rifleman April, 1976 pp. 20-23.
Kurt

[Deleted]

Snakes? I want some power and reach!

[steveb]

Now thats a really neat pic ! Thanks. steve b

[Frank V]

I have only used the .38 & .44 shotshells enough to test them on paper. I have used the .22lr shotshells a lot. I've killed barn mice with them & at a few feet they will really settle a mouse. I used the older crimped ones. I have also shot a lot of Black Widow Spiders with the .22 shot ctg. & I will tell you at about 10' they will scatter a Black Widow Spider over about 3 counties. In an old shed I had to clean out where there was no danger of anything valuable getting hit, rather than using a broom or some other tool, I used my .22 revolver & shot loads. It was a lot more fun than a stick or broom, ;D & very thorough.
Frank

[Lee Martin]

My dad used to carry them in a 44 Special Bulldog when he'd cut grass. A lot of snakes got their clocked cleaned with that little gun. Other than that, we've never really used them.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com

[Boge Quinn]

Jun 4, 2010 19:12:17 GMT -5 papa said:

I remember a guy used to make blanks using cut down 308 brass I believe. Said he had a special die for making the crimp like the one you've shown here. I wonder it someone still makes that die and if the brass would open enough to disperse the shot??

papa

That didn't take too long. Here's what I was talking about www.ch4d.com/

look under specialty dies for Blank crimp dies 45 acp set is 104.27

I remember Jeff doing that when we were teenagers.

[Boge Quinn]

Dec 11, 2010 5:36:47 GMT -5 @scott said:

Snakes? I want some power and reach!

Isn't the the one that ended up inside one of my geetars?

[Deleted]

No, I went back for that one the next day and the county had worked the road.