Forums / Gun Discussion / Snake shot as a first round in defensive carry

defending against snakes......What kind of pistol?

Don't shoot snake. He's a nice guy. But, seriously, are you talking about a "shotshell" round? Is that what snake shot is?

Yeah, we both have Glocks. Yeah, it's a "shotshell' round in, for example, 9mm. Has kind of a plastic cover on the end, really tiny tiny shot in it. Local Capella's carries it in packages of a dozen. His idea is that the first round out, if not directed at a snake, would cause some shit enough for him to get a hollow point out immediately after. Apparently these things have a wide spread. I don't know myself. Seems to me like first one out should do serious damage, not just irritate an attacker. But that's what he is advocating.

not very effective based on personal experience and discussions with others

has a very short range in which it is effective. the rotation caused by the rifling of a barrel slings the shot out in a wide pattern very quickly.

are your anticipated opponent, wouldn't a full mag of snake shot be appropriate and maybe another mag full of HP/FMJ rounds for a 200lb two legged opponent? I would sure hate to try and hit a snake that was comming at me with HP rounds.

lol,ok I am alive more or less.

that a gun is drawn,then the ammo better be good.If it's a real snake,just move away,don't really need to shoot it,if its an attacker then if the presentation of a gun does not deter him,and he is attacking you,you really want to control the situation from there and shoot him then right,shoot until he stops trying to attack you anymore.If it's an animal attacking you,a bear or mountain lion,or such,you might only get off one shot before it's upon you and snakeshot would be the last bullet i'd want,also,if snakeshot is carried,then some range time is needed shooting that snakeshot bullet to see how it prints,how the gun functions with it,i'd hate to have a misfire or FF because the snakeshot wouldn't cycle the gun properly,escpecially if i had to shoot a bear with snakeshot just so i could get to some real bullets.

CCI's been selling this stuff for years, in various calibers. A friend of mine & I got some a few years ago. We found the effective range to be severely limited. We figured that we'd have to be within 2 feet of a rattlesnake to be sure we put enough shot in its head to kill it. At that range, I'd rather have a machete, or even a big stick.
The stuff might be effective on a human if shot right at the eyes. If it blinded him, or caused enough pain to the eyes, you could take whatever action you were capable of without much fear of his counteraction; anything from a HP round, to hitting him with a club (or machete), to running away.
Glazer Safety Slugs are formulated on the same principle. Glazer Blues use #12 shot (I believe), while Glazer Silvers use #6 shot.

Guys your pard is back.. and yeah the padre fuck'n missed you all.. Going to go get caught up on whats been going on, so forgive me if im "gone" for the next 20 min or so.

Guessing Vaq brought you guys up to speed on our "bug".. Lucky i listened to Gloria and didn't get on so nothing was compromised.. Told it was a "Trojan" deal.. all i know is i just got it back up and running, then had some more problems (user error no doubt).. anyway it's now fixed and while it took forever (think its been a full two weeks) it only cost 112 bucks to repair.

Really did miss you guys.. Funny how that works, maybe more cause were so rural, and really not a lot of contact with others (i really do shower... once, sometimes twice a week..) but you get used to spending 2-4 hrs a day on here with you tramps, and telling you i honestly missed your goofy asses..

Have this image of new folks going WTF!.. anyway... Greg is back, well healthy, 112 bucks poorer, and will be with ya all in a bit after i catch up..

Oh, and so i don't pull a major edicate faux pax..(been watching lots of intellectual TV) . On the post it's self.. I don't think i would carry shot loads in an auto.. Unless they have improved a lot i had problems with them cycling in both 1911's, Star and Browning 9's.. That being said the piece we have stashed near the back door (funky old model 10) has the first 3 rounds loaded with shot.. It's the only one in the house with shot but i keep a speed loader full when ever i go to the range..

Did i tell you tramps i was glad I'm back.. come on..give me a hug..

handshake for ya,welcome back,aren't you guys on fire down there?

Missed ya ol friend. How ya doin?

Goddamn...... look what the cat drug in...Holy shit! Mr. Edwards, you have been M.I.A. for quite some time, we wondered what became of you...My 18yo is quite the 'computer kid' if you need any assistance with your "malware" problem.....Welcome back my friend, you were missed!

Hamp

and just wanted to let you know my business and home officaily went on the market this past weekend...Arizona here i come..

In a perfect world, or my less than perfect world, I would be happy to sling my Winnie model 1300, 12 ga with birdshot for the shooting of the snakes (sorry snake), and my PPS, P-89 or M-4 for anything bigger.....thats just me though!

thanks for the welcome.. Telling you guys it seemed like forever .. i called a couple of times, and then figured i was going to cause more problems so just rode it out.. The big fear was it would cost more to repair. AFTER TWO FUCKING WEEKS.. than it was worth, but wound up just being 1 and a half hours of labor.. Just glad i listened to Gloria and didn't get on the net or (so were told anyway) they could have got a lot of information as G does all on line bill pay..

We better skip anymore on this.. Starting to feel guilty about hi jacking Mikes post..

Bobs right about CCI's of course, and thats what i have in the back door piece and carry in the speed loader..If i remember they came in a 10 pack.. I know i shot one for pattern and have the rest as stated.. and no others in any of the bags.. The ones i had problems with had a crimped case, and guessing just didn't have the "ump" to cycle the slide.. That was back in Tucson, and can't remember what they were, but pretty sure not CCI's..

the misses is 'restless' and so on and so forth....gregAZ, glad to have you back and I hope that you can encourage your Brother to 'engage us' with his presence as well....

1. 'Snakeshot', esp. in smaller calibers, is a poor choice for snakes. A couple of summers ago, TBH and I killed 8 copperheads in 6 weeks, none under 2.5' long....her Dachshund was just bitten by a snake. Each required several shots with .22lr HPs and/or a nice shard shovel to kill it. Low light (they hunt mainly after sunset) and a moving target make it tough, but I'd much rather have a good bullet going exactly where I want it at any reasonable snake distance than a small cloud of tiny and inefficient birdshot. Example: you foolishly blunder into a rattlesnake, unaware of your surroundings and the fauna. It's right next to your boot.....do you want a large 'spread'?

2. I've caught, kept and killed a LOT of snakes. I've never had any snake, stateside or otherwise, come towards me unless I was foolish and gave it nowhere else to run. Snakes, esp. US species, will usually go away from you if you give them the chance. In the event you have a stubborn one, then a 4-6' walking stick is much better medicine to safely move or kill a snake. No chance of ricochet, doesn't jam, quiet, and actually helps you hike. If the snake is too far away to use a 4-6' stick, then it's probably not a danger to you. If you're hiking off your property, just go around it. If the snake is on my property posing a potential threat to me or my critters however, then he has to go bye-bye.

3. If the gun is going to be used a defensive measure against 2-legged threats or animals like dogs, etc, then snakeshot is LOUSY. It won't cycle most semi-autos reliably ( OP did say 'mag', so you'd have to cycle the slide manually to get to the JHPs), and doesn't penetrate to any adequate depth even at 5 feet. I shot an apple with snakeshot from my Glock 19 at about 6 feet....it was struck by exactly 9 pellets, none of which made it through the apple, and it didn't even fall off the stump. If that was a snake it would've crawled away, unhappy but otherwise still capable of doing what you wouldn't want it to do.

I would definately test them out in an auto before carring them. I've found that CCI shot shells don't have enough behind them to cycle correctly in some autos. Of course it depends on caliber and spring tension (stiffness). I had them cycle fine through my glock with a factory guide rod/spring combo (18 lb), but as soon as I added a 22 lb. spring... FTE

I think I have enough ammo to argue with my cousin now. He's 6 foot 10 inches so I'll do it by phone.

Waste of money........Shot at water Moccasians trying get it the Bass boat with me, and still had to use the oar to dispatch them!