A couple of years back I was visiting my cousin in New Mexico and dropped off a box of .38 spl. Snake Loads I'd made up for him.
Any way he was working on his car and noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye and spied a 4' rattler heading towards his house.
Jack had most of his guns locked in the safe, so he unloaded his .357 and stuffed my snake loads in the cylinder. When he found the snake it was coiled up against his house, positioned to strike and buzzing like a saw. From 3-4' away he said that snake's head just completely disintegrated. Jack said he looked all over for the head, but all that was left was the rattler's squirming body, which he promptly buried. He was simply amazed what that small amount of #7 shot would do.
Oddly enough, I believe that it was a famous writer who invented the snake load. Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, hiked in the desert and worried about snakes. His sidearm was a S&W Model 1917 Substitute Standard revolver in .45 ACP. He worked up a load that fit the case and sealed the case mouth with wax.
Word got around about what Gardner had done. Other people tried it with other calibers, and it worked. CCI heard about these homemade "snake loads," and developed a commercial load that was heavier and had a plastic nose that facilitated chambering. Things went on from there, and today there are a variety of shot loads intended for pistols.
Perry Mason may be why Gardner is remembered today; but he deserves respect for coming up with the concept of the snake load, too.
. "He was simply amazed what that small amount of #7 shot would do."
Recently, I have shot two good sized woodchucks w/ a 3 inch .410 w/ #6 shot at 15-25 feet. Neither one twitched AT ALL after being hit. No blood showed up at all except a little seepage from the ears. I was simply amazed too. WAY WAY better than a .22 LR.
I enjoy playing with them,and they do come in handy once in awhile . 12 shot works best for me,even on horse flys .grin
I realize it'd vary with shot size, but how many grains of lead will those capsules average? I don't use the capsules and manage to fill the .38 with 91grs. of #7 shot.
Oddly enough, I believe that it was a famous writer who invented the snake load. Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, hiked in the desert and worried about snakes. His sidearm was a S&W Model 1917 Substitute Standard revolver in .45 ACP. He worked up a load that fit the case and sealed the case mouth with wax.
Word got around about what Gardner had done. Other people tried it with other calibers, and it worked. CCI heard about these homemade "snake loads," and developed a commercial load that was heavier and had a plastic nose that facilitated chambering. Things went on from there, and today there are a variety of shot loads intended for pistols.
Perry Mason may be why Gardner is remembered today; but he deserves respect for coming up with the concept of the snake load, too.
Here I always attributed pistol shot loads to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Annie Oakley's entrance into the arena by shooting balloons from a galloping horses back with her sidearm.
Meaning noting to anyone but myself, I developed some VERY EFFECTIVE snake loads for my .44 mag a few years ago.
Years earlier I experimented with both .357 and .44 mags using Speer shot capsules which gave me mixed results; the patterns were highly variable in density at six feet so the result was highly variable unless I was within maybe two feet of the target critter. That was a tad closer than I like - so I reverted to a six foot limb!
After I finally bought a small metal lathe my options opened up a lot more. I turned the rims of .303 Brit cases to match .44 mag and cut the cases so they fit my cylinder length. After annealing the forward half I load a modest charge of Red Dot (only because the burn rate is right and I have a lot of it) and create a case forming 'bullet' of a wad of toilet tissue packed over the powder before dropping in a cast .357/150 gr. cull and soaking it all with the drippings of a large candle; after firing the cases look a lot like big .38-40 cases that hold almost twice as much shot as Speer'a capsules. I load them with more Red Dot, a 1/4" thick tissue and melted wax powder wad and #9 shot. From 6 feet they violently blast through 1/2" sheetrock with an erruption of chalk dust. The pattern is a fairly even 20" circle about 6" below point of aim - good enough. I'm READY, but no snakes have yet been dumm enough to let me get a shot!
I like to eat snake IF someone else cleans and cooks the stinking things, the smell of snake hide is revolting to me.
I test mine on potatoes.The 12 shot goes about 115grs.10 to 12 feet produces a cloud of shot about 15 inches in diameter.Just watch the crimp on the shot capsules.Not enough they slide out, too much they get chopped off at the rim.
__________________
A gun is like a fire extinguisher,you use it while you wait for 911
Listening to you guys has re-newed my interest in these lil' poppers. I may have to load up some more rounds in .45 colt and .357 mag, take them to the range and shoot for patterns.
what is a snake load- would you please help me with info on the "how to"
Snake loads are mini shot gun shells you can shoot from a handgun. They've been sold over the counter and shot capsules can be pr chased for re-loads. Most use smaller lead shot and they're used on small vermin at close range. I've used them to get rid of pigeons, a wasp nest and moles.
I make my own for .38 SPL., .357 Mag and . 45 Colt. I drop powder into the primed case, tamp a disk cut from a paper or foam plate over the powder, pour in some small shot, cover the shot with another disk, tamp it down again, then seal the mouth of the case with white glue.
I made up some .45s yesterday and am now out of shot. The pics look like some .38s I made a while back.
dz
Last edited by dogzebra; 06-27-2012 at 01:12 PM.
Reason: sp
Doesnt the rifling in the bore open up the pattern alot? If the rifling in the bore could be removed it might help keep the groups tighter. I'm not talking about a short barreled .44 mag shotgun (a pistol with no rifling is a SBS). My question is how much rifling does a bore have to have to me legally a rifled bore and not a SBS? Already there are unrifled sections of the bore that are counted in the barrel length such as the chamber and counterbored or permanently attached muzzle device so what if a old worn out but useable pistol has the rifling removed or even sleeved with only an inch or two left of rifling left. More work then its worth yea probably but it could make a nitch market or be good practice for up and comming gunsmiths on sleeving barrels.
Just my mind wondering again
__________________
Anything said here is my PERSONAL opinion nothing more
Doesnt the rifling in the bore open up the pattern alot? If the rifling in the bore could be removed it might help keep the groups tighter. I'm not talking about a short barreled .44 mag shotgun (a pistol with no rifling is a SBS). My question is how much rifling does a bore have to have to me legally a rifled bore and not a SBS? Already there are unrifled sections of the bore that are counted in the barrel length such as the chamber and counterbored or permanently attached muzzle device so what if a old worn out but useable pistol has the rifling removed or even sleeved with only an inch or two left of rifling left. More work then its worth yea probably but it could make a nitch market or be good practice for up and comming gunsmiths on sleeving barrels.
Just my mind wondering again
Yes.
T/C had a .45/410 barrel that used a detachable choke to stop the spin of the .410 shot, however, the choke was also rifled but had a straight rifling that counter-acted the initial spinning. A rifled bore that is reamed or sleeved to smooth-bore will not stop the shot from spinning although it may reduce the spin but not by much.
If one is worried as to the legality of a smooth-bore cartridge pistol then perhaps using a sleeve with nearly straight rifling will work...like a 1/12 or 1/18 in a six-inch barreled shooter...not straight but really close.
Most commercial snake-shot has the shot encapsulated in a plastic 'nose'. Rifling is needed to break up these plastic capsules to allow the shot to spread...a smooth bore will not allow this required break-up of the 'nose'. A smooth bore would work for a 'cartridge' where the shot was held by a cup.
__________________ If ya don't know where I've been and ya don't know where I'm going, your opinions of me don't count.
One thing no one has mentioned yet: How many grains of powder are being used to propel the 90-plus grains of shot? Just asking.
I don't have the recipe handy for the cartridges my cousin's using, it's written on a box 900 miles away. On the other hand I just loaded up some .45 Colt cartridges using 170grs. of 7 1/2 shot on top of 6grs. of Bullseye to try in my Blackhawk. I shot two rounds at a couple of dated cans of Coke and they seemed to renew the Coke's carbonation.
Wish I'd found this article earlier, it seems to mirror what I've been doing:
Haven't made any in a long while but I used to use a gas check over the powder, #8 shot, and crimp an inverted gas check just inside the case mouth for 357 magnum cases. I wouldn't try to shoot clays with it but I used to use that on barn rats, and it worked OK without tearing up the barn too much.
21Likes
