22 shotshells

saltydog · Aug 10, 2009

Crxflippr said:
I recently spent a week guiding some kids through the shenandoahs, and after waiting patiently for them to produce the bear bags they were given earlier in the day, I searched each one of their bags only to find nothing.

Already dark, it started to downpour as I stood outside their tarp. I changed the order, and tried to wait patiently as they put their food in trash bags, which I then would have to sleep with under my hammock. Although relatively safe with the bears we have here, I never like sleeping with food.

Infuriated and completely soaked I hiked back, in the dark, to the area we ate in to grab my pack which I knew would now be soaked as well, including my hammock and sleeping bag. Concluding the short hike with my pack in sight I reached down and grabbed my pack by the shoulder strap just as I saw a good sized copperhead at my feet. I recoiled and thought about how with my foot an inch away from him he could have easily tagged me.

Now at a safe distance away, I sat and watched as he glared at me before making a slow retreat. Thinking about his coloration and my close encounter it took me a good 30 minutes to hike 50 feet through the dried dead leaves littering the ground on the way to my tarp.

I hate snakes, but agree, leave them alone they will leave you alone.

(edit. PS. I later remembered that after getting frustrated with the kids for refusing to volunteer to carry their own gear, and running on a time limit, that I had placed bear bags in my own pack)

I'm glad it was your stuff the snake was hiding around. Can you imagine some of the kids wanting to grab a cool looking snake? That could have ended badly for sure.

I had a neighbor who wasn't so lucky. She was helping her boyfriend move a table in her yard when she got nailed by a small copperhead and didn't even know she had been bitten. She knew something happened but didn't know what? When the boyfriend saw two small puncture wounds he knew it was a snake. The guy located and not only killed the snake, but he took it with them to the Hospital just to make sure they knew exactly what kind of snake they were dealing with.

I do know after their ordeal was over It took over two months for her leg where the snake bit to clear up. That poor womans entire leg was nothing but a big nasty looking bruise from her foot to her upper thigh, that had swollen to twice it's normal size. I have to say it was the nastiest thing I have ever seen happen to a human.

You are indeed a lucky man.

Crxflippr · Aug 10, 2009

I'm definitely lucky, and so was your neighbor, it could have been a lot worse than a bruise had her boyfriend not responded as well.

Working in the mountains leads to frequent snake encounters, but after four years of this work, my earlier story was the scariest moment I've had with one. I mean I've been close to them, but I've never come so close to just grabbing one.

We keep the kids informed, and most of them being "city boys", they are scared shitless of anything that moves in the woods anyway. So they're pretty safe. (however, we always carry the snake bite kits anyway)

Marty S · Sep 5, 2009

Shotshells out of a .22 rifled barrel leave a "hole" in the middle of the pellet pattern and are pretty much ineffective after about 6' to 10'.

Here's a demonstration of the penetrating effectiveness of shotshells: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot30.htm

A compromise between the noisy 12 gauge to shoot your snakes and your ineffective .22 shotshells might be a 410 with some sporting clay loads...

Marty

hole punch · Sep 5, 2009

Marty S said:
Shotshells out of a .22 rifled barrel leave a "hole" in the middle of the pellet pattern and are pretty much ineffective after about 6' to 10'.

Here's a demonstration of the penetrating effectiveness of shotshells: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot30.htm

A compromise between the noisy 12 gauge to shoot your snakes and your ineffective .22 shotshells might be a 410 with some sporting clay loads...

Marty

nice link. i've got some .22lr shot shells and i'd love to go pattern them after watching that, but given the ineffectiveness of the .38 vs .44, i think i'd rather have something bigger than the .22 against anything bigger than 2' or so.

and welcome to the club

kick back, stay awhile

Half-cocked · Oct 28, 2011

FWIW, here's the spread of a CCI .22 shot shell, from a 3-1/2" barrel Walther P22. Distance to the target was 6 feet. That's a spent .22LR case in the photo, for reference.

No, they don't cycle in a P22, as expected. But they don't jam, either, like some subsonics have done to me with halfway ejections. So they're good so long as you're content with manually cycling the slide for each round.

hvymax · Oct 28, 2011

My go to Trail/Snake gun is a 45/410 derringer. With shotshells it will deal with snakes nicely and I would not want to catch a buffalo bore or two out of it.

Sirex · Oct 28, 2011

Norton said:
The .22lr rounds aren't too loud to use without ear protection in a pinch. Now, that being said....it's still too loud if you're thinking cumulative damage over time.

I blast a rattler this weekend with them and he ate them up like they were candy. After about 6 shotshells, I finally put a couple of hollowpoint .22s in his midsection and that did the job.

You just shot the snake? You didn't even try to reason with him, or work out a pass of some sort? No wonder PETA hacked the site last week. They're onto you.

FWIW, I shot some .22shotshells about a year ago, just to see what they do, and I don't recall them being any louder than any other high velocity .22lr, but that's my ears. Yours may vary.

Deep Creek Rock · Oct 28, 2011

There are plenty of rattlers in Maryland - Sugarloaf area is full of them. I took the pic of the rattler below at the Fredrick Watershed. Ive posted this pic before in a couple of other postings on here.

Ive tried those CCI before - but just on paper. The report, and recoil felt very weak out of my S&W 2206. If I need to take care of snakes - 12 gauge!

Sirex · Oct 29, 2011

I just noticed the initial post is over 2 years old.

IndispensableDestiny · Oct 29, 2011

Sirex said:
I just noticed the initial post is over 2 years old.

Well, .22 cal shot shells are still useless.

U.S.SFC_RET · Nov 14, 2011

A Rattlesnake gets my blessing every time. They tend to lay low and take care of the vermin. Keep an eye on that chipmunk though. When he disappears there is a snake around.
Copperheads are unpredictable as part of their defense mechanism is to bite first then ask questions.

22 shotshells

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