I tried some cci shotshells in my LCR today to see how they would pattern for defense against snakes. I was truly amazed to find that the pattern is considerably tighter from the short barrel of the LCR than from my 4" barreled GP100.

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When I fired the Speer/CCI shotshells out of my Taurus 85SSUL, I was only able to get two fired before the gun locked up. The recoil caused the shot capsules to "pull" and block the rotation of the cylinder. This didn't happen in my S&W Model 13 or Model 681 because they didn't recoil as much. I wouldn't trust more than two shotshells in a light gun, and I've been able to hit snakes at reasonable ranges with bullets.

YMMV.

ECS

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If the truth hurts, it should. -Dad
I aim to misbehave. - Mal Reynolds, Serenity

were yours reloads or factory shotshells?

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Factory fresh Speer CCI .38/.357 shotshells in the little plastic carrier. I was somewhat surprised. The 5 yard target looked like it had measles, but I'm not convinced handgun shotshells are really effective, my brother's Taurus Judge notwithstanding.

ECS

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If the truth hurts, it should. -Dad
I aim to misbehave. - Mal Reynolds, Serenity

against a snake they are very effective

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As mentioned above shot shells can be resourcefull against snakes or even angry dogs (size depending).I would never rely on them in a deadly force encounter and consider them a less than lethal deterent only, similar to "dust shot" used centuries ago.

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Interesting. My best guess here would be that the plastic capsule had less chance to get destroyed by the rifling out of the shorter barrel, therefore holding a tighter pattern?
-Bruce

Snake shot generally (but not always) shoots tighter out of short barrels for several reasons.

1: The reduced barrel length imparts less spin to the shot column/capsule as it heads downrange, reducing the amount of opening up the shot pattern does.

2: The lower velocity (slightly) means that less shot is disturbed and blown out of the pattern by muzzle blast or centrifugal force.

3: The capsule is normally destroyed by the rifling but not always, in some wheelguns with very shallow rifling such as the 1917 Smith's, you don't always get capsule destruction until the velocity gets high enough (for you handloaders).

In addition:

The auto's like the Glocks and H&K's with the Polygonal/Hexagonal rifling work surprisingly well with shotshells. The "smooth" rifling seems to disturb the pattern less than any other type of rifling available today to the handgunner. If they function the action, you're set, if not all you have to do is remember to cycle the action. And believe me you will remember.

The fly-weight wheelguns tend to have issues with different types of ammo, including shotshells thanks to inertia. Steel framed guns are the least problematic, aluminum ones next, the Scandium and Titanium ones seem to have the most issues.

I shoot a decent number of snakes every year with the CCI factory products and have done so for years, enough so that I load for the .38/.357/.44Spl/.44Mag/.45AR/.45LC just so I can afford it. I have to purchase the 9mm, .40 and .45 Auto products as I'm just too cheap to purchase the RCBS dies for .45ACP.

Never need more than 1 shotshell per snake out of my S&W 642 at about 10 feet. Just put the CT red dot right behind the head and fire...takes the head right off 90% of the time.

must be some small snakes lol had a big rattler about 6 foot out here last august took two 38 shotshells at like 5 feet to kill it the head busted open after the second shot but it was still attached.

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The biggest was a 5 1/2 foot Coontail and the rattle was about 3 inches long with 18 buttons. That was last summer...haven't seen any yet this summer.

only snake I seen this year was a 3 to 4 foot bull snake and it was wrestling with a raven. I guess mister ravens eyes were bigger than his stomach and picked a meal ready for a fight. lol

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