What's a good snake load?

[TripleR]

I agree, never put shot loads in your defense gun. And to go a little further, don't carry your snake gun in the same manner you carry your defense gun.

Early in my career, I worked around a County Sheriff who carried a shot load in his .38 as he was convinced it was a good defense load. Well during a manhunt in which a couple of Police Officers were held hostage, things got a little confusing and he shot one of his deputies. The good news is that it really didn't hurt the deputy very much and he was back at work the next day and the bad news is it didn't hurt the deputy very much. The Sheriff stopped carrying shot loads in his gun after that.

 

[bullbreaker]

Any Gulf Coast tractor folks run into any Burmese pythons yet?

Believe it or not,I once came across a snake which I believe to be a python/anaconda on a dirt road in Fla. Everglades that I guesstimate to be about at least 16' long.Probably weighed what looked like easily 60lb.s.Snake was strecth accross road and you could'nt see head because it was in bushes.Ran him/her over 3 times real slow with a 86 toyo pu/extra cab 7' bed truck.After I made my 3rd u-turn and ran the snake over,I finally drew blood from it and got its attenton and it slithered into woods.Going over it real slow with truck felt like going over a small log.Of course I had my windows up so it would not come up into cab and take a chunk out of my rear end or give me a heart attack.Lots of large exotic type snakes around S.Florida many escaped from their holding areas during hurricane Andrew and others were just released into captivity because they became to much for their owners to handle.

Boone

 

[k0ua]

Today, about 100 miles further north from where I am here in Branson, Mo. a guy found a 14 foot Burmese Python near his house. Apparently the cold weather may have killed it. It is warm now, but a week ago, was -10 for a few hours.. and a lot of cold weather for quite a spell.. I guess it scared this guy quite a bit, as he has small children.

James K0UA

 

[Small farm guy]

jay4200: Your friend should have returned the Judge, I bought one and discovered a wear ring around the cylinder, contacted Taurus, they sent shipping label, repaired and returned the pistol promptly.

Not too relevant to the OP, but if you ever have any problem with a Taurus they have a lifetime guarantee. I put a few thousand rounds through a PT99 (9mm Beretta clone) in the early 90's. I broke a lug off the locking block. I sent it back and when it came back to me it shot incredibly better than ever. It turns out that all returns get repaired through their custom shop. When I opened it up and looked at it, there were little elds that had been carefully filed down and everything was polished. It shoots better than any Taurus I had ever used. Ummm, I guess it is relevant in that I have used a couple Judges, they are grea tools, and no one should be afraid of Taurus's quality!

Joel

 

[Stormtruck2]

I agree, never put shot loads in your defense gun. And to go a little further, don't carry your snake gun in the same manner you carry your defense gun.

I agree about the shot in your defense weapon, unless your talking about a shotgun. I have 00 buck, slug, 00 buck repeating for 8 rounds in my Benelli M1. Very effective loading as a home defense weapon, not an out and about weapon. In a side arm though? Never.

 

[ustmd]

Well, talk about coincidence...We have had high 60s to 80 degrees here last week and this boy came out from under my hay barn where he had been denning up. He has been hanging out for the last year and I have been trying to get him --I named him "Soontobe", but no luck. I also tried all of the other things to get rid of him--mothballs, noise, vibration etc.

Today my wife walked past him sunning right by the door..

I must admit that the first shot with the 410 was not as effective as previous encounters--it just made him p$%# off at me (I "winged" him). On the second, he tired to crawl back under the barn to hide and die. My father in law, pulled him out and shot 3 resolved the issue.

He is in the 3-4 ft range.

I may rethink the 410 as my snake weapon.

 

[gwdixon]

Well, talk about coincidence...We have had high 60s to 80 degrees here last week and this boy came out from under my hay barn where he had been denning up. He has been hanging out for the last year and I have been trying to get him --I named him "Soontobe", but no luck. I also tried all of the other things to get rid of him--mothballs, noise, vibration etc.

Today my wife walked past him sunning right by the door..

I must admit that the first shot with the 410 was not as effective as previous encounters--it just made him p$%# off at me (I "winged" him). On the second, he tired to crawl back under the barn to hide and die. My father in law, pulled him out and shot 3 resolved the issue.

He is in the 3-4 ft range.

I may rethink the 410 as my snake weapon.

Most .410 long guns are full choked for shots of 30 to 40 yards. Shooting at close range probably gave you a pattern of about 6 inches. You have to let them get some distance away to open up the pattern.

If you happen to have interchangeable chokes (rare in an inexpensive .410) you might try skeet or cylinder bore.

 

[tommaple]

[QUOTE

I may rethink the 410 as my snake weapon.[/QUOTE]



I agree with GWDixon. You may have been too close. The chunks of snake that are missing is not just a few number 6 or 7 1/2 shot that hit him. It was the full load!

I've enjoyed this thread and am glad the biggest snake I've seen on our property was just an 18" garter snake. That's one advantage to living in the North!

 

[buck12]

Shotguns at very close range can have very tight patterns. I am an avid turkey hunter and when patterning a gun at close range for the first time several years ago I was surprised at how tight the pattern was. I killed a bird at seven steps this past season and I am sure the wad hit the bird.

 

[tulenutn2o]

Ok, but did ya cook him up for dinner?