Rossi Rifleman

Ohio3Wheels wrote:the rifling can be a problem with the shot capsules. I have a TC barrel in 44 Mag that is set up with a "choke" to allow shooting shot capsules with some effect, I've taken squirrels with it. Without the choke screwed on you make get the capsule to break but no pattern to speak of of. Most of the time you get a short range plastic "bullet" that tumbles.

Make smoke,

Well, that said, I will just use Circuit Judge in 410, it works great, In fact I am going Skeet Shooting with it at noon.

I remember as a teenager we were visiting my grandparents holiday house on the coast. No one had been there for a while so the grass was about a foot high. My father was mowing the grass when he stopped the mower, went to the shed, came back with a long handled shovel and started beating around in the grass near the mower. He then quickly jumped up on the veranda and passed me the shovel. "I managed to get about 4 inches of his tail" he says to me, "how about you go get the rest". "What is it?" I asked, "a death adder" was the reply.
Ever since then my preferred method is a 12 gauge. I really would not want to have to bank on a shot capsule working properly.

Although the last one I came across was a 6 foot red belly black snake. I tend to leave them alone as they eat the brown snakes. I was on a ride on lawn mower and he didn't like the sound/vibration and did give the tyre a few bites.

I have killed them with .22 lr snake loads, but I carry a .410 on the truck and 9mm in my back pocket when walking with a couple of rds of snake shot on top. I have a nice pattern of .38spl snake shot on the linoleum of my kitchen floor where I killed a big snake one night that looked like a rattler in the dark. It was a bull snake that apparently got in thru the chimney. My ears still ring from that. Snakes are pretty thin skinned and easy to kill on my experience

Strawdawg wrote:I have killed them with .22 lr snake loads, but I carry a .410 on the truck and 9mm in my back pocket when walking with a couple of rds of snake shot on top. I have a nice pattern of .38spl snake shot on the linoleum of my kitchen floor where I killed a big snake one night that looked like a rattler in the dark. It was a bull snake that apparently got in thru the chimney. My ears still ring from that. Snakes are pretty thin skinned and easy to kill on my experience

Thanks for the post, I will have that picture of your kitchen floor in my head for a while.
What kind of gun did you shoot the 22 LR Snake Loads out of?
What's this 9mm thing that shoots snake loads, sounds interesting?
I think my "Bad experience" with snake shot is fault of weapon choice, I've bout decided my weapon choice was faulty. Shoot me a PM if you think its too much Non Rossi stuff.....

Cheap .22 revolver. I shoot the 9mm out of a S&W Shield

For Rattlers I would use a #6 in the Circuit Judge.
I have killed over a dozen medium to large (ONE VERY LARGE) Western Rattlesnakes (some redish in color too) and always shot them with a 12 guage with #8 or #9...It would blow them in half...I would aim about six inches below the head...after blowing them in half, WAIT at least an HOUR before you touch them...Those things will still bite you for upwards of sixty minutes after you decapitate them...Then after an hour, BURY the head, and do whatever your like with the body...I used to pitch the body into the greasewood for the birds to get...but some folks like to make things with the skin.
I also own a CJ, but I now live in NC and have only killed Copper Heads with it....#6s worked very well. I use a larger shot as the load is much lighter than a 12 Gauge...I have confidence it would do in an Eastern Diamond Back Rattler, but you might have to give it more than one shell...
ON Snake Loads for handguns, FORGET ABOUT EM...I made the mistake of using some CCI 357 snake loads on a large Rattler in California, and I emptied all six loads on em...it just did not have the power to kill em, and the dang thing wiggled off into the grease wood...probably eventually died, but NOT a good outcome, you really want to kill them on the spot, and dispose of them properly...(The heads are dangerous even after days, as if you step on them, your weight can force the fangs into your foot AND crush the poison into you,,,which is why you BURY THE HEADS.

I gave up on those rat shot pistol loads years ago.....they just never seem to perform as advertised. I have bought several Snake Charmers over the years but gave them all away as gifts. My last one now lives at a friends house where he uses it as a tractor gun. Any shot load that you desire will work in these guns. Just take several down to the pond and shoot into the water to get an idea how a particular load patterns at a given distance. I have a Taurus Public Defender that is my woods gun. Does the same as the SC but in a much smaller package that fits on your belt..... and with #7 or 8 shot will do a serious number on snakes.....and it will shoot .45LC if your world gets too crazy...... .
Check around and see if any of your friends/neighbors have one of the models listed to see if they would fit your needs.

TinMan wrote:I gave up on those rat shot pistol loads years ago.....they just never seem to perform as advertised. I have bought several Snake Charmers over the years but gave them all away as gifts. My last one now lives at a friends house where he uses it as a tractor gun. Any shot load that you desire will work in these guns. Just take several down to the pond and shoot into the water to get an idea how a particular load patterns at a given distance. I have a Taurus Public Defender that is my woods gun. Does the same as the SC but in a much smaller package that fits on your belt..... and with #7 or 8 shot will do a serious number on snakes.....and it will shoot .45LC if your world gets too crazy...... .
Check around and see if any of your friends/neighbors have one of the models listed to see if they would fit your needs.

Me too, barely pokes holes in a plastic milk jug. I carry the Rossi CJ loaded with my #7 reloads.
If ever I go what I call "Out", where I may need a snake gun, I bring my Circuit Judge, if it slithers, it'l kill it.
If it walks I got 230 grain Colt 45.