Please explain what you mean by 'works best'.

 

a) I think revolver is a better choice if you are using shot shells with plastic tips. The plastic tips can break off when loading from the magazine into the chamber of a pistol causing problems. They also may not provide enough recoil energy to operate the slide/bolt. If you already have the pistol you plan to use, experiment to make sure you won't have any problems.

2) You may be better off using regular 22lr ammo. The shot in the .22 shot shells is #12 and IMO doesn't have the mass needed to get the penetration you want. Just use a solid bullet and careful aim.

iii) If you need to use shot shells instead of solid ammo I suggest a centerfire handgun. The CF shot shells use #9 shot so you get much better peneration.

d) My preferred snake killer is a 20 ga shotgun. I've had snakes take several shots from a CF handgun loaded with shot shells before they were dead enough to satisfy me. I've never had one live through a shotgun blast.

 

Longest bbl revolver you can lug around. But I also agree about the small shot in 22 shot shells, even on birds it's hard to penetrate the feathers with much velocity left. I can't take the head off a snake with them but 22 CB caps in either short or long are quiet and accurate enough for general vermin control.

 

I gave a kind of joking response. 22's get a decent amount of velocity out of a 6" barrel,easy to find in a 22. Thing you'll run into in a rifled barrel is a wide open shot pattern and small pellets. Next step up is a 38. Decent velocity, bigger and more pellets. Same issue with rifled barrel and pattern. There are/were smooth bbl 22's designed for shot shells. If you mean it there's the Judge, keep a .410 in the first chamber or two, then what ever you like to fill out the cylinder.

 

The old winchester superx bird shot always worked well for birds and rats and occasional snakes.. shot a truck load of it through a colt new frontier pistol when I was a young man.. not sure if they even make it anymore though..

 

In season I keep a NAA loaded with the .22wmr shotshells as we're in Copperhead country and see one now and then in the yard, but the .38/357, 9mm, 45acp and especially the .44 spcl/magnum shotshell work much better. The 9mm/45acp may have to be hand ejected depending on the pistol. When we had the property down on the Pungo I used the heavy shot variety .44's as the snakes there tended to be heavier bodied.

 

I use a Ruger single 6 with old super shot shells around the yard but I only have 1 box left. If I am in snake country I take a Ruger Blackhawk with 357 shot.

 

I use a Taurus. 44 spl.

 

I use this as my snake gun.

 

My go to for years was a .410 shotgun on snakes, these days it’s my contender Super 14 .45/.410.

If you have and prefer the .22 handgun. I would test it with the crimped brass style shot loads. I never tested them in a pistol but found them more effective than the plastic tipped ones I used in the 70’s when I used my trusty 10/22 around our pond or in the barn. I have 3 boxes of the Mini Mag shot capsule style but always go with the crimped ones in my rifle.

I have used the crimped .22 LR shot cartridge in recent years to dispatch rats in my barn from my long barreled Stevens rifle. I keep ranges under 3-4 yards for best effect.

 

Just for a fun fact: It is illegal to kill a snake in Maryland. I have a snake capture tool but it is only for holding them still until I can get a shot off! Just the Copperheads, I’ve got no problem with the others. If you need a portable snake gun, Rossi makes a single shot pistol called a Brawler in 45 Colt/410. They are pretty affordable and I’d feel better with that if it were me. Some #6 or #71/2 shot would do the job nicely. There are these huge *** bees that eat my figs. They chew holes in them and ruin them. They just hover there in one spot, right before they land on a fig. I can hit them with my old Daisy but, at 72, sometimes it takes me a couple of shots to connect. I plan to try some 22 shotshells in a 22 single shot rifle this year. There was a smooth bore garden gun at a LGS the other day but it was $300. I think I’ll just use the rifled one I have. Good luck with them snakes.

 

Years ago, we went catfishing up in the Delta and we grabbed a couple of bricks of 22 shells from the store to shoot out of our single sixes. When we got up there, we realized that the clerk had given us the crimped snake shot shells. We originally thought that was gonna be a bummer until we saw that there was a big hatch of dragonflies. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun shooting than I did with that snake shot. So yes, the single sixes work really well with it.

 

That does sound fun.

I used to shoot trap games with a group of guys and one guy would bring a judge along. We'd stand behind a 4x8 sheet of plywood to shoot with the trap on the other side. You can get to hitting a fair number of birds as long as you don't let them get very far out.

 

Just a question. Since a revolver has a gap and a forcing cone how does that work with snake shot? More spitting? Any damage?
Probably not , they do make the Judge and the Governor in 410. When Hiking I often carry my Judge, but mostly for protection against
snakes with legs

 

Just a question. Since a revolution has a gap and a forcing cone how does that work with snake shot? More spitting? Any damage?
Probably not , they do make the Judge and the Governor in 410. When Hiking I often carry my Judge, but mostly for protection against
snakes with legs View attachment 584264

They worked fine with the single sixes. No spitting, no damage, no problems.

 

I agree that a shotgun, usually my 410, is the best remedy for snakes although I killed the first of the year 4 days ago with a 22 shot shell, took two to get it done. I keep the supply of 22 shot shells for shooting carpenter bees around the barn without doing damage. First two rounds in an old H&R 929 revolver I carry when out working are the shot rounds, would not trust them in any kind of auto.

 

Snake Shot does not cycle my 22/45 or any other semi-auto I had. So I say go with a revolver.

 

If you're stuck on the idea of .22 shot shell, I'd consider one of the single action revolvers with the option of a 22 WMR cylinder. Ruger Super Wrangler or Single six, Heritage Rough Rider, Colt Frontier Scout. The magnum would be the same size tiny shot, but more power behind it.

 

I keep a Chiappa 1873 .22LR, loaded with shot shells, for shooting carpenter bees. They just disappear like a clay pigeon on the trap field. I don't shoot snakes (we don't have any venomous ones so they all get a pass). They take care of the rodents.

 

Coincidentally I shot some today put of a NAA Sidewinder at about 3 yards pretty good pattern I had a old box of Federal crimped shot as well as CCI encapsulated shot, I liked the crimped ones better they seem to have a better pattern.
Federal still shows Crimped shot.

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I can’t help but buy a box or 3 of the Federal listed above.

we kill an average of 15-20 snakes a year in the yard, and that’s not including snakes killed while hunting.

most all of them are with the crimped Federals above out of a Single Six or 617.

 

My local range has been invaded by carpenter bees and the single six shot shell combo is a lot of fun dispatching the little buggars.

 

The only real advantage of the encapsulated CCI rounds is a lack of leading from the shot in the barrel, if you only shoot one once in a while I doubt it make much difference in the Rimfires.

 

Garden guns were mentioned, I was looking through the lever actions on Midway and ran across this Henry Garden Gun, not a pistol but cool smooth barrel gun. Anybody shot one?

Henry Garden Gun Lever Action Rifle 22 Long Rifle 18.5 Blued Barrel

The Henry Garden Gun is one that belongs right by your side as soon as you walk out the front door to start the day’s chores. Tuck it next to the...

www.midwayusa.com

 

Garden gun loaded with Winchester #12 shot crimped, twenty feet on chipmunks.
If they're on the run that's a different story.
Fast moving vermin.
Have the CCI but not tested them.
My third Henry and no complaints.

 

I have used crimped Winchester .22lr birdshot to kill starlings that decided my airplane hangar was their castle. I used a S&W Model 17 w/4" bbl. It was effective out to about 20'. When I lived in Placerville CA, I carried magnum snake shot in a High Standard DM-102 Derringer for chance encounters wth avian pests. It was effective out to 30'.

 

I've only had success with the 22lr shot shells used against carpenter bees. Shot from a 617 S&W revolver. The bees attack the horse barn every year.
For snakes I want a bigger payload and load my own in 32H&R.

 

I find that the crimped ones have a better spread than the encapsulated ones Federal still makes the crimped ones
I also have loaded in 38/44/45 speer makes the capsule for them, I also love the .32H&R. i have never loaded shot in them
How do you load these?

 

Since nobody makes shot capsules for 32 I simplified the load to fit inside the case.
A small charge of Titegroup,1.5-2gr with a single card wad between powder and the shot, #12 shot with 1/8" of the case mouth, filled with a smear of clear silicone. Let it cure and shoot. I shoot them as single loads as I don't want to have a bunch of small shot jamming up the revolver if the silicone doesn' stay stuck.
If the powder charge is too high, the pattern is a donut with nothing in the center.

 

Well I reload the brass 410 I make that way, I never used silicone but have used Rapix fix with UV light or elmer glue over a shot wad.