snake loads for home defense?

[BETH]

Ok people what is a snake load?

[pinecone70]

Originally Posted by BETH

Ok people what is a snake load?

Snake loads are handgun cartridges that are like little shotgun shells, full of tiny pellets. They might be good for snakes, in the bigger calibers, but they are not going to be a threat to bad guys because they don't have a lot of oomph.

[focusmaniaczx3]

snake loads in a .22 will do wonders against a stray dog in the back yard tho. it wont kill it or even make it bleed... much... but by golly that dog wont be back soon after

[BETH]

so it's really a shotgun shell for a pistol but no power right so why would u use it?

[pinecone70]

Originally Posted by BETH

so it's really a shotgun shell for a pistol but no power right so why would u use it?

I always thought they were kind of a novelty, try them and say, "Meh, that was cool" and then find something better.

[focusmaniaczx3]

scatter shot, not lethal at range, low ricochet risk, idiots can fire it into the air and not worry about it hitting and killing old man dan 7 miles away. alot of people associate a shotgun with the perfect home defense weapon except its hard to wield in confined areas so why not have a shotgun pistol round?!? except you have to shrink everything down to make it fit pretty much defeating the whole idea of a shotgun... unless you are holding a judge, which is my favorite handgun by the way

[pinecone70]

Well, the way I look at it is that a shotgun is a huge, powerful round. A pistol shot shell is no shotgun round. There is so much more powder in a shotgun shell than those measly pistol shot shells, there is no comparison.

The Judge has had rounds tailor-made for their model as self-defense rounds, which may be good in a lot of situations. I have not personally tried them, but have heard good reports. I should add that I am a fan of .410 shotguns, but I don't use mine as much as the 12 gauge.

[Terry_P]

They are typically loaded into a shot capsule in 38/357 or 44. In a 38/357 it usually #9 shot and if I remember correctly about 4.5-5.0 gr of Unique (Don't quote me as I don't have my manuals in TX). I loaded some for revolver carry in TX for snakes when I was hunting with a rifle.

[focusmaniaczx3]

the special judge shot shells are amazing. nuff said. a little bit more expensive than your typical #4 but amazing nonetheless. they scatter funny though every time they scatter in a near perfectly vertical line about 6 inches apart. also im the same. i had a 410 for years and i liked it. however if i ever find myself in a situation where i want or need a shotgun im going to reach for the 12ga way before the 410.

[redhart]

no ,thats all just plain no

[Mp15-22]

I have a .45 beretta cx4 storm carbine. One day i bougt these cci shotshells. I shot a few in the field, at a targer that was no more than 20 feet. The paper end up with only 20 holes when the shell carries about 100 pellets, it cycle the gun and feed the next round, but it spreads really fast, i think i has to do with the rifling of the gun, as you know a centrifugal force will make anything to concentrate on a shape of a ring. In this case there is not enough centifugal force to make a ring, but the shot is very small, so is not going to hit hard enough. And is going to spread in a very short distance. I whould use them only if i had a smooth bore gun, and if i dindt had nothing else, but in your case i think you shoud carry PD ammo, "dont risk your life " you have very good guns for home defence.

[bluesea112]

I just bought some rat shot rounds for my .22 long rifle, and they have #12 shot in them. They will not penetrate both sides of a cardboard box over 12 feet away. Fairly useless for any application except pissing off a man or creature.

[carver]

Originally Posted by focusmaniaczx3

since we are kind of on the topic of shot loads for a pistol for home/personal defense. ive been in the habit of loading my judge with 1 bird shot followed by buck shot .45LC buck shot .45LC. my reasoning for having that first one as bird shot is because on the draw im not the best shot in the world. what if i woke up to someone walking into my room and barely had time to grab the gun from the dresser and point it? if its a .45 ill probably miss. i want as much spread as possible to hit the bad guy with something. that little bit of something, whether its lethal or not, might give me time to get directly on target and put him out of his miserable existence. does this make sense?

Go back over the earlier posts. If you choose to load that first round as bird shot, you may wind up in court as the defendant. I understand your thinking, but I would suggest that you re-think this one. Bird shot will not stop a threat, it will only injure. What is your intent? To cripple, and maime? If so, you get to go to jail. If someone needs shooting, then by God, shoot them! Shoot to stop them, not kill them. Shoot center mass, and continue to shoot untill they are no longer a threat. If they have dropped their weapon, or fallen to the floor, due to your shots, they are pretty much out of the fight, and any further shots may get you locked up, unless they continue to be a threat, by either picking up the gun again, or trying to point it at you from the floor, if they didn't turn it loose before they fell. At no time did you ever shoot to kill! If the bad guy dies, that's his tough luck, and you get to live the rest of your life thinking about him.

[TXMinuteman]

Going back to the discussion about what ammunition to use. You need to consider where you're at. I'm currently spending most nights in a travel trailer in an RV park while I work on a project. I keep a Judge next to me on the nightstand and a 12-gauge pump along side the bed. I used to keep 000 buck and .45LC in the Judge and a mixture of deer slugs and 00 buck in the shotty. Then I realized, if I shot a .45LC or a deer slug and missed the individual who "needed shootin' ", I'd most likely send a slug into my neighbor's trailer and possible into another. I keep the Judge packed with 000 buck and the shotty with 00 buck.

Regarding the use of "snake shot", it's not an SD round. I like the idea of its use on a dog, but I'd be surprised if you had a pack of dogs attacking your animals and used snake shot to chase them away, that it would be very sucessful.

[Rocketman1]

Originally Posted by Carne Frio

How much does shot spread at inside-a-room distance ?

I don’t think there is hardly any shot that will spread very far at close range home defense distances. I have experimented at the range before with different types of shot and there is very little difference at even 20 to 25ft.
You still have to aim a shotgun at close distances.

[focusmaniaczx3]

bird shot out of a judge scatters to cover a radius of about 1-2 feet from 10-15 feet away and rapidly increases its spread the further the target is from you. bird shot from a 12 gauge no choke covers an area of about 4-6 inches from 40 feet or at least mine does. a shotty with a choke would blow a hole that big from 25 yards id be willing to bet. still gotta aim shotguns im afraid.

[Jeff Midguard]

I would consider a laser sight to cure the aiming problem.