Snake shot: A build thread.

[Sturgell]

In my effort to be extra cheap I made some homemade snake shot.

First thing I did was grind the rim off of a piece of brass to make a tool for cutting wads out of thin cardboard. Then drill out the primer pocket so you can use a punch to push out the wads.

To make a decent cutting edge on the brass lightly chamfer the inside and outside of the case mouth.

Chuck it up in a drill or drill press and cut out some wads, I found 1600rpm cuts the best on my drill press. After 10-15 wads push them out from the rear.

I loaded 357 brass with 4.5 grains of Bullseye and a standard primer, seat two wads firmly on top of the powder charge.

In 357 brass with the charge I used it comes out holding the same amount of shot as the Speer shot capsules about 110 grains of #8 lead shot comes out to a little over 100 pellets per round.

 

[Sturgell]

Place another wad over the top of the shot, then put a heavy roll crimp and top off with a drop or two of fabric or hot glue.

Here are some I tested with the same powder charge in 38 spl brass out of a 2 inch Taurus 605 and a 4 inch Ruger GP100

605 at 2 yards

605 3 yards

GP100 2 yards

GP100 3 yards

So while it may just make more sense to shoot a snake with a regular bullet instead of my little creation they were still fun to make and would kill a snake easily at the "holy **** a snake" distance.

 

[Sturgell]

6.0 grains of Bullseye was quite entertaining and had recoil which I didn't expect, the cartridges held 170 grains of shot and #8 shot is around 1 grain per pellet. These were tested out of my 7.5 inch Redhawk.

44 mag 2 yards

44 mag 3 yards

I also shot two CCI factory loaded shot shells in 38 spl which were pathetic to say the least. The patterns were awful however it does leave blue confetti laying on the ground from the disintegrated shot capsule.

2 yards with CCI factory loads out of my 605

3 yards with CCI factory loads out of my 605

I do feel that shorter barrels perform better with shot shell ammunition.

 

[Sturgell]

I copied and pasted from the site where I originally posted it earlier so some of the times don't make sense.

Also a GIGANTIC thanks to Duck Shot who provided me with the shot that I used!!!

 

[TonyT]

Years ago I used to make shot loads in 38 Special using a gas check as an over powder wad and another (reversed) as the top wad. Unfortunately I do not remember the powder charge.

 

[thelongshot]

Great post. I will have to try that someday