Snake shot, rat shot, or dust shot,
The most common snake shot cartridge is .22 Long Rifle loaded with No. 12 shot. From a standard rifle these can produce effective patterns only to a distance of about , but in a smoothbore shotgun (or garden gun) that can extend as far as .
Uses
Snake shot is generally used for shooting at snakes, rodents, birds, and other pests at very close ranges and is also used as foraging ammunition by
, backpackers, and
Camping. Snake shot is ideally suited for use in
and
(especially "
"), chambered for .22 Long Rifle, .38 Special, or .357 Magnum. Snake shot may not cycle reliably in semi-automatic pistols.
Shot shells have also been historically issued to soldiers, to be used in standard issue rifles and handguns.
The .45-70 "forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot, was intended for hunting small game to supplement the soldiers' rations.
During World War II, the United States military developed both the .45 ACP M12 and M15 shot shells cartridges. They were issued to pilots, to be used as forager ammunition in the event that they were either shot down or Forced landing in known or unknown territory. The M15 cartridges were loaded with 118 pellets of No. 7 1/2 birdshot.
Snake shot shells
Both Winchester
and Federal
make star-crimped .22 Long Rifle snake shot loaded with No. 12 shot. These cartridges resemble traditional crimped blank cartridges.
CCI's rimfire and a few of the centerfire snake-shot cartridges use a hollow plastic capsule which holds the shot, and is often shaped like a bullet to aid in feeding.
|
|
|
| 20 |
| 20 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
| 10 |
|
Garden guns
"Garden guns" are smooth-bore guns specifically made to fire .22 caliber snake shot or 9mm Flobert shot-shells, and are commonly used by
and
for
pest control. They are short range weapons that can do little harm at distances greater than , and are quiet when fired with snake shot, compared to standard ammunition. The guns are especially effective inside
and
, because the snake shot will not injure
livestock with a
ricochet, or shoot holes into the
roof or
of a structure. They are also used for pest control at
,
,
feedlot, and similar locations.
Safety considerations
-
Snake shot may be mistaken for traditional crimped .
-
Snake shot may not function properly in semi-automatic firearms causing malfunctions.
-
Snake shot may not function properly in handguns and rifles not specifically made for their use.
-
Snake shot may not function properly in light weight revolvers, as they may cause "cylinder lock" due to the capsule movement resulting from recoil inertia. However, crimped cases do not exhibit this problem.
-
Snake shot plastic capsules may shatter when being fed from a magazine. Crimped cases do not exhibit this problem but may fail to extract in semi-automatic firearms.
-
Unsafe in firearms with suppressors, ported barrels, or ported recoil compensators.
-
Snake shot is effective only against snakes, rodents, birds, and other small pests, and only at very close range.
See also
-
Canister shot
-
Marlin Model 25MG
-
Rimfire ammunition
-
Snake Charmer (shotgun)
Notes and references
External links
