Snakes with the .380

[Blackwater]

Anyone shot a snake or snakes with FP .380 bullets? I have the Ranch Dog .380 mould, with its broad, flat point, and I've been much less than impressed with the JHP's on snakes from my little Taurus 738. It had the best trigger of any of the mini .380's I had access to when I made the purchase, and has proven itself to be a good shooter, AND the Horn. JHP's shoot exactly to point of aim of the fixed sights - no little thing, especially with a little gun. The JHP's make a rather small entry hole, and with snakes, don't have the chance to expand as much as I'd like. I've shot 4 rattlesnakes this year with it. One took 3 shots to the head. I was trying to cut the head off because a guy had stopped and said he wanted the skin. No dice with them pointy lil' Hornadies. Just thought a good FP might do significantly better, but with the wealth of experience here, thought I'd ask about the issue here. Anyone getting bigger holes in snake heads with a .380 and the FP cast???

[olafhardt]

This is a place where wheel guns may excel. I have killed a slew of snakes with CCI shot shells and my 22 kitgun.

[scottfire1957]

Snakes don't stop moving simply because you shot their brains out. Hell, the body will "strike" without a head attached.

[Blackwater]

Yep. Problem is, it's usually the little .380 that I have WITH me when I see 'em. Once shot a 5.5' timber rattler with my .45 ACP, and removed ALL of the head except for the lips! No joke! This amazed a carload of onlookers who'd stopped to see the snake, but of course, I acted like that happened all the time. Load was 185 Cor Bons, and I was flabergasted at the results. Had to have hit is just right. The main problem with the little .380 is I like to remove the fangs with the shot, and those little JHP's don't do that well at all. I was just wondering if the FN bullets would make a bigger hole, and maybe take out the fangs if the shot is placed right.

[LenH]

I saw a couple of videos of some guys out west making shot shell out of .45 colt brass. I got some 7 1/2 shot from my brother to try but never made time to
make a few up, it looked simple enough. Some are even making some out of .45 ACP and shooting out of 1911's. I don't know if I want to get that deep but for
a revolver, prolly so.

[Cherokee]

Don't know for snakes but the hole is almost like a full diameter and should do the job...I'm using the Lee 95 FN in my 380's now.

[flounderman]

They make dies for shot shells in the 45 auto. You cut 308 0r similar base brass, the length of a loaded 45 auto. The dies crimp it like a 22 shotshell and it will feed thru a 1911.

[Blackwater]

In the .45 LC, if ya' run across any 9.3x72mm. brass, pick up a few and trim just short of full cylinder length. Can't recall if you have to thin the rim or file it down to fit. Been a long time now. However, once ya' got 'em trimmed (much longer than a LC case, but we'll get to that in a second) run 'em through a sizer die for the LC, prime, charge with a normal 250 gr. bullet charge (your fastest powder may well work best), cut some wads out of pasteboard boxes (an old LC case with mouth expanded slightly will do for this, with a plastic mallet to help), put about 2 (try any number you like, but I used two) over the powder, pour in the shot almost to the case mouth, then put a final cut wad over the case mouth and seal with hard wax from a candle, and you'll have the best and densest shot loads I've ever had any experience with. They'll shoot considerably denser patterns than any other shot load I've ever used. Recoil is mild, so you may have to adjust your point of aim a tad for best results, but with any rifled barrel, the shot pattern spreads PDQ as range increases. They're best used within a few feet, even though the shot load is considerably heavier than with most any other caliber. I just quit using them because the gun didn't shoot very well (constricted throats, though I didn't know it was the cause or what the cure was back then), so I traded it off. It was an OM Ruger, and I loved that gun, but if it wont' shoot, it can't stay at my house, so .... one learns too late sometimes. Wish I had it back again. Just a FWIW for you with LC's, and who like to use shot loads. I quit using them because I never knew which type of load, solid or shot, to load, so just took to shooting their heads off with solids.

[MT Gianni]

Snake range rarely calls up a need for shot. As said, a good swc will remove heads.

[Buck Neck It]

Well, at least you have 12 more chances. "13 friend's in the palm of your hand". Har. Beretta advertising.

[Charlie Horse]

Old-time gun writers came up with some pretty creative solutions to making shot loads for pistols.
I've got some Speer 45 acp shot loads that use an extra long aluminum case with a plastic plug in the end.

I wonder if you could make a shot load for 380 acp using cut-down 223 cases?