[Guest]

That's what the packaging says!

A buddy of mine was cleaning out some of his ammo and asked me if I wanted a sealed package of ten 45 ACP shotshells made by CCI. The shot looks really small, must be atleast an 8.

I shoot a Kimber Classic Stainless.

The questions:

1. Do these things damage bores, firearms in any way? Should I throw 'em away?

2. Assuming these aren't harmful, what's the range on something like these? 10 yards?

3. Give me a practical use where shotshells are applicable and purposeful in a 45 pistol.

4. Are these basically a "survivalist" type load or am I missing something?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I've seen them used on rattlesnakes at a couple of yards from a 5" Kimber. Worked fine on the snake and cycled the action. He uses the standard power 16-lb spring. No damage to the barrel.

Best.

 

[Guest]

Thans Stephen, makes sense to me. I'd like to try 'em out but wanted to make sure they won't harm a firearm.

Anyone else have a practical purpose or use for shotshells from a pistol. The snake purpose was right on, would be very good for that.

 

[lelandray]

I've shot them some in both a Springfield Operator Tactical and a Model 625 S&W revolver with 4" barrel. They cycle the Springfield, but when I tried them in a Commander I got a failure to eject. Here's a pattern from the Smith & Wesson at 10-12 feet.

I'd say it's good enough to kill a rattler, or at least get him to reconsider biting me. While I haven't patterned from a 5" 1911, I'd guess that the pattern might be a bit tighter. I shot a possum at close range (approximately seven feet) using the Commander and one of the shot loads; the shot caused a pretty devastating wound, much more serious than I would have expected.

 

[twoguns]

bear71

Just a suggestion, but like any bullet, you might want to test a couple before you carry them for snake use, which is really their intended purpose.

I have some of those, as well as some in 40S&W and 9mm. I was going to give some to a buddy who uses a Glock 40. I fired a couple out of my Kahr K40 and they functioned as expected. When he tried them in his Glock, for some reason they would not extract, so he basically had to function the slide after each shot.

Better to know ahead of time what your pistol will actually do with them, than to discover a problem when Mr. No Shoulders is near your feet and irritated.

But the same holds true for any pistol round to me. Just because it functions for someone perfectly, does not mean it will in my pistol. Always safer and smarter to shoot some to confirm. Just a suggestion.

twoguns

 

[twoguns]

bear71,

I just remembered another use I made of snakeloads, beyond Mr. No Shoulders. It was not a .45acp, but a .38spc in my duty .357 Smith revolver. I got a radio call from another officer. When I showed up he was in the attic of a very nice elderly lady. She had set a trap for rats in her attic, and discovered her rats were actually possums.

She had caught one very mad possum, who did not appreciate my buddy trying to dispatch him with his nightstick. Given the angle of her roof, you just could not do much more with a swing than make the poor guy mad. He was trying to bite through his leg, and making better progress than I cared for. I also did not care for his nasty looking teeth either.

I helped him on his travels to the possum pond in the sky with two .38 spc snake loads. One might have done it, but I just felt two were safer. If I had been forced to use my carry load, I am fairly sure she would have wanted my department to pay for patching the hole in her ceiling. With the snake loads there was no damage to anything by Mr. Possum.

LelandRay mentioned his possum adventure, and when I stopped laughing I started typing.

Just my thoughts, but snake loads in most calibers can prove useful for snakes and other critters when necessary. The larger the critter the more I would probably want to use a different load, but sometimes, like up in her attic, your options are very limited. I was glad I had a few in an ammo pouch.

twoguns

 

[Chris Stephens]

Hello,

I bought two boxes of them in Georgetown, SC following Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the ensuing aftermath there.

At the time, I used them to dispatch several Water Moccasins with predictable results at close range to keep my employees safe while we were cleaning up around a marina adjacent to a salt marsh by a restaurant I managed.

I was carrying and using a Springfield Mil Spec back then and they fed and worked flawlessly.

I don't about possums, but they do work well on snakes.

Chris

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Today I saw another successful example of the 45 ACP CCI shotshell used on a pretty fair size cottonmouth. It was shot by a friend using a 5" XD from a distance of about 6-8 ft. The snake was not coiled but stretched out as it had been crawling across a dirt road on my friend's property.
Its head was raised about 3" off the ground.

At the shot, the snake's head simply hit the ground and it never moved, twitched or wiggled an iota.

I don't believe I'd use this on anything larger than a rat but it does appear to work fine on snakes as I've seen again and others have noted in their reports.

The XD functioned fine with it. Ejection, extraction and feeding of the next round were perfect.

Best.

 

[jimhigginbotham]

I keep a magazine of them for when I have to craw under the house...very tight quarters under there and I have seen several snake skins and did see one snake but he left thruogh a vent before I got in range.

Jim H.

 

[twoguns]

Howdy folks,

I realize this thread is about the .45acp snake loads, and I have only used that load on two poisonous snakes over the years. Both were quickly dispatched to the big snake pit in the sky (wait, I think that is definitely the wrong direction, lol).

Just to add as an aside - to date I have used either factory or mostly handloaded snake loads in .38/.357, .44mag, 9mm, 40S&W and .45 Colt on various snakes. I usually shoot twice just to be absolutely certain. I have been bitten twice in the past by poisonous snakes and I have no desire for a repeat. But to date none of the snake loads have failed to produce the intended results regardless of caliber.

For those of us who work in a snake rich environment, I think they are a very hand round to keep handy.

twoguns

 

[Josh Smith]

Just a quick aside: Don't expect the same performance out of a 9mm. I patterned some a while back and there was a big gap right where the pattern would have been the most dense in a shotgun. I believe it's the increased speed of the 9mm but couldn't tell you for sure.

There's plenty of shot and plenty of power, but the shot just doesn't go where it's supposed to. It looks nothing like LelandRay's target.

I've not yet tried 38 Spl.

Josh <><

 

[twoguns]

Howdy folks,

I am not sure what distance you patterned at, but I was recently sending a member some information on snake loads in response to a pm. The Speer manual I used suggested to expect about 1" spread for each foot of distance. So 10' would be expected to produce about a 10" spread. This was for the .38 spc load using either 7.5, 8 or 9 shot according to Speer.

I have not idea, but it is possible that various platforms might also affect patterning too. I reckon that is possible. I have shot 3 western diamondbacks since being in AZ using the factory rounds in 9mm. Two from a Sig P226 and one using a Glock 19. All three instances produced the intended results. But since I wear snake boots when out in snake country (since I know my hearing is not good these days), I tend to get a bit closer to the snake than ,any folks might too. So I suspect my pattern was fairly tight still.

twoguns

 

[boats]

I always keep some loaded up in 38 spl. They work good but at real short ranges. 10 feet or less. Any more and holes in the pattern could easaly let a snake slip through.

Having said that I only shoot frogs with them. Snakes I let go or go the other way myself.

Boats