Snake shot (also commonly known as rat shot and dust shot) refers to

handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also brac ...

and rifle cartridges loaded with lead shot canisters instead of bullets, much like large caliber

canister shot Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies. However, canister shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various ...

. Snake shot is generally used for shooting snakes, rodents, birds, and other

pests PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...

at very close range. The most common snake shot cartridge is

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

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

at very close ranges. Used as foraging ammunition by hikers, backpackers and campers, snake shot is ideally suited for use in derringers and revolvers (especially " kit guns"), chambered for

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

, or

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

. Snake shot may not cycle properly in

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single- chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to ac ...

s. Shot shells have also been historically issued to soldiers, to be used in standard issue rifles. The .45-70 "forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot, was intended for hunting

small game Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, ...

to supplement the soldiers' rations. This round in effect made the .45-70 rifle into a small gauge shotgun, capable of killing rabbits, ducks, and other small game. During World War II, the United States military developed the

.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...

M12 and M15 shot shells cartridges. They were issued to pilots, to be used as foraging ammunition in the event that they were shot down. The M15 cartridges were loaded with 118 pellets of No. 7 1/2 birdshot. The boxes were marked "For use in hunting small game effective range 25 feet m. While they were best used in the M1917 revolvers, the M15 cartridge would actually cycle the semi-automatic M1911 pistol's action. The current CCI .45 ACP shotshell cartridge is virtually identical to these rounds.

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 is by far the largest single manufacturer of snake shot ammunition, making cartridges in

.22 Magnum The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of delivering velocities in the range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded ...

, 9×19mm Luger,

, .40 Smith & Wesson,

.44 Special The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1 ...

, and

.45 Colt The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...

. CCI rimfire ammunition and nearly all of its centerfire snake-shot cartridges use a hollow plastic capsule which holds the shot, and is often shaped like a bullet to aid in feeding. The plastic capsule shatters during firing, and allows the shot to disperse after it exits the muzzle.

Garden guns

"Garden guns" are smooth-bore guns specifically made to fire

.22 caliber .22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm). Cartridges in this caliber include the very widely used .22 Long Rifle and .223 Remington / 5.56×45mm NATO. .22 inch is also a popular ...

snake shot or 9mm Flobert shot-shells, and are commonly used by gardeners and farmers for

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

. 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 barns and sheds, because the snake shot will not injure

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to anima ...

with a ricochet, or shoot holes in the roof or walls. They are also used for pest control at airports, warehouses, stockyards and the like.

Safety considerations

* Snake shot may be mistaken for traditional crimped blank cartridges. * 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.http://aegisacademy.com/shotshells-in-revolvers/ Shotshells in Revolvers. Jun 15, 2015. by Howard Hall. in Ballistics

Notes and references

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External links