indiucky
Grandmaster
As some of you know we just bought us a little chunk of copperhead heaven down here on the river...Beautiful land but very snake-y....very woodcock-y too but the subject of this post is it's very, very snake-y....Now I like snakes, always have and I have never had any desire to harm them nor do I now...But......I do not think much of copperheads....They are not gentlemanly like a rattlesnake, who will warn you so as to give one an opportunity to allow a wide swing around them...Copperheads are just "there" all of a sudden....I had been carrying my model 18-2 beater with the first two loads of CCI .22 shot shells for any such emergency that may arise...The weather has been warming up and the ticks and the copperheads usually come out around the same time of year.....
While perusing youtube and watching videos regarding the various shot loads out a weapon I can across a video where a young man had caught a black rat snake in his hen house and decided to eliminate the intruder with his .22 rifle loaded with CCI .22 shot shells on the snake (I would have let him live but that's just me...Black Snake lives matter.....I have heard that a big old rat snake will keep copperheads from taking up residence on a place...) The young man shot...The snake got mad...He shot again...The snake got madder...He shot again...Snake got even madder...."Hmmmm" says I, "Perhaps my woods gun caliber should start with a "4" instead of a "2".....
So I dug out my Uberti SAA clone with the brass grip frame, aka "Spaghetti Western" Colt knockoff, in .45 long colt and bought me some .45 long colt shot loads....What a difference.....
Here are some pics...I shot twice, once at 3 yards and then once at about 5 yards...Here are the results...I have come to the conclusion that .22 shot shells are for wingshooting hornets and that's about it...Anything else and you are just apt to make them angry...
IMHO.....
Here are some pics of the terrain...It's like you look up copperhead habitat in the dictionary and one of these pics shows up...
I do not advocate the killing of even copperheads normally.....In the woods, even my woods, I will normally just let them slide on by but there are spots in this terrain where the trail is not big enough for both of you and there ain't no "go around" to "go around to"....
While perusing youtube and watching videos regarding the various shot loads out a weapon I can across a video where a young man had caught a black rat snake in his hen house and decided to eliminate the intruder with his .22 rifle loaded with CCI .22 shot shells on the snake (I would have let him live but that's just me...Black Snake lives matter.....I have heard that a big old rat snake will keep copperheads from taking up residence on a place...) The young man shot...The snake got mad...He shot again...The snake got madder...He shot again...Snake got even madder...."Hmmmm" says I, "Perhaps my woods gun caliber should start with a "4" instead of a "2".....
So I dug out my Uberti SAA clone with the brass grip frame, aka "Spaghetti Western" Colt knockoff, in .45 long colt and bought me some .45 long colt shot loads....What a difference.....
Here are some pics...I shot twice, once at 3 yards and then once at about 5 yards...Here are the results...I have come to the conclusion that .22 shot shells are for wingshooting hornets and that's about it...Anything else and you are just apt to make them angry...
IMHO.....
Here are some pics of the terrain...It's like you look up copperhead habitat in the dictionary and one of these pics shows up...
I do not advocate the killing of even copperheads normally.....In the woods, even my woods, I will normally just let them slide on by but there are spots in this terrain where the trail is not big enough for both of you and there ain't no "go around" to "go around to"....
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