I shot a copper head near Mrs. Plant’s car with a .45 tonight. I hit him the first or second time, but when he started wriggling I freaked as I always do and gave him the rest of the clip. I can’t hear too well at the moment. All I’ve got for the shotgun are target rounds.
I’m no expert in herpetology or ammunition-ology (or whatever), but I just have to believe that just about any shot would do a good job on a snake if shot from the same range that you had to be in to hit it with a .45. I guess by target rounds you mean 7.5 or 8 shot–that’s gotta be able to do the job.
Hitting him with a stick will work just as well, with less chance of damaging people or property. Try that.
Bird shot, maximum number of pellets. Ideally with an open choke or fired from enough distance to allow the shot to disperse.
That said, I’m not big on killing snakes.
I broke a water gardening tool and a rake killing a water moccasin last week.
Firearms are less expensive and are effective at a greater distance. 
River Hippie: I like to leave animals alone myself, but the moccasin was in my water garden where I put my hands and the copper head where Mrs. Plant puts her feet getting into and out of the car.
Thanks, all.
No. 8 1 1/2 ounce Light Target Shot, whatever that is. It makes a white spot on a tree. I bought a Mossberg at a pawn shop and wanted the lightest load in if it blew up in my face.
The anti-gun lobby can bookmark this thread when it comes time to revive the argument for responsible gun ownership.
I don’t know much about guns, but I do know my husband has a weapon called a “Judge”, that is supposed to be good for killing snakes. We live where there are huge rattlers, so I don’t ask questions. He can do what it takes!:eek:
Do they make snakeshot rounds for the .45? I’ve seen them for other pistol calibers. Would be better than firing the shotgun at such close ranges.
Taurus Judge. There you go.
This. What you really need is a .410 loaded with snakeshot, but this will do.
Shotgun is more humane than a flogging.
Are you even allowed to flog your snake in public?
I’ve seen them, but I don’t know what it would do to my barrel. And I seem to be dispatching one a week, now. 
I can say from experience, bird shot in from a .410 (do they still make those?) will make a half of a black snake disappear.
Any bird shot will do the job nicely.
Thermonuclear weapons…I really don’t like snakes. 
That might take care of the privet hedge, too.
It would play hell with the water garden though, and Penny the dog likes to watch the squirrels.
What, because somebody killed a venomous snake in their own garden? Now, I get upset when people chop the heads off harmless vermin-eating reptiles with hoes, but I have no problem with killing the crap out of a lethally venomous animal that’s hanging out where I like to dig around in the dirt.