bamaranger
New member
rats
I can't recall shooting a snake with .22 shot. But I've shot quite a few rats. The load was the crimped W-W .22lr with likely #12 shot.
We got an infestation of the vermin in my shed/kennel and bamaboy and myself decided we'd do a bit of night hunting. Light, ear-pro and safety glasses. Set up in the shed with a .22 rifle and a light, one shooter and a light man. We'd take turns shooting. The results were less than positive. We killed a couple outright, but most just squirmed and ran off. I doubt we shot further than 12 ft at any of them. So, we switched to a S&W .44 Mtn Gun with reloads using the CCI shot caps and #7-1/2 shot and a load of Unique. Too much Unique it proved.
First instance, my turn to shoot, we heard a rat scampering along a board against the exterior wall. We were in the shed door. 'Boy hit the light and I got on the critter and touched one off. Dead rat, but the shot penetrated the galvanized tin wall and sailed out over the kennel. High enough it did not hit any of my beagles in their runs outside, but clearly the load was far more powerful than I thought it would be. We went back to the single shot rifle and .22 and after about a week of shooting after supper, that with trapping, our rat problem was solved.
We continue to have rodent problems now and again, and I keep a pair of box traps set to deal with the varmints. When I catch one, I dispatch it with a Ruger Bearcat and the old W-W .22lr crimped shell, point blank. It doesn't tear up my traps, doesn't ricochet off the gravel drive....result is a dead rat, but the load is far from devastating, even at distances measured in in a couple of feet.
We have snakes as well. I've lost count of the Timber Rattlers we've killed around the house, somewhere near a dozen I'd guess, and about half that many Copperheads. Sorry, but I am not going to handle a venomous snake. The tool for that task has been either a .410 single barrel, or a shovel, depending on which is closer. Last one I killed was IN THE PEN with my old Golden Retriever. The big male Lab in the adjacent run was going nuts, he'd gotten ahold of the critter and shook it so hard the rattles had come off, I found them the next morning. How either one of them did not get bit, I'll never know.
I'm not the kind of guy that will roll the truck over trying to run down a snake. I've let lots of them alone when out and about in the boonies, but if a venomous one turns up around the place or someplace else we frequent, it gets wacked.
I can't recall shooting a snake with .22 shot. But I've shot quite a few rats. The load was the crimped W-W .22lr with likely #12 shot.
We got an infestation of the vermin in my shed/kennel and bamaboy and myself decided we'd do a bit of night hunting. Light, ear-pro and safety glasses. Set up in the shed with a .22 rifle and a light, one shooter and a light man. We'd take turns shooting. The results were less than positive. We killed a couple outright, but most just squirmed and ran off. I doubt we shot further than 12 ft at any of them. So, we switched to a S&W .44 Mtn Gun with reloads using the CCI shot caps and #7-1/2 shot and a load of Unique. Too much Unique it proved.
First instance, my turn to shoot, we heard a rat scampering along a board against the exterior wall. We were in the shed door. 'Boy hit the light and I got on the critter and touched one off. Dead rat, but the shot penetrated the galvanized tin wall and sailed out over the kennel. High enough it did not hit any of my beagles in their runs outside, but clearly the load was far more powerful than I thought it would be. We went back to the single shot rifle and .22 and after about a week of shooting after supper, that with trapping, our rat problem was solved.
We continue to have rodent problems now and again, and I keep a pair of box traps set to deal with the varmints. When I catch one, I dispatch it with a Ruger Bearcat and the old W-W .22lr crimped shell, point blank. It doesn't tear up my traps, doesn't ricochet off the gravel drive....result is a dead rat, but the load is far from devastating, even at distances measured in in a couple of feet.
We have snakes as well. I've lost count of the Timber Rattlers we've killed around the house, somewhere near a dozen I'd guess, and about half that many Copperheads. Sorry, but I am not going to handle a venomous snake. The tool for that task has been either a .410 single barrel, or a shovel, depending on which is closer. Last one I killed was IN THE PEN with my old Golden Retriever. The big male Lab in the adjacent run was going nuts, he'd gotten ahold of the critter and shook it so hard the rattles had come off, I found them the next morning. How either one of them did not get bit, I'll never know.
I'm not the kind of guy that will roll the truck over trying to run down a snake. I've let lots of them alone when out and about in the boonies, but if a venomous one turns up around the place or someplace else we frequent, it gets wacked.
