Killed a rattler with a .45 some years ago. It did work.
Never have used snake shot on a real snake but experimented on soda cans at 10-12 feet. a .22 shotshell had little effect. The .38/357 put a few neat holes in it. The .44 shotshell shredded the can.
A .45 works just fine on snakes. I walked up on a big pissed off cotton mouth on the pond bank the other day, And since my grand kids fish in that pond he wasn't staying there.
.45 Federal 230 grain HST's out of a Government model are down right impressive on snakes. Didn't need a follow up shot either.
