I must have done something wrong. Some years back, I shot a rattlesnake, in the head, with .22 LR bird shot at about 7-8 feet. The kind with the crimped end. 6" revolver. The first shot upset him a little bit, the second shot really pizzed him off. He rattled like crazy while I reloaded with hollow points.
I used the rest of the box on bugs.
Yeah, at that distance you are on the ragged edge of their usefulness on snakes. However, @ 5 feet they kill Rattlers --- At least our smaller Prairie Rattlers. I killed 24 one afternoon with the crimped 25 grain shot shells out of a 4" S&W. CCI plastic capsule shells have 31 grains so, in theory, are marginally better. At one time Remington made crimped shells with #11 shot that penetrated better (but had bigger holes in the pattern).
