I remember Venturino writing an article that stated #12 is the bomb-diggity for snakes. Travis
So is # 10 shot. I load it in .45 Colt, .44 Magnum, and .41 Magnum. Any of those with # 10 shot will flat take out a poisonous snake.
L.W.
I have loaded in all of those calibers pretty much the same way that Venturino suggested in his article. they work pretty good. What also works is a remington 1100 loaded with bird shot particularly after you reloaded a couple of times. I do hate snakes.