Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22LR Bird Shot?

Many years ago , I had a Mossberg 144LS Bolt Action 22 . I got some of that #12 Bird Shot and went off to the local Dump to shoot Rats at night with a flashlight taped to the Mossy . Never did stop even one . They just jumped up and ran off . After a few tries , I forgot the Birdshot and went back to Hollow Points . No run offs with the HPs . An old friend had a Win 61 Smooth Bore . I worked at the A&P in those days and took some Ann Page Pie " Tins " , and shot both Rifles at maybe 25 feet . The Rifled bore put barely noticeable dimples into the Plate , but the 61 shot right thru it . I could have purchased that 61 for $150 in those days ....but that's another story .

I shot 3 rounds at cardboard yesterday to confirm softball sized groups, then used the cardboard to lite my burn/brush piles so no pics!

Was hoping to run a snake out of one, but no luck.

Mike

i use cci 22 LR shot and last year it accounted for 3 one shot kills on rattle moccasins at 5 ft. any farther and ya just end up hunting for a long stick.

i always though a smoothbore 22 would have been da bomb at the dump.

I shoot doves with them! Seriously, I carry a .22 revolver with shot when I dove hunt because they are just the ticket for those doves that only end up with a pellet or two in the wings. They hit the ground and take off like a roadrunner and let you get within grabbing distance before trying to fly and landing out of reach. It's frustrating for you and entertaining to the shooters across the field watching you. Use to lose several birds each season until I learned that a revolver with shot will end the chase quickly.

INteresting. We carry it in a NAA around the yard. Have yet to not kill a snake with it, though a few we've shot 2 times.

Have killed some rattlers up to about 5-6 feet with it too.

Wished I could find some. It'll come around again and this time I"ll buy a couple of bricks instead of 5 boxes....

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).

Well, Dan - you still have to aim....

No! Your comment is wrong. Why do you feel it necessary to make a comment on what I have since you have not seen it?

The "bird shot" I have is about 50 years old, was made by Remington and is as described by me. I am down to my last 4 rounds of it after all of these years, it lasted a long time since it was only used for nearby snakes.

I did pick up a box of the "bird shot" with the #12 shot in it so that I will have some when the old stuff is gone. I haven't tried it yet so I did not comment on it, I only commented on what I have used.

drover

Are you sure it isn't shooting confetti? Because those were also very popular way back when. The Rattlers would think there was a celebration going on and dance themselves to death. ---- I'm down to my last few rounds of these or I'd send you one.

Cute reply but their maracas don't work very well after they are shot with the shredded lead "confetti".

drover

I can see that you doubt me. In fact these rounds were so popular that to this day in small Montana towns the HomeComing Weekend is traditionally started by a celebration called THE SNAKE DANCE.

The CCI .22 bird shot patterns very well for the distance required to shoot a coiled up rattle snake. I use a S&W 317 and keep the first three chambers loaded with the bird shot and the remaining five with hollow points.

Shot a fox in the butt with the bird shot at 10 yards or so because he was waiting for my puppy to come outside.
Not too good on the fox, he was back the next day. Hollow points worked fine.

I guess my point is, rattlesnakes are not that hard to hit in the head with a regular bullet at three or four times the effective range of bird shot.

Rick ?
Heck, if I can hit a squirrel at 20 yards with that old Ruger MK 1, I can sure hit a snake head at 10 feet.

I shot a possum in the head with one from about 2" as he was coming out of a trap, and I couldn't tell it had any effect at all.

He ran off into the woods before I got another shot off

Hi, Dan - just giving you a hard time. I've heard that a snake will line its own head up with the barrel as that will be the closest part of the threat.

First rattlesnake I killed, was as a kid(about 10) shooting my Ruger Bearcat. I was shooting LR HP's

The snake was coiled and buzzing. When I aimed my gun, the snake's head followed the barrel. One shot through the top of the head!

Made me think I was quite the "marksman"

Virgil B.