Funny Story

[GBranton]

This past Saturday a snake came into our yard. It was a water moccasin so I had no choice but to kill it so that it was not a danger to my dogs and cats. The snake went under our porch which is lined with river stones and was next to our brick house.

I brought out an old pump BB gun to handle the job, not wanting to get too close to a poisonous snake. This gun is not accurate and there is no way to use the sights. You have to just sort of eyeball it to shoot anything. Further, I was trying to shoot through lattice work which surrounds the porch.

After missing the snake the first few shots, my wife, who was getting highly upset, screamed for me to get one of my real guns. I've recently purchased an AR-15 which is highly accurate and she has been to the range with me to see how well I shoot it. I told her that there was no way that I was going to fire a .223 round from 5 feet toward bricks and stones. She was really pissed. She then wanted me to get my .22. I refused that also and told her that the ricochet would probably kill us both.

She then wanted me to get one of my pistols (9mm, .40cal or .380) to shoot the snake and I again refused. She then said well do you have any type of gun you can use to kill this snake? I said, "Yes, this BB gun". She was really hot. Fortunately I shot the snake in the head on the next shot and killed it. However, she was still steamed that I wouldn't use one of my real guns to do the job. She still does not realize the danger of shooting a high powered round 5 feet into brick and rock. Regardless of how I tried to explain the danger of this, she still does not understand.

Then it hit me that there are probably a lot of people out there, inexperienced with firearms, that might have tried this. Thank god I was in the Marine Corp and also a cop for many years and participated on the pistol team.

[CapGun]

You don't have to be a Marine or been a cop. Just good old "common sense" works every time.
Cute story.

[bvoss]

Our local sporting goods store carries 22LR rat shot that would probably do the trick. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to get some to see how it fires through a rifled barrel.

[Domineaux]

Sounds like the wife is giving you good reason to by a new bb/pellet gun that is accurate enough for such jobs ;)
Rat/snake shot in .22 would probably have been a good choice, but make sure to take time to put on safety glasses as a ricochet (very likely) would not have enough energy to cause serious harm other than to your eyes.

[eagleeyes]

good thing you didn't listen to your wifes bad advice! i was thinking it could also ricochet up through the foundation of your home and not only do property damage but could very well have hit her or your pets or........?
glad you got it with the bb gun and were smart enough to pick the right tool for the job despite her constant nagging on you to get a bigger gun which may have very well been 'overkill' being rocks and things were under there
you done good!

[GB-Boater]

Two guns used for this stuff here.
Gamo Varmit Hunter: 1200 fps / 4x32 scope / Laser site & Flashlight. Nice air rifle, very accurate.
Crosman 2300S CO2: 520 fps / Single shot / Laser site.

Keeps the Varmits down around here. As with all firearms, common sense needed.

[trophyhunter]

This is an Perfect Reason that Justifies my Purchase of my Tauraus Judge in .410 / .45LC & .45 ACP

Im glad you posted it I let my Wife read your post, and now she is no longer mad at me for Purchasing the Judge.

Great story by the way, and I completely agree with you. There are allot of poeple that are Un-aware of the potential dangers of shooting the wrong Weapon, for the wrong reasons.

Education is the best weapon we can have at are Disposal.

[Rhino]

Rent A Christmas Story this holiday season and make sure she watches it.

And get a shotgun.

[AppliedPerspective]

I think I need to set up a demonstration video on why hers was a bad idea. Build a 3 sided brick structure, cover the ground in rocks, and on the 4th side put inch thick Lexan. Cover the surfaces in white paper or maybe painted foam... something that will show fragment impacts, light it well and take high speed video of a gun firing at the rocks and brick through a (very small) hole in the Lexan. Or maybe there is already such a video. If not, I may be able to do such a thing later this summer or fall.

[buddy]

Glad you got the snake regardless, those type snakes are aggressive. I had to kill one in my backyard in Houston once. It was not shy about turning around on me and charging. Finally had a neighbor hit it with a shovel and hold it down, while I hacked it with a machete.