So I keep going to my gunstore to buy a Sig 322. No joy. Well I happen upon the revolver section and I see a S&W 43C. Have to admit I have zero idea what that is and what the C stands for.

Turns out it is basically a hammerless 2 inch J frame 22lr. So it is light as hell. 11 oz empty I believe. I have an old no lock 3 inch 317 and love it. This one is basically a 22 snubbie with an u shaped fixed rear and a XS dot in front. Certainly not what I would take to a bullseye match but nicer than a blade.

Here’s the reason. My wife and I were walking some trails and a big old snake came popping across the trail. Nothing bad, just a big black racer but it made me think a revolver with snake shot might be a good idea if it was something worse. 22 snake shot isn’t great but I “think” it would be effective against a moccasin. Any ideas there? This isn’t for hunting snakes only for SD. Maybe a big walking stick is a better idea. Buying a new gun always seems like a good idea to me.

Well what say the collective?

Based on personal experience with a coral snake many years ago, I consider .22RF snakeshot (ratshot) to be worthless on snakes.

No real opinion on the revolver, I agree 22 ‘Ratshot’ is more for carpenter bees than snakes.

The other thing, as long as it’s safe, nothing wrong with shooting a snake with a regular bullet. That’s how they did it in the old west, no special snake loads available.

I’m curious how the shot cartridges performed from the 317. I don’t have a short barreled .22 rimfire revolver, but when I tried them from a longer barrel the pattern was so open and uneven that they would have been useless to shoot anything other than large sheets of cardboard. I don’t know if that’s what RichardC was referring to, and there are no snakes around where I live, but if I carried a gun for that purpose*, I’d rely on a larger caliber and probably my normal carry load along with practice to hit small targets at close range on the ground.

* And I wouldn’t. When I lived and hiked frequently for years in snake country it never occurred to me to rely on a gun for defense against snakes. I understand why people must sometimes shoot snakes around their homes or property, but not in the wild. If they haven’t already bitten me by the time I’m aware that they’re there, I go my way and they go theirs.

quote:

I don’t have a short barreled .22 rimfire revolver, but when I tried them from a longer barrel the pattern was so open and uneven that they would have been useless to shoot anything other than large sheets of cardboard.

They are intended to be shot in short barrels, or smooth bores. The more rifling, the worse the pattern, which is what happened in your case. Remington used to make .22 smoothbore rifles just for that purpose.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
So I keep going to my gunstore to buy a Sig 322. No joy. Well I happen upon the revolver section and I see a S&W 43C. Have to admit I have zero idea what that is and what the C stands for.

C stand for Centennial, which means it has no exposed trigger, hence no trigger block, hence a very smooth trigger pull for a J frame. They are highly desired, and very difficult to find. There is a .22 Magnum version also. Both sell at premium prices.

Have and frequently carry the 43C. Stingers, or Mini-Mags fill it up.

I think of it as an always gun. They're just so light, there's no reason you can't put one in the pocket of even basketball shorts. However, it's only there in back-up roll to something from .32 on-up.

I have the .22 Magnum version of this revolver.

It hits a little harder than the .22LR. It's still lighter than can be imagined with essentially no recoil.

It's loud though.

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:
They are intended to be shot in short barrels ....

How do they work in short barrels?
What sort of patterns did you get?

(I actually thought about trying to find one of the smooth bore guns chambered for 22 LR, but fortunately came to my senses. )

I don’t have the 43c but I do have the 351c .22 mag. I love it and carry it a lot. It was one of my go to range guns during the “ammo shortage “ as I had a much of .22 mag squirreled away and I could actually find it locally for somewhat reasonable. I carry it with Gold Dots as they get great reviews. I think you will be very happy with the 43c, I won’t try and talk you out of it

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
How do they work in short barrels?

They work fine, but you are always better off with the .38 Special version, because the tiny .22 carries such small and so few shot. The #12 shot .22 works fine on carpender bees in flight, and skinks. Using the .38 version I have killed dozens of snakes, rats, and mice. I also have it in 9mm and .45acp, but you will have to hand cycle it in semi-autos.

But beware of the ricochet effect of that small shot. It will come back at you when fired at any flat surface, even wood.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I don’t know if that’s what RichardC was referring to,

From a 4" H&R Sidekick, bout 5 feet away, at least three shots at the head. It stopped moving and I transferred
to a large pickle jar and screwed on the lid. Lots of tiny holes in the head and neck.

Four hours later, shook the jar, no hint of life. Poured in 10% formalin and the little guy started spinning around like the Worm Ouroboros on a hot tin roof.

Back in the day, I used .22 LR shotshells for gopher control. Of course I limited my shooting range to about six feet, but it's not like they had eyesight good enough to discern me at that distance!

Kind of what I expected. I have a few boxes of rat shot and don’t believe I’ve ever fired a one. I always meant to “pattern” it on an aluminum can to see how dense the pattern would be but never got around to it.

It is everything I shouldn’t like. I love the 317 because it has adjustable sights and weighs nothing. This weighs even less but I’m a little concerned about the fixed sights and my ability to hit with them. My 640 Pro was bought because it has great sights. This one is better than a groove and blade with the U rear and XS dot. I think for 70 bucks I would upgrade that XS dot to the green and tritium XS dot.

They want 699 so that sounds around the expected ballpark?

Using a 22 lr revolver on moving rats alternate shot with hollow-points. Rat shot slowed the varmints down and the second round a 37gr hollow-point dispatched them.

I like that idea.

I have a 63-5, and really like it. It's a handy gun around the house, and I've used it to dispatch a couple of raccoons that got into the ceiling in a vacant house that my in-laws bought and are fixing up. It's easy to slip into a pocket, and at close range had plenty of punch to get the job done. 2 shots each in rapid succession, and the second shot on both was more just insurance.

Yes, the trigger on the rimfires guns is a bit heavier than other J-Frames. This is necessary for reliable ignition. A quick polish job on some of the contact surfaces of the action in my 63-5 slicked it up really nice, without touching the trigger/sear engagement or messing with any springs. It's heavy, but smooth and reliable. I imagine the 43C would be similar.

I paid $630 for mine about 2 years ago. It's a 3" in all stainless steel, with adjustible sights. It's is a bit heavier than it needs to be, so I kinda wish it was a 317 or a 43. IMO a .22 is the perfect platform for the ultralight J-Frame, since there no recoil there's no real downside, and you could throw that 43 in a pocket and forget it's even there.

I have made use of .22 rat shot before, with good success. We had some chipmunks that had made a home under our porch, and were getting into my truck and my car and chewing on stuff under the hood. I drilled one with rat shot out of my 5.5" single-six from about 5 feet away, and it was DRT.

There are a number of benefits to the rat shot. I've tested it, and it produces about a 1 foot pattern at 10 feet. It won't penetrate drywall out past 3 feet or so (test this with your own gun and your own load, don't take my word for it!), so it's safe-ish to use in attics and other places on bats and other household pests without having to worry about blowing holes in your walls or roof. Outside, you don't have to worry about it travelling and hitting the neighbors (I live in a small unincorporated community, so it's legal to shoot stuff, but there are houses all around and you have to make sure the projectiles stay on your property).

When we've been working on my in-law's house, I've been carrying the 63-5 with 4 rounds of rat shot and 4 rounds of regular .22 LR. When I stuck my head into the ceiling and came face to face with a pair of huge raccoons, I was happy to have the solid projectiles, but there are also squirrels and chipmunks in there, and while I haven't had a shot at one yet, I like to have it handy because I'm confident I could take the shot without having it penetrate the walls.

As to snakes...I'm not sure I would trust the .22 rat shot to cleanly kill one. I have some .38 and .45 Colt snakeshot that is better suited to that task. The pellets are quite a bit larger, and hit with a lot more force. The downside to shooting it out of heavier caliber guns, though, is that if you load it in the same cylinder with hard-recoiling +p or magnum loads, those plastic capsules its loaded in can jump crimp under recoil and bind up the gun. I've seen it happen.

I tend to agree with Sigfreund that I can't think of too many scenarios where I'd shoot a snake in the wild. Typically if you see them, you have time to go around and give them their space. If you don't see them...well, you're not going to out-draw a snake.

We had a situation hiking in a creek in Utah last year when a snake came off the bank and grabbed a trout right out from between my son's legs. It was venemous, and the fish was instantly paralyzed. The creek was only about 3 feet wide with a sheer rock wall on the right and the snake on the left. My younger two sons were about 20 feet upstream, and the only way to get to them was to pass the snake. I briefly considered shooting it with my .38, but they were downrange, I didn't have any snakeshot loaded so I was concerned about ricochet in their direction off the rocks, and overall the snake seemed more interested in his fish than us. I ended up climbing out onto the bank on the snake side while my oldest kept eyes on it to ensure that it stayed there and kept its fangs occupied with the fish, gave the snake a wide berth, collected the boys, and made our way back the way I came. Even in that situation, which was much too close for comfort, shooting the snake would have been the wrong call, and wouldn't have really benefited us in any way.

Maybe for around the house or around camp I could see the utility, but on the trail I prefer to keep my cylinder full of traditional projectiles. So my recommendation: Buy the 43C, but plan to use it for stuff other than snakes.

I used to live in copperhead territory in Maryland. Couldn’t carry so it wouldn’t matter but we were on the lake trail, lake on one side steep hill on other, and 2 copperheads got real aggressive in the middle of the trail. It was weird. Copperheads aren’t known for aggressiveness so I always wonder if they were actually northern water snakes which are aggressive and pattern somewhat like copperheads. Either way these 2 fuckers stopped us on the trail cold. They weren’t moving and eventually when they finally did, any movement to pass caused them to come right back.

I’m no herpetologist but it still strikes me as odd behavior. Anyway, I would have dispatched one or both of them because it was getting dark, no flashlights, and no real way to get around them.

That was one time in 55 years though so I agree the odds are ever in your favor. Lol

Cool gun. I hope someone buys it because I feel myself getting weak.

Never used a 22 before, but I can tell ya that the 9mm version does wonders.

if you want it buy it, use it for snakes, plinking or self defense if necessary.