USFA "Judge"

[rugersol]

Cowboy snake gun? Do you think we will see a new cowboy action classification for it?

Me thinks good idea gone real bad. I understand the whole shot shell loadings real well, and use them when out in the woods, but this platform just smells like woods kitty.

Dave, you said ya dispatched some snakes? ... .45acp shotshells? ... they do a purdy good job? ... ya ever carry a Judge .410, 'er the like? ... ever felt like that'd be a significant improvement over .45acp? ... 'er .45 Colt?

These Judges strike me as a purdy large, heavy gun to lug 'round ... jest fer snakes. But 'round here, I have no need fer such a thing, so I really couldn't say.

[MissouriDave]

I have tried 9mm shotshells, 40 S&W shotshells, 45acp shotshells and 45 colt shot shells.

I don't always like carrying the 45 colt Blackhawk around (although I love the Mernickle rig), the 9mm is insufficient for the job and does not cycle right anyways. The 40 S&W works good, but some guns (my glock 23) have problems cycling the rounds, so I have to manually cycle (knowing it - it is fast), and 45 acp does the job and cycles reliably in my 1911's.

Last year I got 4 cotton mouths at once in a mating ball. But..... I did fire 3 times to make sure they weren't coming my way. That was with a 40 S&W out of a Sig. I believe I killed all 4 with the first shot. The other two were to make sure. Then I cut thier heads off and buried them and Anthony and his friend pounded them all on the rocks until they got tired. That was on the shore of Table Rock lake.

Got a Copperhead with 45 acp shotshell this spring out where we were practicing on a ranch and we hung it over the front of a 55 gal drum. Shot it with 22's until there was no meat left. Yeah.... That was when I bought that cheap scope for a 10 year old Marlin 22 Mod 25N I was given (never shot) and ended up getting so mad at it that I put that Simmons scope on top of the drum and cleaned it out with the 45acp shotshells. Replaced it with a Nikon 2-7x. Much better now.

Anthony and I went swimming in a creek last week in AR and kicked up a cotton mouth out of the rocks. Being unarmed and swimming, I decided to get out of the creek and move to another spot. He got lucky.

new edit..
I have thought about a Judge, because I think it would be a good dedicated snake gun. Just can't get past the look and feel when I pick them up. At "dispatching range" I think the 40 S&W and 45 acp works fine, the 45 colt works better and the 410 would be overkill - definitely stick with 7.5's and smaller shot size. If you are paranoid about snakes, I guess overkill would be quite acceptable.