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If we delete an ad. And you want it retained, please send it again • If you would like your message removing, simply email us at the addesss above. Hi Just a word of thanks for a great website. Las Vegas Electrical Union Apprentice Program there. I've wanted a Win 9410 for ages, and now I've got one! Best cartridges I've found for it in the UK are the Lyalvale 2 1/2' 14g no 6, much more grunt than the very common fourlongs and a bit cheaper. It's a 3 shot and muti choke!
Gives a very tight pattern on full choke but managed to get 14 on the skeet range last visit! Wouldn't recommend this as a starter gun for the young, it's quite heavy and expensive for a 410 but so much fun to shoot with!
(and lots of jokes about skeet on horseback etc etc). Took a video if of interest, hope link works or just search for black5f on youtube. Hi, I and my friend have both purchased the remington 1100.410 3' auto a few weeks ago both brand new and both guns on approx 20 shells fail to load the next shell. On inspecting the shell it appears before being fully chambered on its way up from the magazine tube is catching on something in the mechanism and peeling back a sliver of brass and sometimes brass and the hull plastic. As a result it wont then chamber into the barrel. Bear in mind the shell is not being fired, only the first one fires correctly and this then happens on the 2nd or 3rd shot, but not all the time.
North wales shooting school have advised that there is a fault on them and that they are being recalled? I have not heard anything however about such a recall.
(me neither, ed) Im wondering if you can shed any light on the matter for me re the fault or the recall. Regards Chris 01 Feb 2008 UK. Hello There: I have noticed some interest here, in 410 handguns, and thought that perhaps someone would enjoy a first hand account. I presently own a pair of 410 handguns. The first is a Thompson Contender, with the 45/410 barrel. The second is the new Taurus Judge. Of the two, I have to say that the single shot Contender, with it’s removable choke, and 3” chamber, is probably the more capable gun; but the five shot Judge is quite a bit more fun.
Rather than repeat everything here, I will just leave links to the pages on my site. Incidentally, whenever I write to anyone in the U.K. I feel obligated to offer my sympathies about what has happened to gun ownership over there. Still, you have the vote. I imagine that it is always possible to get reasonable people into office ( If only. Ed.), who will show some respect, and acknowledge the rights of free men, to be treated as adults and to provide for their own defense; but I digress. At any rate, I hope you enjoy the information, and best wishes from the United States.
Neal Pritchett 7 Jan 2008. Hi Fellow Fourten Fans--- Because of a physical handicap that limits me to the use of one hand, I like a.410 handgun. I thought that installing a choke in a Taurus 4410 'JUDGE' (, and ) would solve a lot of problems: the Thompson Contender has a choke, but no fast second shot; the Magnum Research BFR has a choke and a fast second shot, but the thing is so heavy you need a gunbearer to lug it around. So, I prevailed upon my friend Mike Ahlman () at Ahlman's in Morristown, MN, to tool up for the installation.
Because the Judge's barrel is not round, this is a more difficult gunsmithing job than just putting it in a lathe. The gun turned out GREAT!
As tight a pattern as the Thompson from a handy-sized double-action revolver with five shots. Thompson.410 chokes, by the way, were made two ways. The early EXTERNAL chokes that are no longer manufactured were choked FULL and do pattern a little tighter than the INTERNAL versions currently available which are choked MODIFIED.
These chokes, by the way, are removeable so the shooter still has the 45 Long Colt, buckshot, and slug options. Jim Pence 10 Dec 2007 UK. I have plans to acquire a Taurus 'Judge' revolver right away which is chambered in.45 Long Colt and 2 1/2'.410 for use as a home and car defense firearm.
I tried anyway and met with Ted Murphy and Irv Gill at my local range. My faint hope was they would do more of the shooting, but this faded quickly.
Taurus has announced production of the same revolver but that will chamber 3'.410 as well as 2 1/2'. The firearm that will chamber 2 1/2' is currently available, but the 3' is not.
My question is, considering my intended use, am I better off to wait for the 3' model? Find Non Ascii Characters In Text File Notepad Plus. I can't find any data that tells me how much more effective the 3' shell is over the 2 1/2' for my purpose. It would appear that the 3' will hold 11/16 oz of shot versus 1/2 oz for the 2 1/2' shell. Winchester shows at that the 2 1/2' shell holds 3 oz of shot and the 3' holds 5 oz of 000 size shot. I can't believe that is ounces and tend instead to believe in buckshot they mean 'pellets' instead of 'ounces'. I believe so too) Any input from those more learned than I would be appreciated. If you wish to see a video on the 'Judge', see Other details on the Taurus Judge William in Ft Worth, Texas, USA, I gather that William has now aquired a Taurus Judge (Ed) 02 Nov 2007 USA.
I have acquired an El Chimbo 410 double barrel w/exposed triggers that has had the trigger and hammer assembly taken out and lost. I am looking for parts to get this up and running again. The firing pins and springs are still there but no triggers, hammers, springs and any other parts that make up the trigger group. This gun has been manufactured under different names also. I can't find schematics anywhere for it so I don't know what the parts even look like.
Does anyone know where I can find parts for this little gun? I am in central US. My e-mail address is. Thanks, Brandon. 20 June 2007 UK.
For more info contact Stuart Crane at: See 04 June 2007 UK Hi. On the 'Continent', particularly in France, if you ask for.410 cartridges, you will be offered 3' Magnums. They don't seem to know about the 2 1/2' length, but if you want a 2' long cartridge, you have to ask for 12mm!! Is this chamber size (+ or -) I think the same applies to 32 Gauge, called 14mm in France. A large variety of shot sizes is available including Brennecke/Wonder/Solengo solid slugs, all providing you have a French 'Permis De Chasser' I am lucky to possess two Browning O/U, B25.410s, one in B2G grade, the other a'Lightning', American market version of the Belgian made B25. Both are 3' chambered, and I use them both for Game and Clays, and only slighly feel slightly disadvantaged. They are certainly on a par with my identical 28 Bore I am now looking at re-barreling a suitable B25, to make a matching 32 bore, and eventually a 24 bore, just keeping it 'small and beautiful Regards Paul M.
25 May 2007 UK My friend has a Stevens.410 model 59a. She doesn't know much about guns and would like to know how much it is worth. I know it is very old and it needs to be reconditioned. If anyone could let me know as much information about this particular weapon i would appreciate it very much. Please E-Mail me back at if you can help me out or need anymore info on the shotgun. For ALOOF, Marshall William This message will be moved to the page 25 May 2007 UK I have a question that you most likely can help me with answering, as you have helped me before. How would you recommend loading 410 bore in 444 Marlin Brass, using CCI 300 large pistol primers with the goal of achieving THE LIGHTEST POSSIBLE recoiling loads; in the order of 1/2-oz at 900fps or even less?
The above question allows you to tell me what you would do, with, except as noted, any components you would recommend. Steve Oct 2006 PK Hi, I have a Double Barrel.410 shot gun made by Wilkinson (Pall Mall London) I need some information regarding its availability and the price, as I have been told that Wilkinson & Sons were famous for Swords and they only made some Custom Guns only Gift Versions for very special occasions as this gun was also a gift for my Grand Father and now I own it, along with a huge stock of other Gifted Weapons (including 2 Double Barrel shot guns 12. Gauge of Ward & Sons side by side, one with hammers and other hammerless a completely carved Colt Revolver.38 a Webley.445 Revolver a Winchester 12 gauge Double Barrel shot gun and a few more Pistols, Guns and Rifles) Will be waiting for your prompt response and would appreciate any useful information on the matter 16 Aug 2006 UK Hello,can any one help with info on choke extensions as I have two.410s with barrels under 24 inch being held at my local rfd, I wish to extend the tubes to 24 inch via permantly fixing choke extensions. I have heard of this done on.22 rifles then smoothboring them to turn them into shotguns, I also had the idea of sleeving one down to.22 smoothbore and adjusting the firing pin to suit the rimfire shotshell, has any one had any experiance with a project like this before.
The items are a garcia bronko and a breda hadygun. Any help please as the dealer is not being very helpfull. Thanks emails to.johny. 01 Aug 2006 UK.
I am looking for a.410 pistol 8 inch barrel or less and if poss not a single. If you know anyone who has one for sale or have seen anywhere please get in touch. Great site, kind regards.
Brian emails 19 May 2006 NZ I have a little Belgian folding.410 as per pictures attached. The Rolling block action (I think) makes it a little unique. I’d be interested to hear if this is same as the one of your youth Regards, Grant Smeaton 24 May 2005 UK Hello I am looking for a picture of a BELGIAN-MADE 410 SINGLE BARREL, FOLDING, HAMMER GUN. Please can any help me with a decent picture of the above gun.
I was taught by my father to shoot with one of those excellent guns, they realy are the ideal gun for rabbiting. Regards Colin Matthews 04 May 2006 UK This one is Belgian and marked 12mm. The side lever, when depressed, allows the action to open and the case is ejected when the top lever springs up. A fresh round can then be inserted on the ramp and fed into the chamber.
Depressing the top lever then cocks the action. After firing the process of pushing down the side lever repeats the process. Looks a bit like a Martini action at first glance.
I would be grateful for any information on this gun. Michael 08 April 2006 UK Hi I have just purchased a “Tuckaway”.410 pistol with a 12” barrel any info or history would be appreciated.
John Cheshire ( Us too please., we'd like to know about 'Modern Arms Co. ) Update from John:On the grip it says British Manufacture. No 11 is stamped on both the action and barrel. It has a Birmingham proof mark for 21/2 cartridge and 7/16 once of shot. I have just found a name.
Manufactured by Modern Arms Co Ltd. London & Bromley.
03 July 2006 UK I have also just acquired a Tukaway.410 pistol. Mine is number 392 and has London nitro proofs for 2 1/2' cartridges. The Modern Arms Co was at 133 Fenchurch Street in 1923. 110 Southwark St 1924 - 25. 28 Marshalsea Rd SE1 1926 - 1927. Thereafter it was the Modern Arms Co Ltd at the same address until 1932.
It moved to 58 Southwark Bridge Road SE1 in 1933 and is last listed at that address in 1942. I suspect it was bombed out. The company then operated from the Marco Works, Pembroke Road, Widmore, Bromley in Kent from c. My pistol has three threaded holes in its butt for a detachable stock.
I have seen Tukaways in.22RF. Bill Harriman 2 April 2006.
I shoot.410 in competition and use Fiocchi 3' 19.5g No 8's. I live in the Borders and cannot get them for another 6 - 8 weeks from my normal supplier. Does anyone have any info where I can get them? John 19 Jan 2006 Does anybody have any experience of the Hushpower range of sound moderators for the 4-10 shotgun, specifically the 9' tube available to fit to a normal single barrel machine. I would appreciate any advice..If I get one I'll let you know how I get on with it.
Is all UK 4-10 fourlong 2 3/4' no.6 ammunition sub sonic?? (No, Ed.) Thank you. David Nott Scotland 6 Dec 2005 UK Greetings All, I have been re-loading the venerable.410 in 2 1/2' and 3' sizes for some time now, and have met with some success using the CF and PT types of hull with different compositions. But, when looking for information on a 21g load only an H110 powdered example is freely available!!! Tim Woodhouse has done a fantastic job with his 'Because it's there' publication, I have read it cover to cover several times (the new edition should be as good) and he does mention the BIG load - but is a little coy as to it's exact composition?? So, my question is, does anyone have this tried and tested information?????
I normally use SP3 and CX2000 as a powder/primer mix and would like to continue if possible without having to purchase a separate propellant!!! Thanks in advance Ian Burrell 15 Aug 2005 UK I just came across your site whilst looking for info on the Winchester 9410 I have just bought. I wondered if you are aware of any cartridge preference for this gun that it will cycle cleanly? I used it for the first time today with some RIO 410 (11g/#6 shot) cartridges & whilst it worked fine when it reloaded, I had a lot of jams & failed lifts. On checking this when I got home, it seems that the lift gate is to tight for these shells.
The rolled nose area is releaved, as is the rim area where it is channeled to. But the centre area is to tight & it takes excessive force to lift the shell through this tight spot to the reloading position!
Thus the only conclusion I can draw, is that these shells are too wide for the action! This is reinforced by the number of hard extractions I got as well. Any recommendations as to sheels this gun cycles well would be much appreciated. Many Thanks Chris W. 30 Aug 2005 UK The 9410 was solved as follows;- The basic problem was that the shells according to the image & data on your site should have an external diameter of 11.3mm, where as the RIO cartridges I was using have an OD of 11.8mm. The 9410, has two shell holder cheek plates internally that are screwed to the outer frame from the out side, these had an internal gap of 11.5mm & the RIO's were being squeezed on the lift & left in an oval shape!
I removed these cheek plates & took some material off the back side where it abutts the frame, thus hiding the mod & making it reversable if it hadn't worked. I took approx.25mm off each cheek plate & that improved the feed lifting no end, but it was still tight due to a feed bump on the right cheek piece. I took another.1mm off each piece & this improved the situation even more. I didn't want to take more off, as I was only experimenting with one shell type & others could be slimmer, but I really needed to lose more metal to get a slick feed. I had correspondence with Matthew Birch after finding his site & he informed me that Winchester had added a large magnet to the back of the lift plate that holds the steel shotshell heads in place on the lift plate when they leave the magazine tube. This gave me the option of removing more metal from the cheek pieces. I decided that the feed bump was not really required because the shell has already started to enter the chamber before the lift ramp gets lowered as the action closes, so I got vicious with a file & removed the feed bump all together.
The action works a treat now & I've tried a few shells & they all feed flawlessly. Now on to the extraction issue.
Having fixed the feed issue, I ran in to an extraction issue where the fired shell would half extract before seperating from the extractor claw & bolt face, but not all the time. I looked at the RIO shells & at some Fiochi & Eley ones which did not seem to suffer the same problem. The conclusion I have drawn is very simple.
If you look closely at the rim head on the shells you use, you will see that some (Eley) have a very well defined rim on the side nearest the plastic, but others (Fiochi) have a less well defined rim & the RIO's have a very poorly defined rim. This is an average conclusion, some Eley are not great, but not as bad as the Fiochi or RIO's. By defined I mean look side ways on to the shell so that with the rim at the top, the case forms the vertical of a T with the top of the T being the rim. Now look closely at the lower part of the rim & on ones that fail to extract, you will find that instead of the 90 degree angle between the brass/steel body & the rim, its more like 45 degrees or some angle in between. Thus the extractor claw has no firm purchase & when you try to extract the case, it pulls so far out until the sloppy head rim angle causes the extractor, claw to lose its grip & the extraction fails.
Some cartridges also have been formed off center, so the rim is fine for most of its circumference, but some parts have practically no rim for the claw to grip! These rims work fine in O/U or single barrels that have large circumference extractors, but not very well on any type of bolt action that has a small extractor originally designed to pull exactly machined brass cartridge heads, not cheap steel pressed shotshell heads! I think you will find that your Mossberg is suffering from the same problem.
The longer the shell case the more likely the claws grip is to fail due to the leverage angles & the rounded edge to shotshell rims, verses the nice square edges of machined brass cartridges which keep them in the head recess on the bolt until they hit the ejector! Check it out & let me know what you think.I'm going to stick with Eley & look at reloading brass cartridges. The.444 Marlin looks like the right thing for my 2.5' requirements. Please feel free to use this info on your site. Regards Chris W.
Many thanks for this, Ed. 10 June 2005 USA Hello, Does anyone have info on a.410 Connecticut Valley Arms single shot. The barrel indicates made in Italy. It is hammerless top lever with crossbolt saftey on trigger guard. Appreciate the help.
Thanks Eddy 5 May 2005 UK. Tim 17 Feb 2005 I have two questions about the Enfield rifles converted at the Ishapore arsenal to.410 muskets: 1) Is it possible to drill out the muzzle and install a sweat-in full choke?
(supplier of appropriate choke?) 2) I know some of the chambers of these muskets have been bored out to 2.5 inches - could they be further bored out to a 3' chamber? Thanks, Jim 04 Feb 2005 I recently inherited a.410 shotgun which belonged to my Grandfather. I know nothing about this gun and was hoping that someone could provide me with some information (make, age, probable use etc.).
The gun has a hammer action and a single, 22 and a half inch barrel. There is no maker's mark as far as I can make out but there is some information on the side and bottom of the barrel (see attached photos). Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance, Andy 04 Jan 2005 The item on shooting grasshoppers (Rons Alternative 410 Shotgun Shells, See ) with specially prepared.410 loads reminds me of one of my earlier pursuits, dragonflies. However, I did most of it with a.22 and “rat shot.” In 1967, I was stationed at Clark AB in the Philippines. The base exchange (BX) had a nice sporting goods section where I managed to buy a gun I had long coveted, a Marlin Model 39A, the very nice old Marlin lever action.22 which by 1967 had Micro-Groove rifling, a design using sixteen (16) very shallow grooves. In the fullness of time, the rifle would prove to be extremely accurate, but Clark’s rifle range, like practically all USAF rifle and pistol ranges at the time, was not used, and there was no place to shoot rifles.
However, Clark AB had a nice Skeet and trap range which was open many afternoons and all days on Saturday and Sunday. The Skeet range also housed the Clark AB Rod & Gun Club had a stock of the old Winchester.22 long rifle shot cartridges which were commonly called “rat shot.” These shells were the old style with crimped closure and held about 25 grains of #12 shot. These would work very well in the Marlin, and could dispatch small rodents at 10 feet or so, but would never do for any sort of Skeet shooting, they simply hadn’t the powder and shot to do the job. However, that was all I could shoot in my Marlin, and I occasionally amused myself by tossing empty shotgun shells into the air and shooting at them.
One afternoon as I was doing this, the sky swarmed with dragonflies of some sort. Just like Ron and his grasshoppers, I had a revelation – dragonflies would be a perfect aerial target for the tiny.22 shot cartridges.
The old Marlin was effective on dragonflies at no more than five yards and I quickly discovered they made quite sporty targets. Thereafter I spent many afternoons stalking the elusive dragonfly. I said I did most of my dragon(fly) slaying with the.22, but in later years I often shot my little.410s on other ranges and with other shooters who got a chuckle out of my penchant for occasionally shooting one foolish enough to fly across a Skeet range. Unfortunately, not everyone was amused by my harmless pastime. I discovered about a tenth of a second too late that a young lady who was shooting on my squad adored dragonflies and showed by her sudden loud intake of breath that she was quite upset by it.
Marshall Williams 04 Jan 2005 France I live in France where.410 guns are virtually unknown. I've just purchased a folding, Belgian made sidelever 410 from an English gundealer via guntrader.co.uk. The gun is in beautiful condition but it is chambered for very short cartridges. Has anyone had any experience with enlarging the chamber to accomodate 3' magnum cartridges? Any advice would be appreciated. 7 Dec 2004 UK Dear Sir, I am looking for a mint condition Webley and Scott 410 bolt action single barrel. I have up to £200 to spend.
Yours faithfully Mr M White. 6 Dec 2004 I am wanting to buy a savage four tenner tubes for shooting.410 shells from a 12 ga shotgun. Please email me if you have one/two that you would be willing to part with. 15 Nov 2004 I am looking for any information about a 410 side by side magnum shotgun manufactured in Spain for the 'Volunteer' - Blumefeld Co. Memphis, Tenn. 26 Oct 2004 USA - AK I have recently bought a double barrel 410 with 3' chambers. It has no serial number and the only marking on the gun is on the left side of the receiver where it says, ' SPORTSMAN'S CLEVELAND.'
I live in Alaska but bought the gun from Gunbroker.com and I was told it had been owned by an old farmer in Pennssylvania. Can anyone tell me anything about this gun? Any information would be appreciated. Thank you very much, The Sportsman brand name was used by the F. Crescent Co of Norwich, CT, (or one of its successors) on shotguns made for the W. Of Cleveland, Ohio. Crescent Firearms history is a bit cloudy.
I have previously looked it up in three references and got three different versions of it, so the following is my distillation of the information. Crescent began business in 1888 and made single and double barrel shotguns in Norwich, CT until 1893. Crescent then merged with N. Davis and Sons but soon the new company was absorbed by another company, H. Folsum made shotguns under the brand name American Gun Company of NY, but also made guns for other brand names. In about 1930, the J.
Stevens Gun Company acquired the Crescent business and soon merged it with another called the Davis Warner Arms Corp, successor to N. Davis & Sons.
The resulting company was called Crescent-Davis. Stevens continued to sell guns marked with some variation of the Crescent name until 1941. The record is further muddied by the fact that Savage Arms Co.
Bought Stevens in about 1920 and thereafter often intermingled its products with their own. Crescent and its successors’ manufactured a huge number of shotguns, but the actual manufacturers' names are not well known. A major reason is that Crescent and all of its successor companies followed a practice of making guns on contract with hardware stores and sporting goods retailers and marked guns with the retail outlet’s name.
The 2001 edition of Standard Catalog of Firearms lists about 200 brand names found on various Crescent products. I cannot give you an exact date for your gun, but the first American made.410s date from around 1911. (See Bob Sears’ article.), and J. Stevens Gun Company acquired H. Folsum in about 1930. That should bracket the gun’s age. The earliest Crescent small bores were chambered for brass.44 cases.
The.44 shells are so similar to the 2 inch.410s that they may be used in.410 chambers, however, the 2 inch.410 should be a trifle too large for a.44 chamber. However, with slack tolerances, they may well work. Guns with 2 inch.410 chambers often were marked.44.410 and were intended to use both shells interchangeably. Guns with original 2 inch chambers usually are pre-1922, and guns with 3 inch chambers date from after 1933.
In general, 2 1/2 inch chambers are post 1922, but may be later than 1933. Please note that all dates are approximate as changes occurred gradually and in both the US and England. Authorities take different views on the values of these guns, but in general the values do not run as high as other better known American doubles like Parker, L. Smith and Ithaca. Depending on condition and such factors as whether the gun has ejectors or plain extractors, the values run about $150-$450.00. One source lists a top value of $700 for 100% new condition with all the extras. Marshall Williams 16 July 2004 Hi, I'm looking for information regarding an old Beretta folding.410 shotgun.
It dates back to 1945 with the serial number B83719. The gun belongs to a friend who bought it in the 50's when he was 10 yrs old and it's still in regular use for shooting rats.
The ejector has broken off and become lost so we are trying to find info on how to come by a replacement, the gun has great sentimental value and any help will be greatly appreciated. None of the gunshops contacted know anything about this gun.
Your little Beretta single barreled gun is well covered in R. Wilson’s lavishly illustrated The World of Beretta, an International Legend.
Beretta called this neat little gun its “monocanna ripieghevole” which translates as 'single barrel folding shotgun.' Patented in 1922, it first appeared in a Beretta catalog in 1925 and remained in the catalog until 1992. At first offered in 16, 20, 24, and 28 gauges, it eventually appeared in 8 (!), 10, 12, and 32 gauges. The.410 bore was introduced in 1958, along with a short lived 9mm Flobert rimfire version with 20 inch barrel.
Total production exceeded 500,000 guns. Intended as a simple hunting model, throughout its production life, the little guns were offered in highly decorated and engraved versions often advertised as especially suitable for ladies.
I could find no mention of it in Wilson’s book, but I very distinctly recall a well executed “trap” version of this gun in the late 60s-early 70s. It had a 32 inch full choked barrel with vent rib, a Monte Carlo stock and automatic ejector. It may have been called the Mark I trap. Had been the US importer and distributor for Beretta during the 60s and distributed the gun under the name “Companion.” After Beretta set up its own US network, the single was omitted from Beretta’s line, but Galef continued to import and sell a nearly identical gun under the name “Companion.” This was the same name Galef had used for the Beretta single, but after the breakup, Galef did not mention Beretta's name in connection with its sales efforts for the new gun, and I do not know whether the nearly identical gun was a Beretta product.
I can find no source of parts. If you have not yet done so, you should contact Beretta. Since the gun was catalogued into the 90s, it is possible that parts are available. Absent that, a competent machinist or gunsmith should be able to make a satisfactory replacement, although the cost might be high.
Marshall Williams 14 June 2004 I am trying to find a shot wad that will cover 3/4 oz shot. I am shooting clays reasonable well from the 12 yard line. But I need 12 more feet and my little wads for the 2 1/2 don't get it done. Also I am using Win. Is there a better powder that might help me. Thanks for your time Bill Gakona, Ak Picture left shows wads available in the UK that have shot protectors, neither are long enough to enclose a ¾oz..410 shot column.
Are there any wads that will? Please email Marshall Williams. H&R (Harrington and Richardson) 15 Jan 2004 USA-WI When I was a kid my Dad's buddy had an H&R folding single-shot.410. I always thought it was a neat gun but have been unable to find one since. I would like to find this gun or another similar gun in either single or double barrel. I noticed on this site that Falco Arms makes a similar gun, but it looks like they are not sold in the USA. I am in Wisconsin, USA, about 60 miles east of Minneapolis, MN.
Any info would be greatly appreciated. Please send to The H&R folding shotgun was made from 1910 to 1942 in two frame sizes. The 1940 Stoeger’s Shooter’s Bible lists the Heavy Frame with 26 inch barrel in 12, 16, 20, 28, and.410 - 12mm [sic] and weights from 5 3/4 to 6 ½ pounds.
The Light Frame model is listed as having a 22 inch barrel in 12 mm, 14 mm, and 28 gauge and weighing 4 ½ pounds. Both models had an exposed hammer and an automatic ejector and cost $12. Other H&R single barrel guns ranged in price from $9.75 to $12.20. The listing of the small frame gun in 12mm (.410) and 14 mm (32 gauge) as well as 28 gauge suggests to me that this model was intended for export as the metric designations would have been unfathomable to most US customers and US ammunition manufacturers had dropped 32 gauge ammunition some 10-12 years earlier. You may want to search www.gunsamerica.com for folding shotguns as there are several others.
Beretta made a very nice one which was imported into the US under the name 'The Companion.' Marshall Williams 14 May 2003 USA I have a H&R 'Handygun', Serial# 36784. This gun has a 12' barrel, 410 Ga, and appears to have been made as a pistol. Can anyone give me information as to the value and history of this gun. Even where I could find info would be helpful.
(See Notes on the ) 19 Jan 2003 Looking for information resource for the following: U.S. Manufactured, Harrington & Richardson, SS,.410 pistol: bbl c. 10 inches, oal c. 13 inches, shell size 2.5 inches I would greatly appreciate any information on a Harrington & Richardson Topper Model 158.410 with serial number AJ248116. I have no idea if this gun is worth anything, but I would like to know it's value and history if feasible.
I have inherited a H&R 410-44(cal.) single barrel shotgun with no model number for referrence. I am interested in any info about this gun. Thanks I've recently inherited a 410 single-shot shotgun with a 12mm choke made by Harrington & Richardson Arms Co., serial number 36982. Can you tell me anything about this weapon, such as how much it's worth or whether they still make shells for it?
It's in very good condition. I just recently ran across a H & R Handygun and was wondering what this was worth.
Any information on it would be helpful. (See Notes on the ) I recently inhereted a harrington & richardson arms co. 410 do they still make this gun? Can i get parts? And is it worth the shell i put in it. I mean how much would it be worth.
Thank for any info. Scott in southern california. Harrington and Richardson manufactured reliable utilitarian low cost firearms from 1874, until 1986 when they ceased production, the H&R trademark is utilized by a new company (H&R 1871, Inc.). H&R (Harrington and Richardson), Gardner, MA. Now part of New England Firearms, try.
I have found this old 4-10 shotgun and was just wondering if you could give me a little history about it. I am not a hunter, never owned a fire arm, and know little or nothing about guns. I can shoot one, but thats about all.
This one has K-Mart stamped on the barrel, 410 gauge 3in. I remember as a kid there was a bolt action 410 that was popular, but this one just breaks open for the shell to be put in, close it and you're ready. Single shot I guess.
It was made in Brazil by Companha Brasilera De Cartuchcs. On the bottom it has 'MOD 151'.
Who made this gun and what is it's value. If you can, how old is it. Thanks for the info. CBC Brazil makes serviceable low cost shotguns. I remember seeing Brazilian imports in the late '60's. If there is no serial number I would say it is pre- 1968.
I think that when they were required- a gun shop or an email to BATF will tell you for sure. The K-Mart 151 is the same as the Kresge 151 and can also be marked with an 'FIE' model number.
Lists the original manufacturer as Boito and original model as CBC. They, like many others (including me), are a little hazy as to corporate parents and offspring. As to value, I've never heard of any collector interest in these. Gunshops in my area sell anything that goes 'bang' and doesn't maim or kill the shooter for $90- $100. Good Luck, Bob Hi, Can anyone advise me about removing the fore-end of a CBC single barrel.410 (3' Ej) Model # 151 Thanks in advance. John, From the exploded diagram it appears the forend just pulls off. At the muzzle end there may be an indentation for a finger to help pull.
If there is a visible latch obviously it should be moved/ pushed. If there is a visible screw head take it out, but it looks like the screw comes down from the top (the nut may or may not be visible). It may take some effort as the spring is the same for all gauges and must hold things in place during recoil.
Replace by putting the butt end of the forend against the hinge and squeezing the forend to the barrel. You'll have to align the forend plunger against the little lump on the bottom of the barrel but the alignment should be fairly obvious. Take care, Bob. I own a single shot 410 with 12mm choke made by the Bridge co.
And sold thru a hardware store in St. Louis about 1932. Can you help with the value.
The gun is in excellent condition. Hello i have inherited a 410 single shot shotgun with 12 mm choke its made by the Bridge company it's name is the black prince the numbers on it are a688386 is there any thing you can tell me about it age etc thanx email Bridge Gun Company: Registered trade name of the Shapleigh Hardware Company, St. Louis, Missouri. History of Company. Eastern arms company Was wondering about this 410 gauge. Eastern Arms Company is ingraved on the side of the stock.Other side of stock 21 is stamped within a circle.On the barrel is proof tested 410 gauge.Any help would be appreciated.Such as the year it was produced and where it was produced.thank you I inherited a single shot.410 shotgun.
The only makings are ' Eastern Arms Company' and '1929 Model'. Can anyone give me any information on this shotgun? Eastern Arms Company: Trade name used by the Sears, Roebuck and Company of Chicago on both shotguns and inexpensive revolvers made by the Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works. For Ivor Johnson info see. I was passed on.410 'FOIC' side by side shotgun. It was made in Brazil and was imported by FIE to Miami Florida. Please let me know if anyone has any information regarding this shotgun.
Thanks I HAVE PURCHASED A ERA 410 SINGLE SHOT SHOTGUN MANUFACTURED IN BRAZIL. IT WAS MANUFACTURED FOR F.I.E. IN MIAMI, FLORIDA. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO OBTAIN ANY INFORMATION ON THIS GUN. PLEASE CHECK YOUR RESOURCES FOR INFORMATION ON THIS GUN.
FIE stands for Firearms Import Export company, and they operated out of Hialeah, Florida (part of Miami) from about 1980 until 1990 when they declared bankruptcy. SO your gun was probably made between those dates. Brazilian gun makers are very good and although they copy many of their designs from popular US models, they are generally well made and sell for a lot less than their U.S. Made cousins. (Thanks to 'fasn8ed' for this info.) Does anyone know why a.410 is sometimes refered to as ' 36 gauge' as, by the usual definition of shotgun bore sizes (no of lead balls of a given diameter that can be made from a pound of lead, 1 pound occupies 2.438 in 3, 0.410 ball occupies 0.03608in 3, therefore aprox 68 balls to the pound) a.410 should be a 68 bore/gauge? Answers/thoughts gratefully received and See the for some thoughts. FMJ I am looking for any info on a 'F.M.J.'
.410 side by side folding stock shotgun. I aquired this gun and no very little about it. I do know these facts: looks inexpensive, the derringer style pistol grip says 'cobray' on it, the folding butt stock holds 3 shells, the box it came in has a Copperhill, Tenn. Address on it.
I would like to no more about the gun itself and possible it's worth. Any help will be greatley appreciated.
I am a shotshell collector and I am looking for old paper.410 shotshells, especially from the firm of W.R.Pape of Newcastle upon Tyne and any other U.K. & Commonwealth gunmaker cartridges. Does any enthusiasts have old 410 cartridges for sale (British Roll Turnover only)? I have most of the old Eley carts. In quantity, but I would like to buy/swap any gunsmith brands. Old boxes and adverts are also of interest to me.
Snakes on a Plane A mile off the coast of Beaufort, South Carolina, clipping along at an altitude of 11,000 feet and a cruising speed just shy of 200 mph, I settled into the back seat of my brother’s Cirrus SR22, ate a donut, and watched the magnificent Lowcountry of the Southeast coastal plain scroll past. On my lap, the tangle of Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix wriggled languidly in their clear plastic cookie box, flicked an occasional tongue in mild curiosity, and otherwise chilled. If they had any interest in their destination, or, for that matter, in sinking their fangs into the thighs of their courier, they didn’t show it. We were 65 minutes out of DeLand, Florida, and about 10 away from Lowcountry Regional Airport, where, with any luck, the Clamp Brothers would be waiting for us.
From the air, the Lowcountry looked like a neural network of wetlands, pine forests, and tidal creeks, the silvery marshes bouncing sunlight up at the plane as we passed. Only the occasional lesion of Hilton Head golf courses or riverside oil tanks broke the beauty. Beside me, Carl Barden polished off his own donut and admired the view.
“You’re gonna love the Clamp Brothers,” he told me. “They’re one of a kind.”. Carl Barden (Credit: Rowan Jacobsen) A few months earlier, Ted and Heyward Clamp had gifted the mothers of this particular batch of Agkistrodon to Carl, who is the founder of Medtoxin Venom Laboratories. Carl and my brother had picked up 38—or was it 39?—adult Agkistrodon from the Clamps, stuffed them into pillowcases, and flown them back to Medtoxin, in DeLand, where a startling number of them gave birth to live young. Maybe it had been a particularly fertile spring in the Lowcountry, or maybe the deeds had been done in the cozy confines of the pillowcases in the back of the Cirrus.
Whatever the case, Carl soon found himself with 92 babies who showed no interest in eating the usual foods Medtoxin feeds its menagerie. A passionate lover of all things that slither, he felt a compelling need to return them to their native home. Until recently, my brother Kerry, known as Cougar to friends and family, was in the auto-racing business, and he used the Cirrus to get himself to races.
It was, he insists, a pure calculus of time and money. But it also marked the latest in a lifelong romancing of sleek motors. He wrecked his first minibike when he was four, and has proceeded to crash dirt bikes, road bikes, BMX racers, go carts, street cars, and, of course, many, many race cars. “Pretty much everything except my airplane,” is how he puts it. He flipped an 18-wheeler at 70 mph on I-95 one rainy evening. Now he is retired from auto racing, but still likes to fly every 10 days or so to keep him and his airplane sharp. He tries to volunteer for Pilots N Paws, a nonprofit that flies rescue pets to their new homes.
Now he had extended that service to the pawless. Cougar and Carl’s friendship was built on a mutual affinity for the DMZ of death. Carl’s thing is not speed (although he was a commercial airline pilot for years) but snakes. What else but adrenalin can explain why this 49-year-old recipient of 11 previous bites, who has been laid low by eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and black mambas and Asian cobras, and whose allergic response to both snake venom and antivenom has grown so strong that he knows his next bite could almost certainly be his last, still spends his days grabbing some of the world’s most lethal creatures behind the head with his bare hand and encouraging them to attack a membrane-lined glass in order to extract their venom? He has about 1,300 snakes in his collection, stacked in plastic drawers in skinny aisles in the Medtoxin lab. Certain drawers hiss at you when you walk past, others rattle.
“I always remind my employees that the building is a trap,” he told me. “We get very familiar and comfortable in there, but it is a very, very dangerous place.” Carl has coral snakes, cottonmouths, diamondbacks, gaboon vipers, black mambas, green mambas, monocle cobras, pygmy rattlers, puff adders, and boomslangs. He has a reminder pinned to his bulletin board that he typed himself: “I didn’t know how empty my life was until I got king cobras.” Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix, southern Copperheads, are not one of the world’s deadliest snakes. If you must get bit by a “venomous,” as they call it in the trade, the copperhead is a pretty good choice. It will ruin your day, but it will rarely kill you. People used to say that it would never kill you.
Then, in 2011, Wade Westbrook, a healthy 26-year-old Tennessean, was bitten above the elbow while trying to determine the sex of a copperhead. A few minutes later, he collapsed, unconscious. A few minutes later, he was dead. Rowan Jacobsen, the author (Credit: Carter Robertson) “It’s the anaphylaxis that gets you,” when you’re someone who works with snakes, Carl says. Of the ten people he has known who have died of snakebite, two died from the venom, eight from the allergic response.
Carl’s first anaphylactic event came courtesy of an Asian cobra bite in 1993. He began convulsing and vomiting and his throat started to close. Just as he was losing consciousness, he managed to fire two Epipens into his leg. By the time the EMTs arrived, he was unconscious, had stopped breathing, and his girlfriend had been giving him mouth-to-mouth for 14 minutes.
The EMTs were barely able to ram a tube down his throat. Worldwide, there are over 100,000 confirmed deaths from snakebites every year. This number kept running in my head as I puzzled over a discrepancy. The Clamp Brothers insisted that they had loaded 39 copperheads into the pillowcases in South Carolina for that original trip, but it was unclear whether 38 or 39 had come out of the plane in Florida. Cougar mentioned this a couple of times. He is not a snake guy.
Back when Carl was getting started in the business, he kept all the snakes in his house, and eventually Cougar refused to attend any more parties, which invariably ended with cobras on the table. For years, Medtoxin’s entire business involved selling venom to companies for the production of antivenom and other scientific applications.
The venom is diluted and injected into a horse or sheep, which produces antibodies that bind to the venom and neutralize it. The antibodies are harvested, concentrated, and the resulting antivenom is kept in stock in hospitals. But lately Medtoxin has had a whole new class of clients knocking on its door. For example, in mice, a component in the venom of the southern Copperhead called contortrostatin selectively attacks cancer cells like a mongoose after a snake.
While ignoring healthy cells, it immobilizes cancer cells for certain types of cancer and paralyzes their support systems, making it impossible for them to move or grow. It does things that the big pharmaceutical corporations have been trying to figure out how to do for years. And it is just one of literally millions of high-performance molecules that snakes and their venomous cohorts—spiders, scorpions, gila monsters, anemones, cone snails—have been perfecting for hundreds of millions of years.
They are designed to kill you, but with a little tweak or two, they just might save you. That realization has caused Big Pharma to fall in love with venom. And that has made the handful of venom labs in the country like Carl’s the new darlings of medicine. The Healing Power of Venom Snake venom destroys prey and predators in highly tactical ways. Its ability to selectively target just the right cells in the body is what makes it so lethal.
Different species of snakes do this in different ways. The jararaca, a South American pit viper, has peptides in its venom that cause blood vessel walls to collapse. Blood pressure flatlines. The black mamba, one of the deadliest snakes on earth, injects neurotoxins that almost instantly disrupt the nervous system by finding and blocking neurotransmission. You tingle, you get numb, you convulse, your heart stops, your lungs stop, you stop. Until an antivenom was developed in the 1960s, few people had ever survived the mamba’s notorious “kiss of death.” Rattlesnakes possess myotoxins, which cause muscles to die and leads to paralysis, and cytotoxins, which liquefy cells.
The Gaboon viper wields hemotoxins that trigger widespread bleeding and tissue destruction throughout the body. No venom consists of just one toxin. It is always a malevolent cocktail of poisons, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of different proteins that wreck you by extinguishing multiple systems at once.
It’s like the Delta Force, a tiny group of highly trained specialists dropped into the enemy capital. Heyward Clamp (Credit: Brianna Stello) One takes out the communications towers. Another tosses tear gas into the security barracks. One cuts off the electricity. And one slips into the palace and lops the ruler’s head off.
Of course, such selective targeting is the goal of most modern medicines as well. Snakes had a 180-million-year head start on Merck and Pfizer, who are still playing catch-up. That jararaca, for example, which turns its victims’ blood vessel walls to goop, was the model for ACE inhibitors, some wildly successful drugs, which reduce hypertension by relaxing blood vessels. And among the lethal suite of neurotoxins in the black mamba’s venom is one, named mambalgin, that blocks pain more efficiently than morphine, without morphine’s serious side effects such as fogginess, difficulty breathing and addictiveness. Another mysterious protein in cobra venom seems to interrupt a virus’s ability to penetrate a cell. An enzyme in copperhead venom melts blood clots, while a peptide in the toxin of the sun anemone reverses paralysis and other inflammatory effects of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. At least a dozen venom-based drugs have already hit the market, and the gold rush is on.
Of the 20 million toxins found in the world’s venomous animals, less than 1,000 have been studied. A few medical labs all over the world are racing to map venoms and build toxin libraries—and counting on the handful of suppliers like Medtoxin for their raw material. Carl’s lab is one of a few that has virtually cornered the market on coral snakes and copperheads, and he has as much black mamba venom in his freezer as anyone in the Western hemisphere. It’s all very hush-hush; Carl has nondisclosure agreements with some of his clients. “All I can tell you is that it’s going to Europe,” he told me, when pressed. Switzerland, perhaps?
A little online sleuthing led me to Atheris Laboratories, the self-proclaimed leader in “cutting-edge venomics technology,” which it uses to help other pharmaceutical companies figure out where and how to aim their drugs. A venom-based cancer treatment is one of several in the works. Others are interested in Medtoxin’s venom, too. Carl has been approached by Russian clients looking for enormous amounts of Western Diamondback venom, as well as some other entities, closer to home, that I’m not allowed to talk about.
Anyone other than a verifiable lab, university, research facility or hospital is turned away. “You can’t just buy it to put on your Cheerios,” Carl says. Lowcountry We circled Lowcountry Regional a few times, admiring what Carl calls “the snakiest part of the country,” then landed and shook hands with the Clamp Brothers, its snakiest people.
Seventy-year-old Heyward and 68-year-old Ted have been collecting “venomous” their whole lives, with the scars to prove it. Heyward was a 14-year-old Boy Scout the first time he was bitten by a copperhead, which propelled him to a lifelong fascination. As soon as he graduated high school in 1961, he traveled to Miami and hung around the Miami Serpentarium until its legendary proprietor, Bill Haast, gave him a job. Haast pioneered the art of venom extraction and was one of the first to do it before a live audience. In 1962, Heyward was assisting during a show when Haast was bitten by a king cobra, whose bite reportedly no one had ever survived. Haast calmly continued the show, but Heyward watched the blood trickling down Haast’s hand and assumed he was assisting a dead man. Heyward Clamp's hands (Credit: Brianna Stello) Haast nearly did die after the show, but for years he had been inoculating himself with tiny doses of a mixture of different snake venoms to build up his own antibodies.
He recovered and lived to be 100, dying of natural causes in 2011 having suffered 172 snake bites. The Clamp Brothers, who opened their own serpentarium on Edisto Island in 1999, spend every spring collecting wild snakes in the Lowcountry.
They know the brush piles and abandoned sheds where the snakes like to hang out, and they’ll even put out old car hoods, whose heat attracts the cold-blooded animals. They’ve supplied Carl with most of his 150 copperheads, as well as rattlesnakes and cottonmouths. They had their own batch of baby rattlesnakes that had been born at the Serpentarium, so the plan was to release all the babies on Ted’s land, to maximize its snakiness. First, we swung by the Serpentarium to do the things that snake people do together. We played with rattlesnakes. We wrestled with their 17-foot reticulated python. It weighed at least a hundred pounds and had bands of muscle like steel-belted tires.
I held it in my arms, feeling it ripple and clamp, and knew it could squash me like a grape. We admired one of their alligator pits, though Heyward was disgusted with the whole lot. “They’re like fat puppy dogs. When you clean their pen, you gotta push ’em out of the way.” Heyward’s gnarled hands bore witness to the caustic power of eleven “envenomations.” He lost one index finger to a cottonmouth 40 years ago — the flesh turned black and fell off the bone — and half of his other to a rattlesnake. He told me that Carl was the most skillful snake handler he’d ever seen. “His ability to anticipate every snake’s movement is unbelievable. I worked with Bill Haast for years, and Bill would do a few cobras for show for the audience, but Carl just goes like that and grabs ’em.” Yes, indeed.
The day before, I’d spent the day at Medtoxin, watching Carl grab snake after snake and milk it. My stress hormones were only starting to recover. Each snake was lifted from its drawer on a metal hook and laid on the collection table. It was always a bit of a jujitsu match between the snake and Carl, who tries to take away the snake’s leverage with the hook. “The real game is, ‘What’s he thinking?’” he explained. “You get this weird communication back and forth. ‘I’m about to lunge at you.’ Or, ‘No, I’m gonna let you get me to the table first.’ My hope is that I’m reading things properly.
That’s one of the fun parts.” The rattlesnakes come out rattling furiously, a sound that will ice your innards. I watched a six-foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake escape onto the floor and come up striking, missing Carl by an inch. Certain rattlesnakes are the most deadly because they deliver huge quantities of venom and have the nastiest personalities. “Some groups of snakes tolerate handling better than others,” Carl told me. “Copperheads and cottonmouths aren’t really bothered by it. But big rattlesnakes really don’t like to be touched.
Sometimes I’ll open a drawer, and I can see that rattlesnake is saying, ‘Don’t you touch me, cause I’m gonna kill you!’ But of course, he has to pay the rent, so I have to touch him.”. Ted Clamp, with Medtoxin intern Carter Robertson in background (Credit: Brianna Stello) With the small coral snakes, which average just two feet in length but have extremely deadly venom, Carl watches for a moment, then darts his bare hand in and grabs it behind the head. His aim must be perfect. “If a snake twists in your hand, you are typically in big trouble.
There’s only about an eighth of an inch between the end of his fang and your finger. If he moves, either forward or backward, he can get that fang into you. So I have to make sure I don’t give him that eighth of an inch.” A couple of weeks ago, a copperhead got it.
“All of a sudden, I feel him sticking his fang in my thumbnail! Thank goodness for my nail.” With the larger snakes, Carl pins down the head with his hook while an assistant holds the tail, then he grabs it behind the head and passes it in front of the collection glass to get it to strike.
Each snake is milked once every 14 days or so. The venom is frozen to -80 degrees C, then freeze dried and shipped all over the world. Carl averages nearly 100 extractions per day. Years ago, when he was building his business and still working full time as an airline pilot, he’d often have to do 300 extractions on his off days. “What I found was that, on number 268, I’d get bitten. You just can’t concentrate that well, that long.” Now, he never does more than 40 in one session, and all of a sudden, it’s been seven and a half years without a bite. His friend and mentor George Van Horn, who has run central Florida’s Reptile World Serpentarium since 1972, had been bitten the day before by a rattlesnake and was in intensive care, which put Carl in a reflective mood.
“Every once in a while, I’ll have one of these snakes in my hand, and I’ll think, ‘What am I doing? How did I get here?’ You really think about that when you’re speeding to the hospital.” Rattlesnake bites are particularly unpleasant. Your face starts tingling, your flesh feels like someone has sewn hot coals beneath your skin, your pulse flutters, your mouth gushes blood, your body hemorrhages and your limb puffs up like a water balloon. Then the bad stuff starts. Snakes on a Plain We carried three boxes of baby copperheads and rattlesnakes out to Ted Clamp’s land.
They bore a remarkable resemblance to the little plastic snakes kids like to scare people with—the same size and patterns and little S curves—and they seemed awfully cute. The copperheads had adorable yellow tips on their tails they use as lures for frogs and lizards. I was under the mistaken impression that the babies weren’t yet venomous. Later I’d learn that they can deliver a healthy wallop of poison, and that some babies actually have more concentrated neurotoxins than the adults. I should also mention that for some bonehead reason I was wearing Tevas. Ted and Heyward Clamp (Credit: Brianna Stello) Although it’s not something typically trumpeted by the South Carolina Department of Tourism, the state is teeming with snakes. It’s not uncommon for the Clamp Brothers to head out for a day of collecting and come back with two-dozen rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and copperheads.
Not only that, but the snakes of South Carolina’s coastal plain are unusually toxic. No one understands why, but snake toxicity varies profoundly with geography. The eastern diamondbacks in Orlando, for instance, have zero myotoxin in their venom, while South Carolina diamondbacks are absolutely dripping with the stuff. Copperheads, too, carry completely different venom in different regions, as Carl has learned via feedback from his medical clients.
Northern copperheads: useless. Lowcountry copperheads: gold. Ted’s land was a Deliverance-like realm of swamps and sandy pine forests. Barrel-vaulted cypress trunks rose out of the waters, dripping with Spanish moss. The ground was a coppery swirl of dry oak leaves, pine needles, and sticks. Snake heaven. Frogs, lizards, mice and no people.
We knelt down, opened up our boxes, and dozens of eight-inch snakes came flowing out. They didn’t move like baby animals. There was no scurry, no fear. They had the slow confidence of star athletes and the twinkling eyes of serial killers. A few glided out over the water; others climbed up nearby trunks and brush piles. I helped a few stragglers out of a box with a hook and set them at my feet. With their khaki-brown splotches they were amazingly hard to see against the leaf duff, and when they stopped moving it was as if they had turned on cloaking devices.
I knew there were dozens around me, but I couldn’t find them at all. Carl Barden (Credit: Brianna Stello) I commented that it was a good thing these little guys weren’t venomous yet, and a number of responses came back at me, none of them comforting. There were rattlesnakes a few inches from my bare toes.
There were snakes behind me. There were snakes in the bushes, flicking their tongues. So I held still for a long, long time, and we watched them go, slithering eagerly into the nooks and crannies, fading like fall leaves into the greatest R&D lab the world has ever known. We would be back, next spring, to find another round of adults, but for now we just turned and left them to their lives.
Just before I set out on this trip, I’d mentioned to a friend that we were planning to release lots of venomous snakes, and she’d looked at me like I had three heads. “Why would you ever release something that could hurt people?” she’d asked. It’s hard to know where to start.
Because these are some of the most magnificent creatures you will ever meet, with a totemic power that makes you want to drop to your knees in worship. Because they were here before we were. And because a day is coming, not too far off, when they will save many, many more people than they have ever harmed. Credits Written by: Rowan Jacobsen Rowan Jacobsen is the author of six books and numerous shorter pieces.
His work has been selected for Best American Science & Nature Writing, Best Food Writing and many other awards. He is getting more confident in his snakehandling. Photography, except where noted: Video of baby copperheads: Video of snake being milked: Rowan Jacobsen Editing: Kevin Hayes, Michele Berger Cover Font: Denise Bentulan Layout and Design: Edecio Martinez Cover image features, from left to right: Medtoxin intern Carter Robertson, Ted Clamp, Carl Barden and Heyward Clamp Video of snake being milked features: Medtoxin employee Mara Roberts and Carl Barden.