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Not unless you're some hair-brained preacher playing with 'em or like some who find the cool, slithering touch of a King Cobra under the bed sheets at night comforting.

I can tell you from first hand experience exactly how much firepower is too much for a rattlesnake. Many years ago my dad and I had been at a caliche (that's shale like rock for you easterners) pit sighting in a rifle when we spotted a huge rattler in the middle of the caliche road. The only thing we had to dispatch it with was a Rem 700 in .300 Win Mag. I loaded a hollowpoint round and the snake curled up and started buzzing at me. When I touched off the round it went through the snake like hot butter and penetrated the caliche road. The resulting backblast brought a shower of snake bits and pulverized rock that had to be seen to be believed. I turned and found my dad behind the car laughing hysterically watching the snake parts drip from my chin.

Moral of my story? Don't use hand grenades to control snakes unless you bring a raincoat.