Squirrel Hunting with Cast? What Caliber?

[DonMountain]

My wife was always very protective of "her" squirrels that she enjoyed watching in our yard. We live on a farm with plenty of room around us. Two weeks ago her car stopped running and our SUV started throwing error codes on the dash. I found out that the squirrels had chewed wires off both of them. I still can't find the problem on her car. For a solution to the situation, yesterday she shotgunned three of them and wants me to shoot the rest of them to keep them away from her car. I have an assortment of old military rifles and an AR in 223. Any suggestions on making them good squirrel guns? 6.5 Swedish maybe as I have cast projectiles for it? 7mm Mauser? 30's? M1 carbine?

[dangitgriff]

Good Lord, just get an air rifle!

[Texas by God]

Buy her another box of shotgun shells. She's on a roll!

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[gumbo333]

From .22 thru 45/70. You have several that should work with low velocity loads. In my very limited experience heavier cast for caliber has grouped better at lower velocities than lighter. Make sure the cast bullets are a bit larger than the bore. A lifetime of info all over this site. A 405 in a 45/70 accurate at very low velocity will remove a squirrel head very nicely. Have fun.

[Conditor22]

If you want to shoot "old military" 223, 55gr, BE, 3.5, if you're in a hurry I'd stick with a 4-10

[John McCorkle]

Cat sneeze loads for 30 would be a dandy and fun.

I use Lee 314-90swc sized down and powder coated in a range of 30 Cal's over a very light load of Tite group...

Any lightweight boolit would work with the same principal...stuff it in the case of a very light load of pistol powder and blaze away. Look up cat sneeze loads for more of what folks use

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[Nobade]

Put a lot of thought into how far a rifle bullet will fly when fired into the air at a high angle. Then buy more shotgun shells.

[DonMountain]

Put a lot of thought into how far a rifle bullet will fly when fired into the air at a high angle. Then buy more shotgun shells.

Well, I don't buy shotgun shells either. I was an avid trap shooter with one of the stepsons until the daughter died of cancer a year ago and we stopped trapshooting together. But I still have about 6000 12 gauge trap loads all loaded up with 7-1/2 shot at around 1100 fps. Thats what my wife used on those three squirrels yesterday. But they have a limited range to kill squirrels. But up close they work fine. So, I was looking for something with a little longer range maybe. I guess I could break out the 22 long rifle also since ammo is starting to come back in the stores now. But being a cast bullet person, I always think of them first and what I could do with a cast bullet.

[Shopdog]

8" Python with a 2X Luepold,custom mount,and sling studs. Shooting a Lee 140 SWC backed by 5g 231. Shot this load right at 15k rounds. Head shooting squirrels is pretty much a gimme.

[dverna]

A lot depends on where you live.

An air rifle as mentioned above is a good choice. If more rural, the .22 is cheap and effective.

Call me frugal, but I would not waste money using shotgun shells when .22's are $2.00 a box...plus I like a bit of a challenge.

[brewer12345]

I have shot small game with standard pressure 38 special. Keep it under 1000 fps and pay attention to your backstop. Either that or buy a bag of 5 shot and roll a few boxes.

[Walks]

Get a Cat.

Preferably a Big male Rescue that you can convince them not to neuter. Get a Cat flap so he can avoid the Coyote's.

You will be squirrel free in a week.

[Petander]

You need a 500 S&W.

I once shot a magpie from two yards for poo-pooing on my wife. There's still a hole in my garage roof.

The bird pretty much disappeared.

[richhodg66]

Air Rifles work, .22 LR work. I use reduced loads in a .22 Hornet most of the time, but 100-110 grain flat point bullets in a .30-30 or similar work well too. A shotgun is gonna be hard to beat if you can use it where you are.

.30-30 with the Lee 113 grain soup can and five grains of Clays
Attachment 242651

.22 Hornet, 45 grain plain based WFN and two grains of Bullseye
Attachment 242652

.22 Hornet, Bator bullet and six grains of 2400
Attachment 242656

20 gauge is good too
Attachment 242653

16 gauge too
Attachment 242654

[Winger Ed.]

Buy her another box of shotgun shells. She's on a roll!

Yeah,,,,,,,,,, OK, where's that 'like' button that news stories have?

[Tripplebeards]

Just soak a bag of peanuts in some marlin fly bait.

[trapper9260]

Buy her another box of shotgun shells. She's on a roll!

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I say the same she is doing great do not stop her.Keep her going on it. She knows where they all are and going to.

[richhodg66]

Haven't had a problem with squirrels, but the field mice around here will nest in a car engine and chew stuff up if you don't leave the hood up. A cat would be a good solution for mice, squirrels would be more able to avoid a cat.

[Blammer]

may be a bit potent for what you want but lots of fun!

also for the car, get 'mint extract' mix it with water, spray under hood, on wiring, inside where vents are. Mix it strong. 1 cup of water add 3-5 drops.

squirrels don't like the mint and will stay away, and it smells nice and minty.

[georgerkahn]

Heeding Nobade's sound advice re range of bullets is a very good point. In my youth, many, many, many squirrels were dispatched with a Mossberg Model 42 .22 bolt action, using .22 SHORT ammunition. Quite quiet, quite deadly, and -- perhaps "sick" -- but I'd always note that a squirrel hit in the head (my aiming point) would always jump up and do a dying/dead flip; if hit anywhere (lethally) else -- they'd just drop.
The humble .22 short really packs quite the deadly force on squirrels!