Squirrel Hunting with Cast? What Caliber?

[SSGOldfart]

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.

Man how long has it been since you bought 22lr. shells????

[richhodg66]

Man how long has it been since you bought 22lr. shells????

#2 son and I were in the local Orscheln's looking around today. They had 16 gauge shells, 1 1/8 ounce of #8s or #6s, $19.99 a box. Same number of 20 gauge shells, one ounce of shot, $7.99. Doesn't seem like you find good .22 ammo anymore for much less than a dime per round.

I'll keep using centerfires on squirrels, cheaper and better. Even shotguns don't have as much of a difference as one might think if you use commonly available shells.

[bikerbeans]

3" 410 with 5/8 oz of 6 shot over I4227. Out of a 500E with fixed FC will drop a fox squirrel at 30 yards.

BB

[Tripplebeards]

I just sprayed a half a gallon of vinegar under my deck where there’s a rabbit living. I don’t know if squirrels hate the smell of vinegar as well? I tried mothballs last year. I put them in back of my Hosta plants . For some goofy reason the squirrels picked them out and tossed them in the yard. Looked like it hailed.

[If1Hitu]

Try a stone and flip....

[dverna]

Man how long has it been since you bought 22lr. shells????

Go to Target Sports website.

I buy in bulk.

[Maine1]

110 gr lead M-1 carbine boolets work great in 30-30 and 308.

The flip works too, even better with lead round balls

[hwilliam01]

Get a German Shepherd....haven't seen a squirrel in the last 4 years...

[WRideout]

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.

I once shot a squirrel that was looking straight at me with 22 short. Hit him in the chest, and I found the bullet under the skin on his rump. It had gone end-to-end. 22 short is all I use in rimfire for small game now. On a different note, I have used .311 round balls in my Nagant pistol with a 22 case full of Red Dot and it is surprisingly accurate. I know that wasn't one of your guns, but the principle applies.
Wayne

[GhostHawk]

^

Air rifle from Sheridan blue streak on up.
.22lr in almost any configuration.
Or a cast lead bullet over a few grains of
Red Dot in any caliber from .223rem to .45-70 will do the job.

But the shotgun works too, just noisier.

[dale2242]

Tree or ground squirrels?

[MrWolf]

Been buying 22's for four cents. Just saw Thunderbolts for three cents a round.

[Tripplebeards]

Been buying 22's for four cents. Just saw Thunderbolts for three cents a round.

What happened to .99 cents for fifty golden bullets? Guess the 70’s are gone.lol

[Tripplebeards]

I got a rabbit the other day at close to 20 yards with my browning 22 cal nitro pistol. I mounted a camouflage Tasco PDP2 red dot sight on it. It went through the rabbit and and my vinyl siding as well. Guess I’ll have to make a trip to the hardware store for some grey caulk to fill the dime sized hole. Luckily it’s on the bottom piece closest to the ground. Rocket pellets...the ones with the bb in front sure are penetrators. I’ve taken quite a few raccoon with the same set up. Head shots only of course. Predator pellets don’t penetrate coons out of the browning pistol but same predator pellet in my Walter talon 22 mag nitro piston air rifle they’ll go completely through raccoon skulls at 30 yards. I think it’s time for a cold steel blowgun.

[gumbo333]

If you are not going to blast them with a 45/70 I guess a 22 would work. My brother dispatches armadillo's with 22cb rounds at very close range. Think that 6.5 x 55 cast looks good. A cast hornet would likely work. Anything that you can find accuracy with. With shotguns you have to look around, sometimes cheap sub trap 12 ga loads get pretty cheap, sometimes its 20 ga. Hardly ever 16 or 410 or 28. But your range shrinks. This looks likes 2 year project. Then there is a .36 cal flintlock. Wasn't that the squirrel gun?

[richhodg66]

I think it was Ben who posted a picture of loads like this using that Lyman full wadcutter for .32 revolvers and five grains of Bullseye in a .30-30. I've done similar loads and at 25 yards, which to me is realistic squirrel range. Honestly, I can't see it doing much better than my cast .22 Hornet loads already do. Seems like a .25-20 or similar would be the perfect cartridge for such a venture.

When I was 17, we moved into a big house that even being in town, had almost an acre back yard that was the remnants of a once large pecan orchard with probably two dozen or more mature trees. It backed up to a city ball field which was almost never occupied and a church on one side that was vacant most of the time too, and large treelines concealing most things from any other neighbors. Dad got me an entry level RWS springer and I did some of my best squirrel hunting right there in the back yards. I don't have the rifle anymore, but have used a couple of Sheridans and a few others over the years.

CB caps are quieter than many air rifles if inside a city.

Where I am now, I don't have to worry about neighbors. I'm gonna stick with my .22 Hornets and a .218 Bee when I get to it, but if noise isn't a concern, everybody has a shotgun, and an ounce or so of #6s gets it done better than just about anything else.

[richhodg66]

3" 410 with 5/8 oz of 6 shot over I4227. Out of a 500E with fixed FC will drop a fox squirrel at 30 yards.

BB

I have a couple of .410s now, one is a little snake charmer type of thing Rossi makes that sits on my lap while I mow the yard and accompanies me on trips to the mail box etc., not much of a gun for hunting, but carries like a pistol and I have a lot more confidence in my ability to take out small, fleeting varmints with it than a pistol.

The other is a nice old Iver Johnson which I would like to hunt with. I bought a box of brass shells with the intent of loading for it. Back to that someday, I hope. Thanks for that info, I was reading an article Ed Harris wrote on this subject a while back, seems he had a similar load.

[sparky45]

Are you sure it's the "tree rats" and not Packrats? Around here it's most likely going to be the latter. One nested last year under the hood of my tractor. Older tractor so the rewiring wasn't that bad. I have a Hw30 that punches through a 303 tin can at 25 yds. ; plenty of steam to roll a tree rat.

[robinsroost]

Plenty of good ideas here. I like my model 500 Mossberg .410, full choke, and 3" of #5 or 6 shot. I also have a Traditions Crockett .32 muzzleloader. With 20 grains of powder it makes less noise than a .22 and hits like a 22mag. You did not mention this as a choice but I load 85 grain LRNGC's over Clays for my .243. Keep yer powder dry.

[DonMountain]

I don't have a 410. My wife and I use 12 gauge doubles for trap shooting, and now squirrel shooting. She uses a 356 Winchester for deer hunting. She likes that lever action with a short barrel for climbing up her deer stand. Light, accurate and has a scope on it. But a little large for squirrels. We do have an old 22 rifle with a scope, and I bought a box of 1000 rounds at WalMart. So now we are ready with that. But it always seems like the squirrels are moving around too fast so the 12 gauge with trap shells seems to be the thing for now. But I was considering casting up some more bullets for that 6.5 Sweed and see what I can do with that. Or the 7mm Mauser.