Squirrels

[rking22]

Well I have been reading about all your adventures, so I thought I would contribute. Be a month before I go deer hunting but I dearly love squirrel hunting, and eating. Have been playing with a few neglected guns recently. Yesterday it was a Browning SA22, I put a 24 inch tapered barrel on it a few, 18 probably, years ago. It shoots one ragged hole at 25 and under a half at 50 with almost any subsonic HP. Took both squirrels within 30 second period. 2 makes a mess for me so headed back home to more project work.


The 2 above are with a Charger, Burris 4x mini mounted to the barrel so I can use it like a short rifle. Ducktail under my cheekbone and a handy tree for a front rest. 2 for 2 shots, both head shots, about 25 to 30 yards.
The scopes are a must with the leaves still on, even thru the scope it takes a bit to pick the head out from all the woodsy stuff.
Anyhow, get something out of the safe that is lonesome and go for a walk.

[roverboy]

I used to squirrel hunt a lot with .22 rifles and shotguns. I've not killed very many the last few years. My brother still hunts them a lot.

[poppy42]

The only squirrel hunting I’ve done lately is with a pellet gun trying to keep them out of my garden. Don tree rats or every place. I’ve eaten squirrel plenty but I got a rule against eaten anything that’s living with humanity and not in the woods. Ones here are nothing but flea infested vermin Living off the scraps and trashed and man leaves behind. So no these don’t go in the pot

[robinsroost]

My go to gun for squirrels is a Marlin Model 39M, but I also have available a Model 500 Mossberg .410 and a Stainless Ruger MKIII Hunter, 6"BBl and a red dot sight. I had a Traditions Crockett, .32 caliber but I recently gifted it to my oldest son. Squirrel is my favorite wild meat. Keep yer powder dry...……..robin

[smokinfeathers]

I rather squirrel hunt than deer n really having fun this year using a muzzleloading shotgun. That one shot makes you be a lot more patient n make that shot count no running them down n shooting the woods up lol

[Winger Ed.]

I rather squirrel hunt than deer n really having fun this year using a muzzleloading shotgun.

That reminds me- I had a Uncle that him & his buddy got their hands on a muzzle loading shotgun one time.
They asked around about how to load and fire it for squirrel hunting.
Going by what they were told, they used a old wasp nest for wadding between the powder & shot, and on top of the shot to keep it in.

They went out, saw a squirrel, dropped the hammer,,,,,,,,,, and set the woods on fire. But they did get the squirrel.

[robinsroost]

rking22, I forgot to compliment you on your beautiful rifle. I think that the Browning is the slimmest prettiest rifle I have ever held. When I found one, it was way out of my price range...…….robin

[Kylongrifle32]

Squirrel hunting is always a fun and relaxing way to get outdoors. I've been hunting them for 40 years with 22s and 32 cal muzzleloaders. This year I added a 22 LR barrel to my contender collection and really enjoy the challenge of hunting them with a handgun.

[MrWolf]

My dog was going nuts as a squirrel was taunting him on the other side of the fence. Was gonna shoot it till I looked closer at it. What a beautiful golden color around the edges of its fur and its tail had a lot of that same color. Never saw one so beautiful so it got a pass.

[dverna]

Red squirrels are just pests where I live. This year the squirrel population seems down.

I was blaming porcupines for debarking a nice big maple when I was told the squirrels chew the bark off for nesting material and even eat it. Seemed far fetched to me. So they all need to go IMHO.

[NorthMoccasin]

Got six yesterday, 5 grey and one fox. Used a contender carbine w/ 22 hornet bbl. 3.0 red dot and a Lyman 50gr gc. accurate and quiet. Also use a 32 H&R contender carbine with 4.0 unique and 85 gr gc Lyman. My favorite kind of rifle hunting

[richhodg66]

Got six yesterday, 5 grey and one fox. Used a contender carbine w/ 22 hornet bbl. 3.0 red dot and a Lyman 50gr gc. accurate and quiet. Also use a 32 H&R contender carbine with 4.0 unique and 85 gr gc Lyman. My favorite kind of rifle hunting

I like hunting them with downloaded centerfires as well. Favorite is the .22 Hornet, I use two grains of Bullseye and NOE 45 grain WFN. The .30-30 with the Lee Soup Can works well too.

[NoZombies]

This was one last year.



The little smith has taken it's fair share of bushytails since I finished it. And the 225107 HP's anchor them cleanly.

[0verkill]

NoZombies, tell us more about that gun and load!

[NoZombies]

NoZombies, tell us more about that gun and load!

I guess I did just kind of drop that without a lot of explanation. I've described the pistol and cartridge elsewhere on the forum, but a short synopsis is that the gun is a S&W model 15 fitted with a .224 groove .22 barrel, and a rechambered 617 cylinder (I couldn't find a blued model 17 cylinder at the time, so did what I needed with what I had)



The cartridge is the .22 ladybug which is my version of a reloadable .22 LR. There's a thread here about it

Ladybug next to a .22lr round:


The round duplicates .22 LR performance pretty well, and can be loaded up to about 1300 FPS and stay under 28KPSI for guns that started as .22's.

I've played with bullets from 20 grains up to 55, but bullets much over 45 grains don't tend to stabilize well in converted guns due to the slow twist.

In the converted contender barrel that I've primarily used as a test bed, I've had pretty decent accuracy (these are at 50 yards, and are ALL of the targets shot that day, looks like a year ago tomorrow)

[Fire_stick]

Great post! Nice fun work with those groups.

My fondest memories are squirrel hunting with my granddaddy. He was a good shot. He told me that during the depression he and his brother were responsible for shooting squirrels for the family meal. His daddy would count the shots they made, and if they came back with less squirrels than shots, they got a whooping. That's motivation.

[WRideout]

When I lived in Knoxville, TN, I used to hunt squirrels on the Cumberland Plateau just west of there. I couldn't figure out why they were so huge, but later on found out I was shooting the fox squirrels, which are about twice the size of a grey squirrel. On the Plateau they are kind of dirty brown but farther west they take on the brick red color that they show up north in places like Minnesota.

I had accumulated some different game in the freezer, and decided to follow a recipe from Paul Prudhomme's cookbook on Louisiana cooking. I made up a batch of squirrel and rabbit gumbo which required the canning kettle because I didn't have a regular pot big enough. I soldiered through as much as I could, then took the rest to work to feed my co-workers. I can legally claim five bonus redneck points for that.

Wayne

[NorthMoccasin]

I like hunting them with downloaded centerfires as well. Favorite is the .22 Hornet, I use two grains of Bullseye and NOE 45 grain WFN. The .30-30 with the Lee Soup Can works well too.

I also have developed loads for a savage 24 o/u 30/30 using a 85gr GC Lyman and 5.0 Unique, and an 8X57R drilling with a NOE 130gr GC with 7.0 grs Unique. Both are very accurate and are waiting their turn in the woods! The Drilling shoots to the sights the same as the 170gr full power loads.

[richhodg66]

I also have developed loads for a savage 24 o/u 30/30 using a 85gr GC Lyman and 5.0 Unique, and an 8X57R drilling with a NOE 130gr GC with 7.0 grs Unique. Both are very accurate and are waiting their turn in the woods! The Drilling shoots to the sights the same as the 170gr full power loads.

That little H&R is a good gun, but it's short and I don't shoot it as well as the 219s I have in Hornet and .30-30. That squirrel was taken with a round my Dad loaded, I found an old coffee can in his stuff when we moved him into assisted living. Looks like the Lee 113 grain "soup can" and his note said five grains of clays. Worked pretty well.

That was a good day, weather had been bitter for a week or so, then it broke and we had a decent day temp wise so I went out in the woods around the house and the big outside Tom cat we had then followed and sat with me purring while I hunted. Wish he was still around, but he disappeared a year or so after that. I should have gotten him in the picture.

[robinsroost]

I have a nice 85 grain LRNGC that I load for my .243 Winchester, over 4 grains of Clays...……..robin