squirrel loads

[white eagle]

for the 44 mag
anyone care to share some loads using Unique
I have a fresh pound of Unique and some 250 gr boolits and a bunch of squirrels to try it out on
[smilie=p:

[John Van Gelder]

White eagle

This is a topic near and dear to my heart, I shot many squirrels with light loads in my .44mag., I had both a Mod. 29 S&W and a Super Blackhawk. I used 7 gr. of Unique that load did a nice job on small game and and was deadly accurate. I used a 240 gr. bullet, but cast out of soft alloy it was closer to 248 gr.

[hoosierlogger]

I would think the squirrel would look like your avatar picture white eagle.

[John Van Gelder]

When hunting small game with large caliber handguns one must use careful placement if the game is going to be eaten. I have found that with large very slow moving bullets there is about the same or slightly less damage than .22 LR hollow points.

[white eagle]

thanks John
did you use any kind of filler between boolit and powder ???

[John Van Gelder]

white eagle

No I did not, and got very good accuracy, on a good day when I was younger and my eyesight was better that load would print six shots on a quarter at 25 yards. (7.5" Super Blackhawk)

If you get into this small game hunting with the .44 there are some things you can do to increase your fun level. Get some .44 spl cases, there is a Lyman mold that makes a really neat 180 gr. wad cutter, you can drop back to 6 gr. of unique. That load is just super for small game and varmints. It is pretty quiet and recoil is negligible, the low velocity doesn't destroy a lot of meat. You can carry some of those loads and some magnum loads and you are ready for any thing.

If you have someone who is just learning to shoot, these light loads are perfect and just plain fun to shoot.

Take Care and Good shooting..

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Well my old light load was 13.1 grs. Unique & a 250 gr.gc. Kieth swc. Was my most accurate off sandbags W/ Unique.:bigsmyl2::Fire::Fire:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Well some might think that's a bit warm for squirrels. I guess one could use 7.5 grs. in a 44 special w/ same bullet, dang Clintons & Obamanation are forcing me to cut back.:cry:

[Thumbcocker]

Not exactly in your boolit range but a .433 round ball in .44 special over 4 grns of red dot was very accurate in my Lispys at 25 yards. Did not get a chance to try them in the .44 mag. Balls were rolled in lla and seated deep. A lee mould is around $20 delivered and those round balls really streach the lead supply.

[John Van Gelder]

Thumbcocker

I have used the round ball in both the .44 and .45. Seating them further into the case reduces volume and makes them more efficient with light loads. In the .44 I liked the wadcutters better they just seemed a bit more accurate and printed closer to where the sights were set for heavier loads.

A real advantage to big bore hand guns is that with a bit of imagination you can produce loads for almost anything, and the round ball loads would work for indoor practice.

[HEAD0001]

Never Tried Unique. I always used Red dot. 4.0 grains of Red Dot and round ball is the ticket. Up to 5.0 grains, but I like 4.0. A 4.0 grain Red Dot load is almost completely quiet. You can hear the hammer drop in my rifles. You will hear a little in a revolver, but not alot. Great round for small game while big game hunting. Especially for grouse here in WV. Tom.

[John Van Gelder]

HEAD0001

I used a lot of Red Dot and Bullseye for very light loads. I developed a load for the .45ACP that utilized a round ball dipped in paraffin for lube, the ball was seated on midline at the case mouth with a bit of a taper crimp over 4 gr, of Red Dot. That load would not function the action which was a good thing when hunting squirrels, because you could never find the brass under the leaves. It effectively made the .45 auto into a single shot, you could hand feed the rounds from the magazine, and for small game hunting that was just fine. A quick magazine change and you were ready for bigger game.

[John Van Gelder]

Some of the older Speer manuals gave recommendations for round ball loads..

[Thumbcocker]

A real advantage to big bore hand guns is that with a bit of imagination you can produce loads for almost anything, and the round ball loads would work for indoor practice.

Amen!

[white eagle]

going to try them tom.
6.5 gr unique, cci 300 and a 250 gr Keith from Accurate Molds

[beagle]

You guys sure must have some big bad squirrels in your area with those loads.

I've killed a few with the .30 Carbine and RN cast and it's not too destructive and a few with the 452460 out of the .45 AR and target loads of Bullseye and it was destructive.

The round ball loads sound better to me and they're pretty accurate from my experience with them./beagle

[John Van Gelder]

beagle

At a time when I did not have as much disposable income, I ate a lot of squirrels, rabbits, grouse and pheasants that I harvested with one of my hand guns. There were time when I could afford to have only one gun, so I learned to make it work for everything. You learned to be an economical reloader, to make every shot count, and some very valuable hunting skills.

You learned a lot about the physiology of the animals you hunted because you needed to know what shot placement would destroy the least amount of meat. A round ball load in a .44 mag. will not destroy any more meat than a .22, the next chamber up has a 250 gr, bullet over 20 gr. of 2400 and you can take any big game in North America. With a large bore it is easy to go down, not so easy to go up from a small bore.

My first center fire handgun was a Mod 29 S& W, I did everything with that gun target shot, hunted small, game birds, big game, and carried it for self defense.

There is an old saying: "Beware the man with one gun because he probably knows how to use it." That statement is even more relevant if the man with one gun is a reloader.

[white eagle]

no decent shots presented today will have to wait to my test with them
I agree with the one gun philosophy :Fire:

[John Van Gelder]

white eagle

Stay in touch, I always like to hear squirrel hunting stories..

[missionary5155]

Greetings
A .431 RB and 7 grains of Unique. Roll the RB´s in that Lee lube and let dry. Size your brass, bell the mouth just a tad and press them in. A slight roll crimp just over the curve.

[dale2242]

My favorite light load for the 44 Mag with 245-250gr boolits is 8 1/2gr Unique at about 1000 fps....dale

[223m70]

First post in a long time, but this is something I have mucho experience with... however this is for ground squirrels, not the edible tree squirrels.

With my Ruger 44mag I started out using Sierra 180gr condom hp over a stout charge of 2400 to get about 1700fps. It would practically blow the squirrels in half with a body shot, but the squirrels would still manage to crawl several feet to get back down their holes. I then switched to cast ~250gr SWC over 7.5gr Unique in a mag case and it was extremely accurate and would punch a hole through those squirrels and just plain anchor them to the spot where they were shot. Never had another one crawl off after being hit.

Greg