22 for squrriel question?

[bamajoey]

Originally Posted by ryan42

Come on you got to be kidding bamajoey.Never heard of such a thing.I gotta call BS on that one

Just shooting advice my Dad gave me 50 years ago. It sounded far fetched then too.

[old semperfi]

i learned a long time ago that if i use cb caps they will knock a tree rat all the way out of a tree.what happens is that all the energy is absorbed in the tree rat and its enough to kick em out of the tree.they come in short and long rifle and are very quiet,this gives you another shot if needed and will not disturb others in the area.the only draw back is you must use a bolt action or single shot rifle,if used in a semi auto you will have to eject the empty by hand. old semperfi

[CJ_56]

I like the new CCI Short HV ammo. It allows me to carry 25 rounds in my Marlin XT22TR. They also make Short HP which squeezes out a few more fps and is called a varmint round by CCI. Both are light weight bullets and IMO both should be fine for tree rats. We hunted squirrels with shorts that weren't nearly that powerful for many, many years. We never had any problems with them not dying when we shot them. There's no loud crack and there's a lot less damage to the meat if you do shoot the body. At least I would think so. Everyone I know shoots the heads of squirrels. My brother shoots them in the eye every time. I shoot them right behind the ear where the brain stem is. Both methods work very well. Neither of us has missed a squirrel in a very long time. The last one I shot was at 50 yards and I nailed it right behind the ear. The thing was just up the hill from my 50 yard target and I just in front of where I shoot at that target so I know almost exactly how far it was. I don't know about you guys but I always shoot better when I'm trying to kill something because I don't want to mess it up and leave a suffering animal. So it seems I can always shoot better at something alive. The last time I missed a live animal I practiced for 2 years straight so it would never happen again. It was a feral dog and it turned it's head just as I shot. But I still didn't want the chance of it happening again so I put in more practice time than I ever had before.

[jtp0828]

Oh such a good question. 22 and squirrel are meant to be together.

First of all sorry to bring up an old post, just thought id share some personal insight.

When it comes to .22lr, the round seems to differ in every gun. In my ruger single six, federal rounds wouldnt fire every other round. However with my ruger pac lite they never failed. Then my browning buckmark hated the federals, so now all I use is the winchester HPs. They knock em dead at 30 yards every time. What I am getting at, is squirrel arnt the issue, its finding what your gun likes.



Here was our last campout dinner. Headshot all day long at 25 yards with the browning. Awsome gun. Have a mark 2, mark 3 hunter, mark 3 22/45 pac lite, and that lil browning. We are a .22 family.

[jtp0828]

[UncleDannie]

Originally Posted by bamajoey

Just shooting advice my Dad gave me 50 years ago. It sounded far fetched then too.

I used to hunt squirrels with a .45 cal black powder rifle. We barked 'em. No meat loss, no wounds. You shot the bark in front of the squirrel. The concussion knocks them off the limb. You got to go get them, as it only stuns them. They will wake up in a minute two two, and off they go.

[dugasgunner]

Originally Posted by bamajoey

Winchester sub sonic HP are accurate and a little quieter. Using the hollow points, you can shoot just in front of their nose, suck the air out and they will die from suffocation. That way you don't mess up any meat, and still have squirrel brains and eggs for breakfast

YEA THAT.