Is it hard for anyone else to kill squirrels with .22 calibre?

Anyone who has spent any amount of time squirrel hunting knows that head shots aren't as sure a kill as some may think. Alot of great points and I believe Greg said it better than I could have. I have seen this same thing happen with a .22lr producing 3 times the fpe. Heart and lung shots is a sure kill, but damages meat. That is why I head shoot them as I do like a good pot of squirrel and gravy. I prefer a .25 and now even my .30. Not because of the increased fpe, but the increased pellet diameter that is good insurance for quick deaths when head shooting.

This doesn't compute correctly: 7.3 grain.177 that left my 10M competition pistol at 500 fps ~11fpe

Fact is, it's about 4 FPE.

You are correct - must have had a typo when I put the numbers into Chairgun the first time. It now shows 4.1 at gun and 2 at squirrel.

agreed 100% ...aim small miss small I buy big bags of mints from a local discount store 3 bags for 5 bucks ..always have a bag in the van when I get out I grab a mitt full some for me and as there small .25 thick and .50 dia there great targets as well ...this may seam silly but it is a learning tool that I do a lot almost every time I go out.
I set up a mint or two in spots that I expect to shoot game at ...not up in the tops of silos or trees bet at the basses when ever possible, I am shocked that some days the wind does some crazy crap to my pellets and the mints confirm that! ...without an critter having to suffer a poor shot due to my failure to plan! 
Jonathan

I hunt squirrels using either a Daystate Regal w/ 15.89 gr. JSBS @ 26 fpe or a FX Boss. 30 w/ 44.75 gr. JSBs. I have taken squirrels cleanly with head shots out to 50 yards with the Regal and out to 65 -70 yards with the Boss. Shot placement is key. I have hit them just a little bit off and they went down. They didn't go anywhere but were still alive requiring a second shot. So yes a 30 fpe. 22 is sufficient for hunting. Shot placement is the key no matter what caliber.

Good pratice is key. Shooting Field Target competitions is a good tool for being more precise at shot placement. NCairgunner and myself belong to the same FT club here in NC, and I am sure he will agree! If you have the chance to join a FT club around you, do it.... Not only is it fun, but you meet some good guys and gals making fruends and shooting buddies doing so.

I shot a red squirrel with my Benjamin discovery 22 which is like 22 fpe or somewhere around there. The shot was at 30 yards and through his nose and I had to put 2 more shots in him. I was sighting in my Crosman 1377 and I had put bait at 30 yards in my shooting range and when I was going to shoot the target a red squirrel appeared on the bait. I aimed for his head and pulled the trigger and squirrel was out in seconds, the pellet went right through in front of his ear and out the other side, way cleaner kill then my discovery through the nose. I go for lung shots when I can take them because if you are off by a half inch in the the pellet will still hit lungs. Off by a half or 3/4 inch on his head with a .177 or .22 airgun you may have to shoot them again. Lung shots they are usually dead running and they don't go far for a higher powered airgun but for a gun like my 1377 I go for headshots at like 15 yards or less. On big squirrels anyway. Little red squirrels at close range die pretty good for me with a head or lung shot but it just depends on shot placement. If you hit them in the head but not in the brain they aren't going to go anywhere usually but it is not a very clean kill.

Here is one of the Gamo replacement target face plate I made for the AAFTA Nationals in 2015.... 3/8" kill zone. Put one of these at 30 yds and practice. You will be able to put the pellet where you want after a while...

Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

While I agree that shot placement is REALLY important, Ted (HoldOver Ted) did a video demonstrating the difference in calibers. Interesting video. 

Moehofer, I must also admit that I have never taken a fox squirrel nor have I seen one in Ontario when afield! ....I have shot a lot of critters larger like raccoon but there brains are a lot larger as well!
Jonathan 

I know shot placement has been the main subject for a quick kill but what pellet is being used. I have seen where someone talked about JSBs they are softer than some the other brands. I have Marauder in 22 cal. ,it like the Benjamin Pellets, they are real hard. Head on shot on a squirrel and pellet stop somewhere around the hind quarters, pellet was not deformed any could have used it again. I have a Marauder in 25 cal. but it likes the JSB, it stops them in their tracks. The JSB does mushroom with head on shots the they must be softer. We have some other brand of pellets we are going to test with the FX Wildcat 25 cal when we get a little more time. We need hardness tester to check the hardness of each. Was going to buy one but never got around to it. We have cast a lot of lead bullets for our pistols and rifles. Just guest at the hardness using a pocket knife??? 

KK4iz, I actually like a little softer pellet and I do use the 18.1 gr JSB pellets I think that the head deforming helps transfer the energy to the target ...I also cast for my big game guns and like very hard cast bullets as well ...but for different reasons i want the hard cast to penetrate 4 feet of bear lol 
Jonathan

All my rifles shoot JSB or AA pellets and they work great.

Here is a pic of a .25 JSB King that started at 44 fpe. I shot a rockchuck at 79 yds thru the head and the result was DRT.

The pellet passed completely thru the skull and lodged on the off side just under the hide. I was in the house so the shot was slightly angled down with the rockchuck slightly quartered away. the pellet entered the head just behind the ear shown in this pic.

Here is the pic showing the lump from the pellet just under the skin.

I would say soft JSB work great. That JSB had to travel thru some solid muscle, bone, brain cavity and then more bone and muscle and it worked perfectly. The chuck died so fast he had leaves still in his mouth.

wow that is some excellent stuff LDP! ...thanks for the share!
Jonathan

Head shots between eye and ear I normally a kill shot from .177-.30 with some dancing. Frontal shots .25-.30 1. just above the eyes to mouth area =kill zone. 2. Frontal chest shot centered will catch heart/lung and blow out spine .25cal+. 3. Let's not forget the shoulder shot when they are facing you laying down, as pellet goes diagonal hitting heart/lung spine sometimes but mostly running thru the whole body to opposite side. With a .25 or larger = 98% drt never had one run from the shoulder shot ,got plenty of vids to proove how effective that shot is.

Strikefast,

I think your 3/8 hole for the brain shot might be a bit off:

http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Fsquirrel/fsquirrel.htm

My experience with the entry level Discovery .22:
Two squirrels taken at 25 yards, the first one was a heart/lung shot and it hardly twitched at all. The 2nd was taken... (this was my first attempt at using a scope cam.)

The third squirrel was taken about 20 yards. It did the dance of dance for what seemed to be an eternity. It was a head shot. For some reason, I can't get the picture to post.

"sharroff"Strikefast,

I think your 3/8 hole for the brain shot might be a bit off:

http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Fsquirrel/fsquirrel.htm


I think what Paul was getting at is if you practice & can hit the 3/8" kill zone on a field target consistently that you won't have any problems placing your shots in a squirrels brain. I shoot Open class in FT & use a bum bag & shooting harness. This year I have been using the bag & harness while hunting squirrels. One, the bum bag keeps my butt off of the ground so it stays warm & dry. That's a good thing. The harness gives me a really stable shooting platform. I won't think twice about taking a 75-80 yard head shot with my Boss .30. I hope one day that I can get a good 100 yard shot at a squirrel. That would make my day !!!

Click to expand...

For those that do not think the pellet type makes a big difference on a squirrel or other small game like rabbits and rats, pull up a chair and sit a while - I want to show you something.


I just took 4 different pellets and fired them from my 40 fpe .22 into layers of soaked compressed car towels covered with water in a 5 gallon bucket. It works similar to shooting into a cheap roast from your butcher, but is a lot cleaner and the towels can be washed, dried, and put back in the shooting closet, and reused over and over. - Don't try that with the butchers cheap roast.

And for you who are about to say 'Well that's not Ballistic Gelatin and it's not covered with X layer of denim!" Well, we aren't shooting at people - we're shooting at squirrels .


If someone doesn't believe me, well hey, Paypal me and I'd be happy to go to the butcher, get a roast, and shoot it up with .22s and post the pics here for everyone to see. Include return shipping, and I'll even send you back the used roast as a souvenir if you like.


The bottom row is what the pellet looked like originally and the top row is what it looked like after.


Check out the JSB 18.13 (1st pellet on left)- I could probably put it back into the gun and fire it again. It went though 6 inches medium and lodged in the bottom of the bucket. No way when shooting from a high (40 fpe) 22 that's not going to over penetrate on a squirrel and exit. Well, unless you shoot him in the rump with plans of it travelling the rest of the way through him though the heart/lungs to the brain (which it probably would). I would not want to clean that squirrel though. Overall from a head or heart/lung side shot, I don't think it's going to deliver as much energy as the other pellets. Second, I hope you aren't shooting tree rats in your neighborhood with this pellet as chances are it''s on its way to it's next backstop after it finishes it's visit with Mr. Squirrel. Yes, if you put it in the right spot (brain, heart, lungs) it's going to do it's job. No question. But compare that to your other .22 pellet choices below. The JSB expanded from .22 to .224. Pellet length went from .303 to .285 Great accuracy round, no doubt. Pellet on pellet hits with these in my gun. But as a damage inflicting hunting round? Yawn.

Next is the Crossman Premier Hollow point 14.13 (2nd from left). At least it shows signs of opening up, but again, it hasn't expanded or deformed alot. It lodged 5 inches into the medium so it delivered more energy than the JSB (if we were shooting squirrels and not a bucket of towels). You can really see how well it engaged the rifling in my barrel. No wonder it shoots so straight. It expanded from .22 to .224. Pellet length went from .259 to .251 Hunting round? Yawn.

Third from Left is H&N Terminator 16.36g. Lot's of pellet change which means energy being absorbed by our not so happy squirrel. They have a special metal in the middle that does not deform, and apparently forces the lead around it to expand. It made it about 3 inches into the medium. Sorry, no rifling marks left to show! It expanded from a .22 to a .27 round while doing it's job. Hey .22 guys, look!! You can actually do a .25 and better hole! Pellet length went from .317 to .296.

On the right is what I use on squirrels, a H&N Hunter Extreme 19.09g. Look at how that pellet expands!! The pellet has completely petaled out around the hard center. This only made it about an inch into the medium. This sometimes even stays in squirrel heads after the shot. That's delivering almost all the pellets energy while expanding from a .22 round into a .39 by .39 square. Pellet length went from .295 to to .187. Talk about getting smashed! That is a classic picture of how a powder burner should look!





And here is a 45 degree view




And here is a view from the bottom.




Yes, first you have to be accurate, and your gun has to be able to shoot the pellet accurately - BUT THEN - choosing the right pellet can make a lot of difference on the result. Your mileage may vary based on your guns FPE.

Final question, after seeing the above, if you were a friendly neighborly tree rat that was about to have an unexpected encounter with a .incoming .22 pellet, which would you least like to have hit you?

Can I have a +1 accuracy for my squirrel pellet review?