Which Caliber for 100-125yd Ground Squirrel Kills? .22 or .25?

[BradAir]

I have a Benjamin Marauder SAM .22 shooting 16gr pellets at 800fps. I want to effectively kill ground squirrels out to 100-125yds. Will a .25 cal Marauder do it better, or stick with the .22?

ETA: Is there a better value priced and performance .25 PCP rifle I should look at?

 

[jps2486]

More importantly, is the gun capable of hitting you target in the kill zone at that distance. Either caliber is ok, but I would rather have the velocity up in the 860-880 fps range. My FX Wildcat MK3 VP is great at 100 yards with 25.4 gr pellets and my RAW HM1000x in .177 does equally well. Will an Mrod be as good? Every rifle is different. I would choose whichever rifle you feel confident with.

 

[shambozzie]

Either one will do the job with an accuracy gun. My alpha wolf. 22 setup. Will definitely do what you want @ 100/125 yds.

 

[Raider03]

I have a Benjamin Marauder SAM .22 shooting 16gr pellets at 800fps. I want to effectively kill ground squirrels out to 100-125yds. Will a .25 cal Marauder do it better, or stick with the .22?

ETA: Is there a better value priced and performance .25 PCP rifle I should look at?

If you want use pellets and minimize wind drift then you'll need to consider a 30cal airgun shooting AEA 50.5 grain pellets....

 

[MJS]

Have you actually tried your Mrod .22 at long distances on the squirrels? If it works, why change?

 

[BradAir]

Have you actually tried your Mrod .22 at long distances on the squirrels? If it works, why change?

Why you got to ask something crazy like that!? Lol.
I got a compressor coming so I can keep shots 2000-3000PSI. Then I will do some 100yd shots and see how things go. My scuba tank only fills to 2500 and then I had to pump the rest to 3000psi. That POS pump broke, so I have been stuck shooting 2000-2500. Lower now that the scuba tank getting lower.

ETA: Running the numbers, I need to put a mil hash scope on the gun for 100yds. 6.6mil drop and 2mil wind of 5mph. I can't effectively guess that with my simple duplex reticle. Athlon Ares 2.5-15X50 might go on for a while. Lol

 

[6gun]

I have a Benjamin Marauder SAM .22 shooting 16gr pellets at 800fps. I want to effectively kill ground squirrels out to 100-125yds. Will a .25 cal Marauder do it better, or stick with the .22?

ETA: Is there a better value priced and performance .25 PCP rifle I should look at?

I have an old gm barrel 25 Marauder and I can't get it to shoot accurately past 80 for the life of me. Pellets just spiral, no matter the make or weight and slugs are not an option in it either thanks to the choke it's got. My 25 dreamline can do the ranges you're wanting with pellets and my impact in 22 can do it quite a bit farther with slugs.

I too am trying to work out the mrod for the last 15 years and I've come to the conclusion that the barrel has go for what I want to do with it because I believe it to have a little too agressive of a choke, and might just put a Lothar Walther on it that I have to fit myself. Inside 80 yards the mrod is as accurate and groups almost as nice as any 2000 dollar pcp I've shot or own as it is. Right at 85 yards it falls apart.

With no rudeness intended here, what you are asking to do isn't impossible but it's difficult with the platform you've got. (here's what might seem rude) I think you're looking for $1000+ capability with a $700 dollar tool.

My constructive advice is maybe try and drive some monster hades in your 22 as fast as you can and see how it does at your range. They work well and I call them "bad bc slugs" which have much less barrel bearing surface to resize in the choke or drag velocity off the shot.

Best of luck, I hope you pull off what I haven't so i can learn from your choices and not turn and mill a $175 barrel blank on an outdated gen 1 mrod.

 

[BradAir]

I just hit one at 93yds, but it got to it's hole. Smoked one at 55yds. Just used Kentucky Ele/wind and walked the shots on. 16gr JSB Diabolo.
Federal Ballistics shows 12ft/lbs energy at 50yds and 9ft/lbs at 90. Standing with rest against the slider door. LOL. I really need to get a solid zero on this thing.

 

[6gun]

I just hit one at 93yds, but it got to it's hole. Smoked one at 55yds. Just used Kentucky Ele/wind and walked the shots on. 16gr JSB Diabolo.
Federal Ballistics shows 12ft/lbs energy at 50yds and 9ft/lbs at 90. Standing with rest against the slider door. LOL. I really need to get a solid zero on this thing.

My friends and I have found ground squirrels can be missing their back half and will make to their hole. If they don't make it in their friends will drag them in to avoid predator attn. They even eat them sometimes. We have also found that as little as 1.5 fpe on target can kill them.

Sounds like your mrod in 22 does pretty well! Best of luck on your hunt, I'm hoping to do ground squirrel this weekend too.

 

[BradAir]

My friends and I have found ground squirrels can be missing their back half and will make to their hole. If they don't make it in their friends will drag them in to avoid predator attn. They even eat them sometimes. We have also found that as little as 1.5 fpe on target can kill them.

Sounds like your mrod in 22 does pretty well! Best of luck on your hunt, I'm hoping to do ground squirrel this weekend too.

Just smoked another one at 67yds. I can see the near misses in the grass and walk them on. LOL! Really digging the semi-auto feature!

My girl, “Scout” helps me locate! Yes, I have a Girlscout helping! Lol

 

[MJS]

Just smoked another one at 67yds. I can see the near misses in the grass and walk them on. LOL! Really digging the semi-auto feature!

My girl, “Scout” helps me locate! Yes, I have a Girlscout helping! Lo

Looks like it works great!

 

[6gun]

Just smoked another one at 67yds. I can see the near misses in the grass and walk them on. LOL! Really digging the semi-auto feature!

My girl, “Scout” helps me locate! Yes, I have a Girlscout helping! Lol
View attachment 564390

Oh, if you get majority chipmunks you can really lean on that 22 to do it. You can practically lob in pellets like artillery on those guys. I like your pupper too.

 

[6gun]

Just for my own curiosity, what pellet are you shooting and how fast? And if it means anything I'm looking to either re barrel and valve mod my mrod 25 or rebarrel it in a different caliber all together since I have the machine tools to do it myself being as the 25s have specific parts sizes to the

 

[BradAir]

Just for my own curiosity, what pellet are you shooting and how fast? And if it means anything I'm looking to either re barrel and valve mod my mrod 25 or rebarrel it in a different caliber all together since I have the machine tools to do it myself being as the 25s have specific parts sizes to the

JSB Exact 15.89. I fired after seeing ground impact and making corrections. So 1 round per a couple seconds.

 

[6gun]

JSB Exact 15.89. I fired after seeing ground impact and making corrections. So 1 round per a couple seconds.

I'm sure you've tried it and found what you can use with your power and barrel, but the 18s aren't bad either. Moving up to monster redesigns is a bit too great of a step I'm willing to bet.

 

[Struckat]

Brad, Scout is a beautiful girl. I love the cattle dogs.

The little 13 stripe won’t take much to kill. Your 22 is fine. I was always able to shoot them at normal ranges. I used to whack them with my 760 when I was a kid.

They would see me come out of the house and dive for their holes. I would set 20 or 30 foot from the hole and whistle quietly for a few moments and the be silent.

They would pop their heads up every time LOL. I would stick with 16ish grain like you are using. My 22 really likes Hades.

 

[BradAir]

I'm sure you've tried it and found what you can use with your power and barrel, but the 18s aren't bad either. Moving up to monster redesigns is a bit too great of a step I'm willing to bet.

I tried 14.3-22gr and the 15.89-16gr flew the best. Air Arms & JSB. The 14.3gr weren't terrible, a close second. Anything over 16gr not so good.

I’d like to see 850fps with the 16gr. FX DRS & Daystate Huntsman Revere look to be shooting them to 900 +.

More than likely I’d just get a .25 Mrod though if I feel the need for more.

 

[Struckat]

I set my Mrod to shoot the 16 ish just about 900fps.
Your SA may not run them as fast. No harm in heavier if you don’t mind the trajectory. I like to keep it as flat as possible. But once you know the hold overs it’s all good.

 

[BradAir]

Brad, Scout is a beautiful girl. I love the cattle dogs.

The little 13 stripe won’t take much to kill. Your 22 is fine. I was always able to shoot them at normal ranges. I used to whack them with my 760 when I was a kid.

They would see me come out of the house and dive for their holes. I would set 20 or 30 foot from the hole and whistle quietly for a few moments and the be silent.

They would pop their heads up every time LOL. I would stick with 16ish grain like you are using. My 22 really likes Hades.

She is my sweet little clown! Lol So fun. Heeler/smooth coat collie mix. Rescue pick as a puppy 3yrs ago.
These ground squirrels have no clue what’s happening. lol I can get follow up shots off and they keep looking around. I could hear the smack on the long shots too!

I put the Athlon 2.5-15x50 on to try today. Should make it easier for first round hits with mil reticle.

 

[Struckat]

Rescues…..and I love my Athlon Helos.