I got another squirrel yesterday. It was a young one, pretty small. Normally, I'd leave them alone and let them grow up a bit. But this one was wrapped around the bird feeder and had torn it open twice already. Pest status was earned.
I made a perfect head shot on it with my HW30s. Right in the eye. (but didn't pop it) Knocked it off of the feeder. It was just laying there. The pellet didn't exit. There was blood coming out from around the eye and out of the nose. It twitched a bit at first, but it was breathing normally. It had some reaction when I poked it. I waited a minute and watched. (might be nerves?) But it kept breathing normally. I think I brain-damaged it. I put another one right in the top of the skull, and that did it.
That's enough wounding of these little guys for me. 6 FPE just isn't quite enough to reliably kill squirrels, even with good head shots. I'm thinking about the Vortek kit for it, which will raise the power to 8 FPE. I think that'll make the difference, for head shots. But for now, that gun's back to target and plinking duty. The old trusty Marauder's coming back upstairs for pest duty until I get the TX200 shooting the way I want it to. I think 12 FPE will be about right. Plenty of power, but not excessive, and good accuracy.
With the Marauder, I've made less than perfect shots, but still, they resulted in a clean kill. One time, I also shot a little low on the head of an adult squirrel. It went in just above the jaw, but instead of breaking the jaw and stopping, the pellet kept going into the neck, through most of the length of the body cavity, out the belly, and into the rear leg, broke the knee, and stopped finally. Massive damage, for a little .177 dome. Wound up being a heart shot. Gonna see if Beeman Crow Magnums (hollow points) or RWS Supermag (heavy wadcutters) pellets shoot accurately out to maybe 15 yards. Those should be pretty hard-hitting, and with > 16 FPE, they should have adequate penetration too. I'll just have to take a pass on across-the-yard shots, if I see any of the bigger pests, like 'coons or 'possums.
I made a perfect head shot on it with my HW30s. Right in the eye. (but didn't pop it) Knocked it off of the feeder. It was just laying there. The pellet didn't exit. There was blood coming out from around the eye and out of the nose. It twitched a bit at first, but it was breathing normally. It had some reaction when I poked it. I waited a minute and watched. (might be nerves?) But it kept breathing normally. I think I brain-damaged it. I put another one right in the top of the skull, and that did it.
That's enough wounding of these little guys for me. 6 FPE just isn't quite enough to reliably kill squirrels, even with good head shots. I'm thinking about the Vortek kit for it, which will raise the power to 8 FPE. I think that'll make the difference, for head shots. But for now, that gun's back to target and plinking duty. The old trusty Marauder's coming back upstairs for pest duty until I get the TX200 shooting the way I want it to. I think 12 FPE will be about right. Plenty of power, but not excessive, and good accuracy.
With the Marauder, I've made less than perfect shots, but still, they resulted in a clean kill. One time, I also shot a little low on the head of an adult squirrel. It went in just above the jaw, but instead of breaking the jaw and stopping, the pellet kept going into the neck, through most of the length of the body cavity, out the belly, and into the rear leg, broke the knee, and stopped finally. Massive damage, for a little .177 dome. Wound up being a heart shot. Gonna see if Beeman Crow Magnums (hollow points) or RWS Supermag (heavy wadcutters) pellets shoot accurately out to maybe 15 yards. Those should be pretty hard-hitting, and with > 16 FPE, they should have adequate penetration too. I'll just have to take a pass on across-the-yard shots, if I see any of the bigger pests, like 'coons or 'possums.