What the heck happened here?

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Shot looked a bit low. Further back it would have snapped its neck or further up would have clipped its brain. Its a dead squirrel but it may take a bit to bleed out.

If you have to take a second follow up shot its usually best to plug them in the heart or lungs. The "cool headshot" factor has already been eliminated by requiring a second shot so may as well take the easy bet.
 
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The brain cavity is squarely between the eye and ear. From a slightly quartering angle like the one in the video, the preferred point of impact would have been the ear itself so the pellet's nominal trajectory goes through the center of the brain...and/or has the opportunity to hit the brain if the POI deviates slightly from the ideal.
squirrel anatomy.jpg
 
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jimbobeagle said:
boy was that a .177 or .22? Reason I ask i now wonder if my .177 Diana is enough for squirrel or maybe I should have gone .22 caliber...
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.177 works absolutely fine but .22 is a bit better and more forgiving. With EITHER caliber shot placement is absolutely key. These are low powered guns so you can't rely on hydrostatic shock to do the job that a poorly placed shot didn't.
 
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jimbobeagle said:
i now wonder if my .177 Diana is enough for squirrel or maybe I should have gone .22 caliber...
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Shot placement is vastly more important than caliber or energy. I've posted the little clip below on AGN before but it is an example I recorded of what a .177 wadcutter will do at 30 yards when leaving the muzzle at just 625fps (8fpe). Granted there is almost no margin for error with a shot like this so it is neither something I recommend nor something I continue to do, but just to demonstrate it doesn't take much with good shot placement.

In contrast, your .177 Diana model 48 is overqualified for the task.

 
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Looks to me like you hit it just below the ear. Trajectory was downward so the pellet did not hit the brain. I've hit them worse than this with my 25 tuned to about 32 fpe and dropped them but it crushed the skull. A 22 fpe 22 doesn't crush the skull of a fox squirrel, I guess. If you had hit it higher or a touch further forward I think the first shot would have dropped him on the spot. Just to be clear, I think you made a good shot just not quite good enough in this case. I've also hit them lower than this with my 177 and 22 but it was at a steep upward angle and hit the brain.

I would not be afraid to use body shots either. Your gun is not super powerful but I believe it is powerful enough you should get clean kills. You just need to make sure you are taking in mind the path the pellet will take in the animal. For downward angles you have to hit higher on the head or body so the pellet goes through you target.

I also agree with the other comments that bad things just happen sometimes. You were very close to DRT.
 
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I forgot to say that I don't think your pellet choice made a difference. I don't think a hades would expand at your velocity. I also doubt a little expansion would have made a difference. I have not killed a squirrel yet with a projectile that expanded. Mostly I use domed pellets but have used a few Crosman HP in my Prod but they don't expand at Prod velocity. If hades is more accurate I'd use them anyway but if the 18 grain FX are more accurate I would stick with those.
 
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JimD said:
I forgot to say that I don't think your pellet choice made a difference. I don't think a hades would expand at your velocity. I also doubt a little expansion would have made a difference. I have not killed a squirrel yet with a projectile that expanded. Mostly I use domed pellets but have used a few Crosman HP in my Prod but they don't expand at Prod velocity. If hades is more accurate I'd use them anyway but if the 18 grain FX are more accurate I would stick with those.
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I’m still fairly new. All I k know is the hades would have been doing 890fps
 
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