I met the neighbor lady, thanks to this squirrel and a chest shot.

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Smaug

Smaug

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Aug 5, 2016
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midwest, United States
I was going about my business this evening, when I spotted a squirrel by the feeders. I went and got the Hammerli 850, lined up on her chest at 15 yards, and sent a JSB 14.3. 

WHOK! It smacked her hard, and she took off running across the yard, not looking quite right. She got under the neighbors fence and expired in their yard. I should have left her alone until the evening, but I couldn't resist and I went to get the rake to try to bring her back over. Then, I dropped the rake in the neighbor's yard and the neighbor looked out the window and saw me standing by the fence. She saw the rake, and offered to come and help.

When she got over, she let out a little yelp when she saw the squirrel laying there. She didn't know what to do. Then, she asked me how that got there? I replied that it had been tearing up my bird feeders so I shot it with my pellet gun and it ran over here and died and I was just trying to get it off their lawn.

I asked if it was okay if I came around to get it. She said yes please. So I did, and picked it up by the tail, and threw it over the fence un-ceremoniously. THUMP. She shuddered a little. 

I said, "By the way, my name's Jeremy. I won't shake your hand just now, since I just had the squirrel in it. She said: "Thanks. "My name's Geraldine."

We've lived here a year and I still haven't met her yet. That was a nice introduction, eh?

Entered the left arm:
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exited the right side, lower chest:
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With the .22, even domes, body shots are as effective as with my .177 and expanding ammo. 
 
I have shot squirrels for decades with my .177 R9 (not so much since moving to NC) and know that while a solid double lung rib shot (two holes with one shot, one hole in and one hole out) will drop a squirrel almost as fast as a "between eye and ear" hit, I've also avoid frontal hits. The problem with "frontal chest hits" for me was that a squirrel can travel a long way if only one lung is collapsed and the spine is missed. From your pic it does seem that the hit would have taken out both lungs but squirrels can be hard to stop at times.

Here are a couple squirrels I took from a NC pecan tree at about 30 yards using my .177 R9 and 7.9 grain Crosman Premiers, one "between eye and ear" (actually in the ear) and one "double lunged" (actually heart shot) and neither traveled more than a couple feet from where they fell.............

Here is another pic of those squirrels I took plus a couple more.........

Concerning the comment about a .22 dome being as effective as an expanding .177 pellet, well I have to agree because I messed around with ".177 expanding trick pellets" in .177, .20 and .22 cal with my R9 (the .22 was from a chopped and choked R1 barrel) didn't work any better for me than a .177 dome either. I believe that the issue with the .177 "trick pellets" was that the accuracy degraded past about 25 yards which made a 40 yard shot at a squirrel pretty much a "lottery shot"! After using a .20 cal barrel for a year and a .22 barrel for six months I sold both the .20 and .22 barrel reverting back to .177 cal never to look back!
Here is a squirrel I took at my back yard practice range a few seasons ago..........


Anywhoo....even with .177 cal I haven't had issues with dropping squirrels using either the "double lung" or "between eye and ear". I've also had more than a couple squirrels travel quite a few feet before dropping after being double lunged with 100+ fpe from a rimfire solid for some reason so what's up with that?
 
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Well Ed, my experience is that they go a LOT further when lung-shot, compared to head. Even a heart shot, I've had them go 10 yards or more. With a good brain shot, they drop on the spot. Sometimes, they'll flop a few yards in random directions.

With the brain shots, there's no real difference between .22 and .177, except that the .22's larger diameter pellet is more likely to clip something vital. 

Maybe our experience differs because you're shooting them at 30 yards, (where they're not too worried about you) and I'm shooting them at 10-15 yards. (where they're on high alert.)

That shot of mine above probably got both lungs (diagonally through the chest) and maybe the heart too.

I should've taken the brain shot, but somehow, the lung shots are more satisfying. The meat slap is better, and less chance of a non-lethal wound, due to a much larger kill zone. Between you and Beachgunner, you've got me wanting an R9. My TX200 is no slouch, but as you know, it's a hell of a lot of weight, for not much accuracy advantage, compared to a quality break-barrel.
 
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Ed, This latest video of mine is actually typical of lung vs. brain shots. (heart is not worth mentioning, since it's smaller than the brain)
With the brain shot, they drop, then either breakdance or not.
With lung shots, they tend to jump, then run off at turbo speed, hide somewhere, until their lungs fill up, when they pass out and fall down. Then breathe a few more breaths before expiring.

 
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Looking at the vid it did seem that the "lung shot" was actually one of those "frontal shots" by the way the squirrel was facing when hit. A double lung hit requires a near broadside hit just behind the front leg..........

Matter of fact, since the front legs of a squirrel contain so little meat my uncle would actually drive a CPH through both shoulders with his .177 R9. LOL....years ago when living in West Virginia my brother and I would drive to "the old home place" outside Harrisonburg, VA and camp out in the car for some squirrel hunting. I sold one of my R9s to my uncle and he would join us for the hunt and somehow always take a limit! It was kinda funny because my brother and I would be wearing camo for stalking yet my uncle would show up a couple hours late wearing a bright read plaid shirt, then come back to the camp site with a limit of squirrels hanging from a stick through their hind legs. The reason my uncle always "busted both shoulders" with his hits was because he's one of those odd folk that likes squirrel brains so he would never mess up a good squirrel head!

Hunting squirrels together with my brother in WV several years ago we were quietly stalking a trail and taking turns shooting at the squirrels we came upon. My brother was using his .22 rimfire with CCI Short Hollow Points (CCI 22 Short 27 grain hollow point ammunition, 1105 FPS Copper coated). I was using my .177 R10 at that time and we were quietly stalking when we saw a gray squirrel on the trail looking for nuts. It was my brother's turn to shoot so he took a 20 yard offhand shot with his rimfire. Withe the hit the squirrel it jumped straight up in the air a couple feet and made a dash to an oak tree 20 yards from where it was hit. Thinking that my brother had undershot the squirrel I said "chuck a rock next time HarDeHarHar"! The squirrel tried to climb the tree but only made it about a foot up the trunk and then "peeled off" dead!

Getting back to the truck after the hunt my brother heard a squirrel barking in a high tree but I couldn't see it to take a shot so I handed the .177 Beeman R10 to my brother. With the shot there was the thwaack of the pellet hitting the squirrel and it fell from the tree after the pellet went between the shoulder blades exiting the top of the head.

When cleaning the squirrels I took notice of my brothers rib shot squirrel. The 29 grain .22 hollowpoint at 1100ish fps velocity at 20 yards hit the squirrel perfectly taking off the top half of the heart making an exit hole large enough to put a finger through, yet the squirrel still made a 20 yard dash and tried to climb a tree before expiring. The following week I was out hunting with my .177 HW77k and returning from the hunt I saw a squirrel hanging from one of my WV bird feeders. That squirrel was "double lunged" in exactly the same spot as the squirrel mentioned above, yet it simply fell from the bird feeder and didn't move 1 foot from where it landed. LOL....go figure!
 
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Not much experience with squirrels, but twenty years ago I practically lived in prairie dog towns. I used every bullet I could find in my .220 Swift and even loaded some of the earliest Barnes solid copper X-Bullets in .224 caliber. I hit a dog at about 275 yards facing me and struck him just under the chin. Reacquiring the target after recoil, I saw him hump up a bit and depart the scene at full gallup. Some 35 yards later he Pete Rosed into another den opening, leaving me to question my certainty of a hit. Hiking out to the site of the original location I found a nice pile consisting of EVERYTHING that doggy usually carried to work. Turning to try & find the second site, I stepped it off to confirm distance and dragged him out of the hole, quite empty. That Barnes performed admirably, absolutely no meat damage and a carcass totally devoid of giblets. The chefs at Benni Hana don't prepare entrees that well before cooking. From the throat to the south end...nothing, not even blood.

Nosler Ballistic Tips and the Hornady counterparts almost always exploded, leaving barely recognizable remains.

Only time I used those bullets, tho'.
 
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"plinker"Did you get a sense that Geraldine was alright with squirrel elimination and just squeamish to the blood, or opposed. If it was ok you may expand your range! Look for squirrel damage on her house and share the info and you may get an invite to help cul her herd.
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No, I got the sense that she was taken off-guard, and would discuss it with her hubby later in the evening. Really not sure what else she thought about it, other than that I am a displaced hillbilly, hehehe. Oh, and that she was perfectly OK with my walking into her pristine yard to collect my kill, so she doesn't have to look at it.

To completely the picture, I'm the poorest guy in a pretty wealthy neighborhood; some houses costing well over a million bucks, if you can imagine that. So I AM a hillbilly to the typical resident. My house is a 1955 ranch, a modest 1250 sq. ft. The property is worth enough that half the time, houses like mine are bulldozed to make way for a McMansion that fills up 80% of the lot. Their house is kind of in between.
 
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