.22 Rimfire Squirrel Rifles

While I sit seething with envy at all your beautiful 52 Sporters.... totally enjoying this thread.

My squirrel rifles. Savage 29 bought new by my grandfather and after years of carrying and shooting... still looks almost new. And my Stevens dropping block. Marbles tang sight.
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Sadly, very few gray squirrels here. But lots of reds, which are pests. I leave the grays alone hoping the population will come back. We are in a hollow that just doesn’t have many grays. Never has. But tons and tons and tons of reds.
The reds will drive the grays out. Shoot as many of those lil bastages as you can and perhaps you'll get more grays moving in
 
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Is that a bullet hole I see not in the 10 RING ?
🤣🤣🤣It is not. He was swinging pretty good on the squirrel proof (my ass!) bird feeder. Smacked him the right shoulder so might be a pass thru. Definitely NOT a headshot but the back meat is intact. If I have to sacrifice a “ham” so be it. Who am I kidding? I was born in 1971. If the leaded gas didn’t get me then (maybe it did 🤔) a little lead laced squirrel ain’t gonna get me now. It all goes in the cooker!
 
🤣🤣🤣It is not. He was swinging pretty good on the squirrel proof (my ass!) bird feeder. Smacked him the right shoulder so might be a pass thru. Definitely NOT a headshot but the back meat is intact. If I have to sacrifice a “ham” so be it. Who am I kidding? I was born in 1971. If the leaded gas didn’t get me then (maybe it did 🤔) a little lead laced squirrel ain’t gonna get me now. It all goes in the cooker!
Well then under the guidelines set for by the UAATSAOFUSA will give you a waiver! R u a member of the United Animal and Target Shooters Association of the United States of America ? I dropped my membership they said my Grammer didnt correlate with their mannerism.
 
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Well then under the guidelines set for by the UAATSAOFUSA will give you a waiver! R u a member of the United Animal and Target Shooters Association of the United States of America ? I dropped my membership they said my Grammer didnt correlate with their mannerism.
I am… not. My grammar is pretty bad to. 🤣 Hukd on Foniks really works!!! Plus I didn’t like their stipulations listed in the Section on squirrels in the subsection “Chewing of Wiring and Defiling of Bird Feeders” so I passed on membership.
 
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I am… not. My grammar is pretty bad to. 🤣 Hukd on Foniks really works!!! Plus I didn’t like their stipulations listed in the Section on squirrels in the subsection “Chewing of Wiring and Defiling of Bird Feeders” so I passed on membership.
Yea that really sucks I had an old blind woman file charges on me for shooting squirrels off her feeder. I escaped prosecution , my attorney declared a mistrial cause the States lead witness was blind.
 
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Well after getting skunked Sunday and Monday this boy decided to play. It’s been raining hard all day but I figured that would muffle my footsteps. He ran up a tree and just laid down flat. All I could see was his tail. Guesstimated where the vitals were, let one fly, and he landed with a thud. I think that’s the 10-ring 🤣
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P.S. The SK Flatnose Match is some good stuff. It hits with authority!
 
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Well after getting skunked this boy decided to play. It’s been raining hard all day but I figured that would muffle my footsteps. He ran up a tree and just laid down flat. All I could see was his tail. Guesstimated where the vitals were, let one fly, and he landed with a thud. I think that’s the 10-ring 🤣
View attachment 7638350
P.S. The SK Flatnose Match is some good stuff. It hits with authority!
Man if squirrels were that fat down here they'd all be dead the house cats'id eat'im all there wouldnt be notin to chase! 😂🤣😅
 
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Cz 452 with form 1 can. Weaver 3-10 Mil Dot. Usually fed with Eley SSHP.

Our season runs from mid August to end of Feb. I usually wait till it cools down, and then until I take 1-2 deer. After that I only hunt squirrels.
 

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Antique Model 60, from 1976, 17 shot tube fed, 21 inch barrel.
Cheap 3x9-32 on top for myself.

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The wife has a more recent stainless version, 18 inch barrel, 15 shot tube fed.
She could have any optics she wants, but insisted on a CenterPoint red dot.

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She doesn't want to worry about parallax or focus.
1x no adjustment needed....put the dot on the head and squeeze.

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Last time she adjusted the red dot at 20 yards

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Cheap ammo and no problem for the brush we wander around in.
Rarely is a shot taken at more than 25 yards.
What mounts are you using for the 3-9x? Curious as that mount fits most of the earlier non-drilled mounts on many semi-auto 22LR rifles.
Thx.
 
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Cheap set of UTG-Leaper rings on the stainless model.
Unknown make on my antique, thinking inexpensive Weavers from Western Auto.
Western Auto....does that give you an idea of my age? :D
I remember Western Auto. We had one in an old brick building and then they moved out to the "new" shopping center. Had bicycles on top floor. Pretty sure we bought ammo there too. So yeah, I get the age thing :).
 
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I think I bought my first gun from the Western Auto in Mount Ida. The Otasco was too expensive! :LOL:
Wow. Where was the Western Auto in Mount Ida? I remember OTASCO too. Maybe I'm getting the OTASCO and Western Auto in the old brick building confused. yes...yes I think I am. But we had both. Bikes in OTASCO, not western auto. I think maybe western auto acquired the OTASCO building at some point. hmmmm....not only am I old...I'm suffering memory loss!
 
Wow. Where was the Western Auto in Mount Ida? I remember OTASCO too. Maybe I'm getting the OTASCO and Western Auto in the old brick building confused. yes...yes I think I am. But we had both. Bikes in OTASCO, not western auto. I think maybe western auto acquired the OTASCO building at some point. hmmmm....not only am I old...I'm suffering memory loss!
So the Western Auto was right next to Whitiington’s City Drug across the street from the courthouse and was run by Mr. Carlton (I graduated with his oldest boy Van) and Tally’s OTASCO was below Gibson’s Grocery in that “strip” center for lack of a better term. This was 1988-ish...
 
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@nikonNUT I've been reviewing your kills and others , there doesn't seem to be enough carnage ! Perhaps a lil boost might help I reccomend a small platform in a 14 or 17 cal. Squirrel you can run between 3400-4000 fps with these 2 modified Hornet Wildcats save you for dulling your blade cutting neckbones?
 
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@nikonNUT I've been reviewing your kills and others , there doesn't seem to be enough carnage ! Perhaps a lil boost might help I reccomend a small platform in a 14 or 17 cal. Squirrel you can run between 3400-4000 fps with these 2 modified Hornet Wildcats save you for dulling your blade cutting neckbones?
I am all about carnage BUT... I'm also hunting in a fairly populated neighborhood (outside the city limits so I'm good there) and all those kills came from my yard.. In my case the .22LR is a perfect platform because the Dead Air mask makes the CZ whisper quiet (Seriously, the bullet hitting a tree or whatever is louder than the gun and I can hear the firing pin hit) which keeps the neighbors happy and I'm "not" as worried about the bullet continuing on its path for a long distance. If I was on my place in Mount Ida I would be rocking something stouter. :)
 
Dull the blade? Say What?
Been carrying the same set of pruning shears for a couple decades.
Snip the tail, wrists, neck....nip the skin at the back...peel off the pelt.
Run the rib cage to belly...drop the innards for the raccoons and possums.
Cut into quarters, all with the shears.
Shears? I LIKE IT!!! :LOL:
 
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The challenge of shooting a .22 LR standard velocity target round accurately under field conditions is the joy of squirrel hunting.

When you recommend loud, destructive cartridges you are missing the point. You fire one shot from a super loud round and the woods go quiet for 15-30 minutes.

I often shoot a lot of squirrels from the same position. As many as a full limit of 5 or 10. I don’t like disturbing the critters any more than needed.
 
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The challenge of shooting a .22 LR standard velocity target round accurately under field conditions is the joy of squirrel hunting.

When you recommend loud, destructive cartridges you are missing the point. You fire one shot from a super loud round and the woods go quiet for 15-30 minutes.

I often shoot a lot of squirrels from the same position. As many as a full limit of 5 or 10. I don’t like disturbing the critters any more than needed.
Yall are Stealth Assassins!
 
Carnivore? Yep.
Barbarian? According to the wife, I'm barely housebroke. :(

No knife needed to clean a squirrel.
A good set of garden shears is all I use.



Try making squirrel-balloons. I've been using this trick for a few years now. It really loosens up the skin around the meat. Combined with soaking the tree-rat in a bucket of cold water the inflation trick makes skinning faster and easier.