Need opinions for a squirrel rifle?

[Gene L]

Looks good and authentic. For just squirrels, I prefer a .32. A friend of mine bought a .36 at the same time I bought a .32 (caplocks) and he said he wish he'd bought a .32 and he's taken a lot more game than I have. I load 20 gr. FFFG, figure it's about like a .32-20. Does the job.

I have only one .32 and two .36 caliber rifles and either one will do the job, probably on much larger game than a squirrel. My friend killed a deer with his .36, neck shot. I don't know what load he was using.

 

[Danny Ross]

While I am asking, any suggestions for rate of twist for these calibers. DANNY

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I've been in the market for a squirreling piece too and from what I've gathered from my pards here a swamped barrel is worth the cost and a .40 is probably the best choice with lower charges.

Reason is you can use a 3/8 ramrod, stronger than the thinner .36 and below rods and the balls are a bit easier to handle and doesn't foul as fast. And also good against other critters up to and including white tail at close range.

When I whip up the cash, I'm commissioning a .40 "po boy" with 42" swamped barrel and in an ignition system that I get yelled at when I mention here so I won't mention it but it but it rhymes with "concussion" :grin: !!!

 

[tenngun]

That is a truism. .32 and .36 are tiny little balls and that 5/16 is a tiny little rod. These older fingers, or these fat fingers when I was younger just got annoyed with tiny.
I brag a lot about flintlocks but fact is them hunks of rock are easier to grab then them tiny little nipple huggers.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Don't discount a larger caliber like a .45, I have killed more squirrels with a .45 than any other......Modern guns included. Probably combined even.

 

[hanshi]

Interesting results. My Crockett shot best with 30 grains of 3F. On squirrels, body hits looked no different than body hits with a .22LR HP. 20 grains was almost as good.

 

[mbseto]

Man, that's a nice looking gun.

 

[M. De Land]

I agree, I like the .45 for all the small hunting work. I've never tried it but I've read that barking em with a .45 size ball was the preferred way to harvest squirrels in the old days. No meat loss at all.
Also the good ole .45 cal is much less wind sensitive then those tiny little buck shot size balls.
I need to take my .45 cal underhammer back to the farm in Michigan and get some of those big ole fox squirrels I used to shoot when I was a kid.

 

[simonbeans]

Jim Kibler's Southern Mountain Kit, .36. Great rifle.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I agree, I like the .45 for all the small hunting work. I've never tried it but I've read that barking em with a .45 size ball was the preferred way to harvest squirrels in the old days. No meat loss at all.
Also the good ole .45 cal is much less wind sensitive then those tiny little buck shot size balls.
.

I never had any luck "barking" them...But I will say this.
If your aim is off with a .32 and you just nick the squirrel or wound it, it gets away......But a nick from a .45 kills.

 

[M. De Land]

I think what they were doing in "barking" was hitting the limb right under their noggin and the concussion near the head was enough to kill them.
I doubt hitting the limb under there torso would have the same effect because pound for pound I don't think any animal is tougher than a squirrel,especially when skinning them. :rotf:
We always saved the skins and tacked them to the barn wall.

 

[Kansas Jake]

One other advantage to a small caliber is if you are hunting in a area with housing or people around the smaller caliber will lose energy much more quickly with less danger down range. That is a consideration, especially when shooting up into trees where there is no back stop. I know most of us never miss so that isn't a big deal, but a 32 ball is in the 40 grain range and a 45(440) is around 128 grains. Both could be dangerous, but the 45 carries much more energy down range.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I never had any luck "barking" them...But I will say this.
If your aim is off with a .32 and you just nick the squirrel or wound it, it gets away......But a nick from a .45 kills.

I have "barked" a total of three. One damaged the chest, one the head, and one the abdomen. If the impact didn't do it..., the fall from the tree did.

M.D. wrote:
I doubt hitting the limb under there torso would have the same effect because pound for pound I don't think any animal is tougher than a squirrel

Actually it works fine, and the toughest rodent I ever went after was an Eastern Ground Hog. I've seen them with a limb blown off by a high powered rifle still crawl back to their hole to die. :shocked2:

Kansas Jake wrote:
..., especially when shooting up into trees where there is no back stop.

Which is why I have done a grand total of only 3..., my buddy who was with me when I tried the experiment after I shot my third said, "Hey Dave..., after that .530 ball goes through that small branch, where does it come down"? :shocked2: :redface:



So that concluded my shooting up at squirrels in trees with more than birdshot. :wink:

LD

 

[M. De Land]

Actually a ball shot from a shoulder arm at a 60-70 degree angle or greater probably would not pose much of a lethal threat even if it did hit some one although I would not want to be that some one.
Now a downward ricochet off a limb is a different animal because the ball still has momentum from the propellant burn and energy behind it and is not just a falling body in gravitational grip.

 

[George]

Actually a ball shot from a shoulder arm at a 60-70 degree angle or greater probably would not pose much of a lethal threat even if it did hit some one...

You might want to rethink that idea a bit.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amish...ith-stray-gunshot-will-serve-30-days-in-jail/

Spence

 

[M. De Land]

Different animal, that bullet was still on a arc trajectory path and was not a falling body only influenced by gravity.
Had the same bullet been on a 60-70 or greater degree launch trajectory it probably would not have been lethal and a round ball much less so.
If you occasion the book by Julien Hatcher on ballistics he does some testing on this question and shows some interesting findings about falling bullet impacts after their energy from being shot is depleted and only gravity and weight of projectile are in play.
Being struck by such a projectile might raise a knot or your gourd but would most likely be nothing like a lethal strike.

 

[George]

I disagree.

Armchair ballistics is frequently quite different than real life.

Spence

 

[tenngun]

I have never barked one before but I did butt one. I was sitting at the base of an oak and shot at one off behind me to the right. I missed ( the little demon that rides a rifeled ball was on a coffee break.)
The little feller ran behind the tree. While I reloaded he decided that a tree to my left was a better place to hide. He dashed right in front of me and me with a half loaded rifle. I swung at his head and had gravy that night.

 

[M. De Land]

Julian Hatcher was hardly an arm chair ballistician . He was a ballistics engineer working at Aberdeen proving grounds for the Army during WW II. I'll see if I can find what I think I remember about what he had to say on the subject.
Upon thinking on the matter further a bullet most likely would begin to tumble once it looses it's rotational velocity and forward momentum and becomes a falling body only loosing practically all of it's aerodynamics, slowing it down even further.
Interesting question!
A round ball would be less effected by tumble even know after it is shot is not round any more.

 

[Gene L]

So long as it's moving forward, it's got energy. Unless you shoot a bullet straight up in the air, where only gravity is working on it. If it's moving forward (momentum) and down (gravity) it's got force. In a shoulder fired weapon, it won't suddenly stop and drop from the air, it'll hit the ground before it runs out of momentum