Ooh ok
So no particular style but usually just a smaller caliber
It’s just a general term.
Thanks
Ou
Tom
Just my two cents, but most of the "boys" who call a rifle a
squirrel rifle, refer to a rifle of so small a caliber (in a muzzleloader) or even in a modern rifle cartridge, that the load or cartridge isn't thought suitable for game larger than squirrels...although they would all take rabbits, racoon, fox or varmints without trouble.
So yes I have taken both squirrel and rabbit and fox with my .54 flintlock
deer rifle.
In some states my .40 caliber flintlock is not legal for deer, so it would be called in those places a squirrel rifle.
I have no idea why some places folks have varmint rifles and squirrel rifles when they seem to work well for both..., although there are some modern folks that do some very long range varmint shooting...but that's for another forum.
I also don't know why nobody really ever uses the term "rabbit rifle", though a few older fellows I knew as a kid did own "rabbit guns" that were shotguns. Perhaps because in the area where I live the rabbits were about half the time shot when they started to run, and the shotgun was the better choice for the local hunters in my area ??
LD