Squirrel Loads

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Last Post 2 weeks ago

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Tom-in-Pittsburgh posted this 3 weeks ago

Just finished leafing through my Jan/Feb ‘23 “Fouling Shot” & enjoyed Terry O’Neill’s article on working up cast squirrel loads for his Savage 99.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of using “mouse fart” cast loads for squirrels out of some of my centerfire rifles, including a .243 I have that’s a sporter built around an ‘03 Springfield action.

Well, if you want to do that, you have to live somewhere other than Pennsylvania! Although we rank second of all 50 states when measured by the total number of hunters, it’s illegal to hunt small game here with anything larger than a .22 rimfire! You can use shotguns and some air guns - and woodchucks are an exception - but you can’t use a centerfire rifle of any caliber on squirrels!

And we still can’t hunt deer with a semi-automatic rifle, either. So my vintage Remington Model 8 still sits waiting. And I’m 75, so time is running out…

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Tom Acheson posted this 3 weeks ago

Ignore the photo of the governor…

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MarkinEllensburg posted this 3 weeks ago

I enjoyed that too. At least you are able to hunt squirrels there. Washington state is one of the few without a huntable population of squirrel. Not much for rabbits either. We do have varmints that can be shot but nowhere near as plentiful as squirrels of the midwest and east. While I was in college we had a local pawn shop that had a number of Savage 99's. Have not seen many since. I wasn't in the market for such back then.

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David Reiss CBA Membership Director posted this 3 weeks ago

Also very much enjoyed the article. Of course here we can use what we want, but .22's are the norm.

Mark - It's very sad in which most (not all) gun shops are heading, all black no brown.

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
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delmarskid posted this 3 weeks ago

Center fires aren’t allowed for squirrel in Wisconsin either.

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Urny posted this 3 weeks ago

Last time I read the Missouri regulations that same prohibition against use of centerfires for squirrels allied here too, except that a hunter hunting own property is free to use centerfire. So, we can use our centerfires in our 45 acre wood, but if we cross the street (unpaved county road) to Andy and Sue's place, we are back to rimfires.

The new fouling shot was in the mailbox yesterday when we got back from Kansas. I will read it today.

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Aaron posted this 3 weeks ago

Come to NC. At the university, I watch 30+ squirrels at each pecan grove. They are so bad, they gnawed through my gas line on the van after a few hours. I'll get you some video of these rascals at play. You could get them with rocks. They eat pecans 4 feet away from me on tree limbs. Devils!

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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shootcast posted this 3 weeks ago

I duplicated 22 rf with the Lyman mold. Round nose I think 44 gr.? I should have bought the 45 flat nose. This in my Hornet Contender Carbine. Also tried 25 caliber same rifle. The 25 hammers them even at rim fire velocity. Doesn’t seem to damage much edible. Only shot a couple. Just had to try it.

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Idahocaster posted this 3 weeks ago

My best squirrel level load is a 90gr semi wadcutter 32 revolver bullet with 4.5 grains of Trailboss in a marlin 336 30-30. No recoil, almost as quiet as a .22lr, will hold 1 inch at 30 yards, and cycles through the magazine.