Squirrel hunting

[rickyp]

What is the minimum velocity needed from a pellet handgun to take squirrel cleanly?

I am getting the UMAREX ruger mark 4 air pistol It has about 350 fps depending on pellet i am wondering if this would be enough for back yard squirrel hunting.

 

[BigTinBoat]

You will want to have a min of 8-10 fpe, preferably a bit more. A projectile moving 350fps would have to be 30grains to get 8fpe.

Can you kill a squirrel with less? Sure, but not consistently. Most hits with your gun would just result in non-lethal injury

 

[rickyp]

I got the pistol in the other day and played with it some. I found it very accurate out to 20 yards. But it lacks power. I shot a soda bottle full of water with the muzzle almost touching the bottle and the pellet didn‘t even dent the plastic. The good thing is the grip and safety are very close to my ruger max 9. The sights are similar as well with the exception the airgun front sight is red and the max 9 is green. So i will be using this as a practice gun in my back yard. It is very quiet so it wont bother the neighbors. I did put a orange strip around the muzzle so everyone knows it isnt a real gun and call the police on me.

 

[John from MD]

You can get a breakbarrel Gamo Whisper Wildcat in .22 for $115 from Amazon. It is neighborhood quiet and kills squirrels with authority out to 35 yards.

 

[euchre98]

Good thread. The squirrels have crossed the line this year my getting into my fig tree. Not having to drain my pcp tank would be nice.

 

[Burt Hammersmith]

Pop one and see what happens. If he dies he dies. If not, good excuse to go buy a larger air gun.

There’s like 14000 here in the oaks. Someone needs to genocide 13998 of them

 

[John from MD]

Good thread. The squirrels have crossed the line this year my getting into my fig tree. Not having to drain my pcp tank would be nice.

Man, I miss having fig trees out back. My grandmother put them in and I got addicted to them.

 

[BigTinBoat]

Pop one and see what happens. If he dies he dies. If not, good excuse to go buy a larger air gun.

There’s like 14000 here in the oaks. Someone needs to genocide 13998 of them

What happens if he dies 3 or 4 days, or a week later? From infection? Terrible suggestion, IMHO.

 

[Burt Hammersmith]

What happens if he dies 3 or 4 days, or a week later? From infection? Terrible suggestion, IMHO.

It’s a tree rat who cares.

 

[BigTinBoat]

It’s a tree rat who cares.

So at what point do you start caring? Don't bother answering, just found the Ignore function was for.

 

[bigmancrisler]

I use my marlin 39-A with 22 short, all my air rifles are louder than it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John from MD]

I use my marlin 39-A with 22 short, all my air rifles are louder than it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 24 and 26 inch barrels on those earlier .22's will quiet down standard velocity ammo to make it neighborhood quiet. I used to practice in the front yard with my Winchester 62 and Remington 552 and the neighbors thought I was shooting air rifles.

Now that I have a couple of high power PCP's, I had to put a DonnyFL moderator on them otherwise they sound like a HV .22 Long Rifle. Both the air pistols (12 inch bbl) take down tree rats, coons and chucks with no problem out to 50 yards. My .25 Avenger (18 inch bbl) has taken some game at 75 yards and has the power to kill at 100 using slugs.

 

[Burt Hammersmith]

The 24 and 26 inch barrels on those earlier .22's will quiet down standard velocity ammo to make it neighborhood quiet. I used to practice in the front yard with my Winchester 62 and Remington 552 and the neighbors thought I was shooting air rifles.

Now that I have a couple of high power PCP's, I had to put a DonnyFL moderator on them otherwise they sound like a HV .22 Long Rifle. Both the air pistols (12 inch bbl) take down tree rats, coons and chucks with no problem out to 50 yards. My .25 Avenger (18 inch bbl) has taken some game at 75 yards and has the power to kill at 100 using slugs.

I have a winchester 52D with a 28” target barrel. I’m going to look into the sound differences. Never thought about that before.

 

[John from MD]

I have a winchester 52D with a 28” target barrel. I’m going to look into the sound differences. Never thought about that before.

The quietest standard velocity .22LR I have used is PMC target which is 1050 FPS. In the long barrels, it sounds like a .22 CB.

 

[Vic]

I'll stick with my shrouded .25 cal MRod. Ruins squirrels. I love that rifle.
V

 

[johnkn]

My custom moderated Macari R9 Tarantula .22 with 16x spring gun scope will go through and through both shoulders of a tree rat at 25 yards....

For comparison, a Remington 30 grain low velocity CB at 730 FPS at the muzzle is super quiet and will go through a squirrel, but also the front and rear walls of a T111 shed. As me how I know, I stopped using it......

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[John from MD]

My custom moderated Macari R9 Tarantula .22 with 16x spring gun scope will go through and through both shoulders of a tree rat at 25 yards....

For comparison, a Remington 30 grain low velocity CB at 730 FPS at the muzzle is super quiet and will go through a squirrel, but also the front and rear walls of a T111 shed. As me how I know, I stopped using it......

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Yep, pellets don't carry far after penetration. That's what's nice about them.

 

[rickyp]

It’s a tree rat who cares.

It is a living animal. It is inhumane to shoot an Amimal and not kill it cleanly.

 

[Melnic]

Squirrels are like zombies. hit them in the head or they will get away.

 

[Burt Hammersmith]

It is a living animal. It is inhumane to shoot an Amimal and not kill it cleanly.

I get it but what’s the difference in a squirrel and a rat. Do we have the same compassion toward mice and rats as we do, say a fuzzy bunny or nutty squirrel? We feed mice and rats poison and send them to suffer in some hole in the wall. Takes days for them to die.