Squirrel gun

[scaleface]

Reading the cook squirrel thread  got me thinking squirrel . What is every ones  favorite squirrel gun . I use my   Marlln 99M1 carbine  that I have had since 1975 . Got it for a Christmas .

 

Its the top one . I put a better scope on it since this photo was taken .

[jbsoonerfan]

The first gun I ever killed a squirrel with, my Papa Jake's Remington model 33 (circa 1932-1935). Still my favorite, and I still try to "shoot em in the head" like he taught me. I acquired it when he passed in 1997 and kept it all original till about 3 years ago when I refinished the stock.

 

[jimmyjoe]

   I, too, was taught, "one shot, to the head". After many years of .22 rifles, my eyesight has gotten so bad that now I'm relegated to using a 12 ga. with light loads. I hunt by ear; if they move, I can hear (and see) them.  You guys are lucky.    jj

[RealtreeByGod]

My tacticool 10/22 that's overaccessorized for what it needs to be. 

[GotTheLine]

My Hatsan 95 Air Rifle Combo was like a dream. (a bad one for squirrels) 

There are two features that stand out nicely about this air rifle. The first is the high-quality two-stage trigger. It’s comfortable to engage and has just the right amount of pressure, making it easy to take a shot exactly when you want to. The next thing is the German steel barrel.

[N Florida Mike]

I used to squirrel hunt with an old 22/410 over/under that belonged to a friend.  I have a separate 22 rf and 410  sg that I used to use a lot. I often didn’t use a scope with the 22 and was pretty accurate .

 

Where I primarily hunt now has fairly high pressure from other hunters, and my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, so I use my 12 gauge with 7 1/2 shot . The squirrels there are so skittish they are often pretty far away and I can reach out to them ( and still hit them ) with the 12. I let my grandson use the 410 usually.

 

I like to slowly stalk through thick woods with big trees , esp. Oaks. Walk a few feet as quietly as possible, stop and listen and look, and slowly move on. In a particularly good area , I may sit and wait awhile.  Watch for them on the ground too. A friend gets probably a third of his squirrels that way.

My problem now is finding new

areas to hunt close to home. The N east Florida woods are rapidly diminishing due to all the new subdivisions coming in.?

[CroakHunter]

Nylon 66 or bow and arrow with small game broad heads.

[TOXIC]

I have had a continuous battle with tree rats.  I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains and normally take a live and let live attitude.  We have every type of wildlife imaginable including some that can be dangerous.  Copperheads and Black Bears come to mind.  We have a strict rule to not feed the wildlife (I did put out a salt lick for the deer herd). I have a lot of nut trees around my house, Hickory, White Oak, Beech, Japanese Magnolia and they all produce squirrel food, I know that.  The tree rats traverse my roof to get to different groups of trees.  I have no problem with that but for some unknown reason they decided to add the asphalt shingles on my roof to their diet.  I had to thin the herd so to say.   I used my grandfathers plastic stock (had to be one of the first made) 17 shot 22 semi-auto (if loaded with Long Rifle) and Buckhorn sights.  If I was hunting for food, I would have had an endless supply of squirrel stew.  Instead I opted to let the Red Fox family that denned on my property to get free meals.  As a matter of fact, if I hadn't downed any squirrels in a while the big male Fox would sit at my backdoor and stare in.  He was the most magnificent specimen of a Red Fox I had ever seen.  Probably because he and his family got fed so well.  I also thought about selling the tails to Meps because they are always looking for dressing for their lures.  Anyway, I got pretty dang good with that setup and after a new roof, the tree rats have opted to remove it from the menu.  

[Harold Scoggins]

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 11:40 PM, jbsoonerfan said:

The first gun I ever killed a squirrel with, my Papa Jake's Remington model 33 (circa 1932-1935). Still my favorite, and I still try to "shoot em in the head" like he taught me. I acquired it when he passed in 1997 and kept it all original till about 3 years ago when I refinished the stock.

 

I bagged many a squirrel when I was young boy in Illinois. My late grandfather gave me his Marlin Model 1897 and I used that to bring squirrel home to my dad so he could have it with his milk gravy. (His favorite meal.) I have to say that old rifle played a part in me breezing through Army Rifle Qualification. That old rifle is still sitting in a closet at the old homestead. Enjoying this thread.

[Steveo-1969]

I haven't hunted squirrels in over 20 years but I always used a Marlin Model 60 .22 LR with open sights. It even had a squirrel engraved into the stock.

[Russ E]

If I am in the woods a standard 10/22 is the preference.

If I am closer to civilization a  Gamo whisper fusion air rifle in 22 caliber gets the job done. 

[Paul Roberts]

I was a serious squirreler too, once upon a time, back in NY. Some truly wonderful memories there. I can still easily conjure up the scent of black walnuts, hear the squirrels gnawing on them, and the chips falling onto wet leaves. I also hunted with a dog, who was a wonderful hunting companion.

 

I started with a Marlin/Glenfield 60, and literally wore it out; I think it was the CCI Stingers that I used for chucks and foxes. I started with open sights, and did well. And then bought a 6X scope, which has some real advantages. In fact, that looks like a Weaver D on your 99M1, @scaleface; Mine was a D6.

 

At age 17, I bought a single-shot Mossberg target gun with a 24" barrel (thinking Stingers again). I glass-bedded it, and filed the sear to get that god-awful trigger pull down to just shy of 3lbs, and it shoots single-hole groups with sub-sonics. My brother worked in a woodworking shop at the time and he and I did some custom work on the stock -thinking of the Parker-Hale Super.

My son, when he was young, started his hunting on pine squirrels here in Colorado, with a Henry Mini-Bolt. I customized it a bit too, with a squirrel on the grip cap.

I now use a Henry lever, although there's precious little squirrel hunting near me, beyond the little pine squirrels. Perfectly tasty little squirrels though, we've found. Abert's Squirrels (Tassel-Eared) are here too, but they are naturally sparse in population. The Henry lever is very accurate, with the ammo it likes. However, for proper fit, I needed to add a cheek riser -nothing fancy there- and to adjust my grip to get a good straight trigger pull, owing to the straight stock. Because of the lack of squirrels I now do more snowshoe hare hunting, on snowshoes over 5 to 8ft of powder in the mountains here. Love hunting those snowshoes. And that compact Henry handles well in those thickets.

 

 

[Way2slow]

Primary squirrel gun is a Remington 552, no optics and don't use the sights, strictly instinct.  Been shooting that one since 1966. For a few years, back in the late 50's I was lucky enough to have lived next to a guy known as "Lucky" McDaniel and he took a liking to me and taught me how to instinct shoot.  If you want to learn how to shoot, get you a Daisy Red Rider and find one of his books.

Before that, it was my Winchester 62 gallery gun an uncle gave me for my 10th birthday.

Also have a 10/22 Takedown for backpacking and a Henry Golden Boy because it's pretty (and it does shoot very good)

 

By the way, not just any BB gun will work.  The Daisy Red Rider's velocity is slow enough you can see the BB's in flight, a critical part to learning mussel memory for instinct shooting. 

[jimmyjoe]

6 hours ago, Way2slow said:

....  mussel memory .....

   I have mussel memory when I fish, too.    ???     jj

[Way2slow]

OK, I should pay more attention to how spell check changes the words, like the time I posted I like to fish for strippers in the winter time.

[jbsoonerfan]

1 hour ago, Way2slow said:

OK, I should pay more attention to how spell check changes the words, like the time I posted I like to fish for strippers in the winter time.

My wife won't let me fish for them.

[jimmyjoe]

 

4 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

My wife won't let me fish for them. 

 

  ????????????     jj

[bigbill]

I have the  old 22’s some from the 1800’s single shots but never hunted tree rats, I see like 7 of them at my bird feeder and thinking about grilling a few. I never ate them. Those new c02 pellet rifles look interesting?

[SuperDuty]

CZ 452 American is my favorite squirrel gun without hesitation.