Rimfire rifle vs shotgun for squirrel

Anyone complaining about shot in your meat would do good to switch to #4 shot. It’s got enough energy where it will pass all the way through or be caught under the hide on the opposite side. I’ve tried #6s and it kills fine but it remains in the meat pretty consistently at the ranges I’m shooting them at.

I've used both extensively, but I've missed a lot less with a shotgun than I have a 22lr.

Rimfire for me. I like stump sitting.

I’ve spit out plenty of shot onto my plate. I can hear the sound now. Nobody complained.

Pressure cooker for them old boars.
Boil em with onions, peas, carrots and noodles. Strain out the meat and vegetables.
Hope you can chew the water. Some of them are tough.

For me it depends on the time of year. Squirrel season here in Missouri is from the third Saturday in May until Feb 15th of the following year. In spring and summer I primarily use a shotgun. I use rimfire rifles once the leaves fall.

Voted shotgun, where I used to go for them I would not feel comfortable firing a .22 rifle. Too close to civilization.
.22 pellet rifle works very well though. Used to use a 12g BP shotgun as well.

My wife just loves to squirrel hunt. She uses a 20ga Remington Wingmaster and freezes them up until there are enough for a big stew.
I use a 14" T/C 45/410 and recently got a single shot Henry in .410ga.

I've hunted them with 12 gauge trap loads, .22LR HP and .50 cal. GPR muzzleloader. I load 30 grns of BP under a RB. The ball goes thru and thru w/o expanding. In all cases head shots are recommended. I'll boil them, then de-bone and add the meat back to the broth for squirrel stew using either chicken noodle or clam chowder as a base, with lots of cream corn and mushrooms.
It's interesting that squirrels arn't sure what the muzzleloader boom is about and don't care. However, hearing a shotgun or a .22 rifle, they will run and hide for a long time, before coming out again.

My go-to is my tricked out 10/22. I also hunt with shotgun as I have an old Winchester 12 and a Browning in 16 gauge that I like to get out with at least once a year.

I like a .25 cal pellet gun and head shots. Got into using a pellet gun a few
years back to shoot snapping turtles out of my pond without the ricochet a
.22 rifle could do. Found some of my ducklings were disappearing and one
day saw a snapping turtle get one. A declaration of war was declared. The
cure, head shots with a Benjamín Marauder .25. Pinpoint accuracy ot to 50
yard and the .25 cal hits hard.
Dano

I've shot more squirrels with a shotgun, usually while hunting other small game, but like d2wing, I like to go out and sit, then still hunt them a bit. No squirrel shots on limbs, trunk only with the .22.

I grew up using a .22 for squirrel. Came down to that's what I had, what I could afford to shoot and what I was proficient with. It also was almost a Cardinal Sin where I came from to use a shotgun for squirrels, unless you were hunting grouse with a shotgun already and came across a easy shot at a squirrel. Even then, most times we passed hoping to leave the squirrel be for another day when we could take it without shooting it full of holes. The whole Leaves/no leaves means nuttin' once the squirrels get up it the canopy. It's about shooting them on the run before they get up there, which means holes in the meat. Ain't that much on a squirrel anyway and ruining the hind legs and loins with shot trails/shot, was just not that desirable. Besides, back then .22 was a penny a shot, while shotgun shells were at the least, $.15. Big difference to a kid on a $.25 a week allowance or warshing dishes for $.75 an hour. Better to save those for grouse/pheasant. In all of my almost 70 years, I have yet to hear of anyone being hurt by a .22 bullet falling from the sky from a squirrel hunter....but I know of several folks being accidentally shot by their hunting partner with a shotgun, because the bushytail decided to run down the tree.

That said, I have no problem with how others hunt them, as long as they do it safely and legally.

I prefer a rimfire, but don’t object to a shotgun. When I lived in NY and PA, my favorite was a Savage E-DL .22 mag/20 gauge combo. Sometimes regret parting with it.

I have used both types of firearms, but far prefer a .22 rifle. I have never had a gutshot squirrel. If I cannot shoot the head, I don't shoot. Never had a problem getting enough of them. Always used my Remington Nylon 66 Apache Black...can't count how many I have taken.

I prefer a .22 for several reasons. I'm more of a rifle guy to start with, and I think it isn't as hard on the meat. I generally use standard vel. .22 ammo.

Even with low brass #6 shot they can get pretty shot up. The pellets drag hair into the meat and you have to cut them up to get it out. It's rare (for me, at least) to have one with only a few pellets in it.

I like to make squirrel pot pies. I parbroil the meat, take it off of the bones, and mix it with frozen veggies and chicken gravy. Dump it in a pie shell and bake until the crust is brown.

I was probably about 14 and another boy invites me to hunt squirrel on their place. My dad drops me off and I had my Remington single shot Target Master. The father freaks out and says I cannot hunt, only shotguns are used for squirrels. I politely told him not to worry, I would just walk home. He freaks out again and tells me to stay in the truck until they are done. Of course as soon as they went into the bush, I walked home, with my .22. So, apparently at least a few people think only shotguns are for squirrel hunting. When I had told him we always hunt squirrels with a .22 he looked at me as if I had three eyes or something, weird.

Another airgunner here. Very quiet in the woods, and the tree rats never know what hit their buddy.

Squirrels are abundant here in our hardwood timber.
I have several "favorites".....
Scoped 22 rifle: my grandads old 550-1 with Weaver 4x is deadly medicine. My tricked out 10-22 with 3-9x42 scope ; Savage 24 .410/22lr is ideal: my dad's Winchester 42;
My .32 percussion is great sport; and so is a ruger mkll with rds; I want to try my .22 pellet rifle with 3-9 scope.

My favorite? I think the T/C (s&w performance center) target 10/22 clone. It is highly accurate.

I love hunting squirrels, probably my favorite type of hunting, and have killed more than I could even try to count and out of all those I think that I have shot less than a dozen with a shotgun and those have overwhelmingly been when I was out doing some type of bird hunting and one presented itself as a target of opportunity. So I guess it would be fair to say that I prefer hunting them with a rifle, or target pistol, over a shotgun, and you could even say the same for rabbit as well now that I've gotten older and don't normally use dogs for hunting.

3Crows said:

I was probably about 14 and another boy invites me to hunt squirrel on their place. My dad drops me off and I had my Remington single shot Target Master. The father freaks out and says I cannot hunt, only shotguns are used for squirrels. I politely told him not to worry, I would just walk home. He freaks out again and tells me to stay in the truck until they are done. Of course as soon as they went into the bush, I walked home, with my .22. So, apparently at least a few people think only shotguns are for squirrel hunting. When I had told him we always hunt squirrels with a .22 he looked at me as if I had three eyes or something, weird.

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That was me the first time someone told me they used shotguns to hunt squirrels, of course I was maybe 10 or 12 years old at the time so maybe not quite as bad.

Big Bore 44 said:

Another airgunner here. Very quiet in the woods, and the tree rats never know what hit their buddy.

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Yes, out to about 30 yards I think airguns are the answer also. This Benjamin 392 has been slightly souped up and makes about 20 fpe and is very accurate.



One of my two Gamo Urban rifles set to about 26 fpe. It is supremely accurate.



I have run into the vehement anti-.22 thing several times. I find a .410 Mossberg 500, a single shot .410 and a little double barrel .410 Stevens good medicine for squirrels also to about 30 yards.

I spent some time in college nuisance hunting squirrels out of almond orchards near a dairy. My cartridge of choice was a 17HMR, but we weren't hunting for meat there. It's amazing what squirrel colonies can do to an almond orchard yield. These squirrels were all taken on the ground beneath the trees or running to their bunker underneath pump stations or on the side of sediment ponds.

If one wanted to and was a good shot the 17HMR would take the heads off at the shoulders and preserve the meat, even out to 75 yards or so with a good scope. The 17HMR is a very flat shooting and accurate round once one finds an ammo and production lot of that particular ammo that your rifle likes.

3crows that reminds me of the time I was invited to hunt with a friend from school. I always used my ruger mk11 target. his dad and brother gave me alot of grief, said only way you can hit a tree rat is with a shotgun. after we got done and I bagged more than all of them they quit harassing me.

Arkansas Paul said:

Leaves or no leaves is the question I consider too.
Leaves = shotgun
No leaves = .22 lr

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Generally the way I used to be until I got older. Now I gravitate towards a shotgun for all.

I just bought a 20 gauge SxS specifically for squirrel and rabbit.