doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com .22 Rimfire ballistics.

My girlfriend shot it point blank because she deemed it was going to fight her dog. I was not home at the time. I would have preferred a less drastic approach to removing it. She heard some noise in the basement. It had come down a chimney, knocked out a little sheet metal cover thing where some old furnace connected once upon a time. Surprising how big of a racoon can fit through a 6� diameter hole. A chase ensued and the dog "treed" it on a bookshelf.

Edit: I�ve had more nuisance animal problems in the city than I ever had when I lived in rural areas. I live inside Denver city limits and have coyotes and foxes walking down the sidewalk. Squirrels literally chewing through the walls. Now there's rats all over. I do like the foxes.

Centerfire handgun going off in the house!

Bet the dog and her didn�t see/hear anything for a few minutes.

Glad it came out OK.

Best,
Ted

RyanF,
Your story makes for an epic imaginary crime scene. I suppose her ears were ring pretty well afterwards too.

Ted, I've probably shot many multiples more than my fair share of squirrels with .177 pellet guns, .22 shorts on an 1890 Winchester, and .22 long rifle in every level of loading and ain't none of them ever lifted even a red squirrel (northern variety) off of a limb. Not happening. Ever.

I've shot a fair number with a .54 flintlock and 235 gr round ball at 1975 fts. That will - barely - move a squirrel, and I hesitate to say fully lift one. It will rip it from stem to stern and eviscerate it, but lift it? Questionable.

You will have to remind me where I said �lifted�.

Hit him hard enough to cause him to lose his balance and fall is closer to what I have seen.

I�ve not made a habit of shooting red squirrels. Not sure what I would do with one.


Best,
Ted

My farmer friend shoots red squirrels on a regular and steady basis- almost year 'round- as they get into his attic- (his farmhouse was built in 1896) as well as raid his bird feeders- Once they are on "terra firma" and deceased, he picks up their carcass with tongs and drops them down into the outdoor privy- a two=holer built in 1914- and about once a month he drops a scoop of quicklime into the underground pit-ditto with the fox squirrels in season- except he whacks off the tails and sends them to some fishing lure company in WI-- and gets a check from them- so, I guess he is a "rodent market hunter"-- Tree rats can pay with their tails for your ammo..

Ted, they ain't gonna move it either. Except straight down when it lets go. They do NOT hit harder or anything of the sort. I can't think.of a single thing shorts do better than long rifles except the number that fit in a magazine.

Red squirrels eat just fine, you just need more of them. I killed many of them in Minnesota.

Brent,
Again, remind me where, exactly, I said �lifted�?

I never shot squirrels with hollow points, or, hyper velocity anything, and quit hunting them with long rifle because it was overkill. .22 short kills them dead enough, and, has done an excellent job for me on squirrels. I only hunted greys (by all means, eat every red you like, I�m not interested in chipmunks or pocket gophers, either) and that was for the table.
I wouldn�t say the short hits harder, that is impossible, but, whatever a .22 bullet does after it leaves the carcass of a squirrel, a .22 long rifle is going to do more of it than a short will. I�ve recovered .22 shorts, and that is exactly what you want, all energy expended on target. The .22 long rifle is excessive energy for the task at hand, and, the .22 short gets the job done with less.
I had better results with the bushies falling out of the tree after hit either in the head or the shoulders with .22 short. I am, by far, not the only person who has noted this.

I never counted how many fit in the magazine. I doubt I ever put more than five of anything in a .22, regardless of how many they held.

Best,
Ted

You said, "Even standard velocity LR .22 will almost always leave a bushy tail high up on a tree branch, where a short will almost always knock his little ass right off the branch, and save you a hour of rock throwing." Whichs is BS.

don't knock the reds until you have tried them. Of course, you never will. I understand.

I think there's a bunch of 'proof' that pass through bullets don't shed as much energy into the target as they would if some how or another it stayed in the intended target. I think folks that hunt big game with cast bullets can confirm that there's a difference compared to using a predictable controlled expansion bullet. There're many other examples.

I prefer decent 22LR solids because they shoot better for me. Recently, my boy made a nice paced off ninety yard shot on a squirrel sized vermin. But, in that situation the surroundings were wide open with no worry about the report or range of the bullet that a short could definitely help with in closer quaters. If an arm is chamber for a short and has the proper barrel twist for a short, there's no other alternative.

I personally don't care for hollow point or high velocity 22LR's, because they just don't shoot as well for me and get damaged way more easily, making them shoot even worse. 22LR solids aren't 'explosive', but they certainly can fillet little things, which I can't say I've ever seen a short do. In the end, it's for fun, and it's no fun shooting things you don't feel like using.