.45 cal, Too big for squirell

[HomeinDixie]

I am thinking of getting a long rifle for hunting small game and target shooting. Is a .45 too big for squirell, or should I get a .36 or .32? I have a .50 hawkin that I have taken many deer with in the last 18 years. I have taken one squirell with this rifle, but feel it is realy too big!

 

[roundball]

I am thinking of getting a long rifle for hunting small game and target shooting. Is a .45 too big for squirell, or should I get a .36 or .32? I have a .50 hawkin that I have taken many deer with in the last 18 years. I have taken one squirell with this rifle, but feel it is realy too big!

Rather than buy yet another caliber, and a 'specialty' one at that, I experimented with a throttled back .45cal, using 30 & 40grns Goex 3F for that same reason...squirrels, rabbits, etc.

Some people also say it you practice and get good enough to make head shots then caliber really doesn't matter anyway. And the 30 & 40grn loads above are good for shooting 1" aimpoint stickers at 25yds, sitting leaning against a post like you'd be leaning against a tree so I guess that would get a squirrels head OK.

But in the fall, after a summer of practice, when I lined up on my first Flintlock squirrel, my years of deer hunting kicked in, I settled the bead right on his heart, and he fell out of the tree stone dead.

When I examined him I realized that shooting him like a deer really doesn't waste any meat to speak of after all...most of the meat on a squirrel is back in the hams anyway...so I'd say get the .45...and you'll be able to use it on other things as well.

 

[Russianblood]

I have a Pennsylvania long rifle flinter in .45 I bought just for squirrels and it works great. There is no meat in the midsection of a squirrel and a lead ball passing thru that area doesn't have the velocity to "blow it apart". It just makes a nice hole thru them and they drop instantly. .32 or .36 are nice but not necessary.

 

[29caliber]

I took many squirrels with my first muzzleloader, a T/C Hawken in .50 caliber, with head shots. Some 30 years later I now use a .29 caliber...and still need to take head shots. My experience has been that head shots are necessary with squirrels regardless of the caliber or you'll loose to much meat.

 

[sidelock]

What Roundball said!!!! I have taken probebly hundreds of greys with my .50 T/C hawken with PRB and 35 G 2F (real bp). No need for a special rifle. That said----- I have been thinking about how much fun a .36 would be. Good luck and much fun. :thumbsup:

 

[olgreenhead]

Well you can harvest them with anything you want But i would get a nice 40 cal rifle for any small game you would want to hunt . Also if your state allows you could hunt deer with a great little caliber . Now that i said that what would u put in its patchbox ? :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

OR, you could get a nice flintlock smoothbore. Then you can use it with shot for small game and with a rd ball for big game.

 

[Mike Moore]

H.I.D.,
I taken those nice pieces of dark meat with a 40, 45 and a 54. But if I were going to have a gun just for hunting them, I would choose a 40 or a smooth bore. With light loads and nice sights, either would do fine.
mike.

 

[HomeinDixie]

Oooooo! Ya'll talking about a .40 are giving me goose bumps! Here in Tennessee you can indeed use a .40 to deer hunt with, and I have been leaning in that direction. I'm eyeing a Dixie Cub in 40 cal, and Dixie Gunworks has them on special through the end of the month! I would realy like to try my hand at building a kit, but just don't have the free time to work on one at this point in my life.
What the heck, I may have to sell one of my modern rifles to buy a new black powder rifle! :hmm:
The good thinkg about living next door to the gun works, is that I can go over and shoulder almost any of the guns they sell, and this little gun fits me to a T.

 

[Homesteader]

This thread made me think of an old-timer I knew back in the '70s. He used a .45 for just about everything, but made a big deal about "barking" squirrels rather than shooting them directly. By aiming right next to them the squirrels were killed by either the concussion or the bark acting as shrapnel. At least that what he said. He claimed that's how it was done when he was a young man.

Is that something that's still done, or have direct shots totally replaced it for harvesting those little tree rats?

 

[Roy]

I've done it.
I tend to like to use small calibers for smaller critters and bigger cals for bigger critters, sort of gives me good excuse to own more than one gun. :thumbsup:
But this may not be an option for some, sooooo...
45 will work well for squirrels, no need to blast it with a full charge though. Seems to me I had my old 45 shooting with 25 grains of 3F, it still had a healthy pop to it and was deadly at 25-30yds (never shot much farther than that at a tree rat)

 

[roundball]

As a followup note:

One of the nice things about a .45cal compared to a really small caliber is that it's usually legal to use for deer also.

And the reason I consciously stayed with the heavier 40grn 3F charge is to have enough punch to take a close deer if one happened by while I was squirrel hunting, since the seasons run concurrently here.

I've only squirrel hunted with the .45 Flinter 6-8 Saturdays the last two fall seasons, but during those times I've taken both a buck and a doe with that 40grn charge of Goex 3F...heart shots at 10-20yds.

:thumbsup:

 

[jtmattison]

I don't think .45 is too big for squirrel.
I'd hunt everything from squirrel up to moose with my .54.
Lighten the load and go have fun.

HD

 

[paulvallandigham]

Hasn't anyone heard of " barking " squirrels, whereby you shoot the branch under the squirrel's head so that a piece of bark is kicked up and breaks the squirrel's neck, or kills him with concussion??? It leaves the squirrel very dead, but without holes in the meat. With the larger caliber guns, You can knock a fairly big piece of bark up under a squirrel's chin to do the killing.

 

I see you are "Homeindixie"--I hope that is not Louisiana, because here at least you cannot legally hunt squirrel or any other small game with a caliber above .36. Check your local game laws. Some states also require you to have a big game license if you are in the woods with a big game caliber rifle--no matter what you are hunting! Technically any caliber will work with proper shot placement, but I prefer my .32 for squirrel--I grew up hunting 'm with a .22 and the .32 is like that...but my .45 is very accurate and would work if it were legal...

 

[Roy]

I think if you look up a few posts you will see that has been brought up. :thumbsup:

 

[TN Hick]

Just make sure you "bark" it under its chin. I barked one with a .45 right under the belly - talk about a mess. It gutted that booger from
a-hole to appetite. :haha:

TN Hick

 

I am thinking of getting a long rifle for hunting small game and target shooting. Is a .45 too big for squirell, or should I get a .36 or .32? I have a .50 hawkin that I have taken many deer with in the last 18 years. I have taken one squirell with this rifle, but feel it is realy too big!

The most important question was never asked!

How big are the squirrels in your area. You might need the fifty!

There have now been two pages of replies that basically state that you can do what you want to do.

you can justify buying a small bore if you really want too, but remember; you can buy a lot of .50 round balls for the cost of a new .36!

and after practicing on those little bitty rodent heads all fall just imagine how big a deer will look over those hawkin sights!

 

[Slake]

I have had 50's for many years and recently had a 45 join the ranks. There's many good posts here, I agree with most. If you really want to see something, lay a 45 ball next to a 50 ball and sit and look them both; Then add a 54 if ya can. I think the difference between a 45 and a 50 when ya see them sit side by side on your kitchen table is quite amazing. Add the 54 and it's stunning

 

[Kuckus]

Then for giggles, throw a .58 into the mix ( I just built a .45 Dickert for my dad's father's day gift and I've got a .58 laying beside it... WOW :bow: ! What a calibre!