Has anyone tried this?

[Allan]

Was walking through the woods the other day with my 50 cal. flinter practising injunup on deer.
Several times I sat down and still and let all the squirells come back out, at one point had one almost walk on my head wondering what the new stump was at the bottom of the tree.

It accured to me that if was to shoot one of said squirells with my 50, (not the one on my head) all but the tail would be gone unless I barked'em.
But...
If I had a 32 cal or something near I could shot'em and still have something left for the pot.
The difference between 32 cal and the 50 bore on my rifle could be made up with severel patches. The 32 ball might not even spin but they don't spin out of a musket anyway and still go pretty straight, straight enough for squirell distances.
Perhaps different patch material would work better, like a piece of leather.

Any thoughts?

 

[roundball]

My guess is that accuracy would be terrible as the ball would probably compress more one way than another.

The simplest approach would be to just sight it in with a 30-40 grain load for squirrels and it should be so accurate you can make head shots.

Just keep track of the changes you make to the sights so you can alternate between squirrel and deer loads at your convenience

 

[Birddog6]

Keep in mind all this stuff about destroying more meat with one cal or another is basically B.S. A 32 ruins the head, a 36 does same, a 40 does same a 54 does same a 62 does same.... doesn't matter if it is a head shot.

A clean head shot is a head shot & you got all the remaining meat to eat clean. Any other shot is a miss on a squirrel...

Shoot the gun at 15-25 yards & learn where to sight it & make the adjustment. esides, go squirrel hunting & you will see lots of deer, or at least that is how it goes for me ! ha ha !

 

[Allan]

Thanks Birdog6,
I hadn't thought of that way but your right. A head shot is a head shot.
I have two freinds that are avide hunters and have been for years. They are both identical twins 'bout 68 yrs old. Bob is older than Dick by three minutes and Dick is always quick to point out that he kicked Bob out. Both these guys look like right out of an LL Bean catalog. Combined, they have decades of hunting stories and many of the barking squirel that continued to announce the presence of hunters in the woods to all the deer that cared to listen. Their thirtyotsix did not ruin any meat either.
Here in CT. our laws say it is illegal to hunt squierls on state land with anything larger than a 32 cal.. We are also not allowed to hunt deer with a ML with anything less than a 50 cal., hence my efforts to try and get things done with one gun.

 

[Birddog6]

Well, that is an easy solution. Go buy ya a lil .32 Crockett & go after the squirrels ! It's a nice lil rifle for the money & you can easily thump the squirrels all day long with them. 25 grains of Goex 3F, .310 RB & .015 Pillow ticking or Oxjoke patch, Lehigh Lube.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

 

[No Powder]

What type gun is it? Could you get a drop in barrel 32 cal.carry it in your back pack and your ready for both squirrls and deer. Or could you hunt squirrls with a 32 pistol?

 

[Allan]

Hmmmm....
I have a woman freind in Maine whos husband passed away and she has asked if I would buy his Hawkin rifle. It's 50 cal, percusion. I could change out the barrel and convert it over to flint.
My present rifle is a 50 cal flint Frontier by Pedersoli in grade 4 maple. Basic not fancy. A real sweety.
Thanks for your help guys.

 

[Jack Walker]

I have done some squirrellin in the past with my fifty. There ain't a problem, you just need to take a better shot is all. Plenty of meat left on the tree rat. Use the fifty if need be.

 

[Allan]

Thanks Bull,
As I said before my problem comes from the state conservation officers here in CT. Here they are a branch of our state police, all look like there day job is with the WWF and these guys take there hike in the woods very seriously.
I will have to look over the rules again but they may not allow anything over 22 cal when on state land hunting squirlls.
I resently found (really) a coyote. Was a road kill from the night before so I knew how old it was. She had a beautiful pelt on her so I took her home and skinned her out. I called said conservation people to find out about tagging my pelt and asked about the shooting regs for squirlls and flinters. I was told someone would get back to me but as yet, no call.

 

[tyspappy]

Birddog does that Traditions Crockett only come in percussin I would like to know if it is in flintlock also

 

[Birddog6]

All I have seen in the Crockett were in Percussion. Be nice if they made a flintlock as it would be a good trainer for a kid. I had one for a short time & it shoot wonderfully. 25 grains of 3F Swiss with really make that lil .32 zing !

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Birddog6:
All I have seen in the Crockett were in Percussion. Be nice if they made a flintlock.This may not be the Crockett rifle you want, but its a flinter...

http://www.caywoodguns.com/davy_crockett_replica.htm

 

[tyspappy]

That's quite a gun there. it would not be good for me because Its too expensive to shoot I would just look at it . then i would break down and shoot it

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by tyspappy:
It would not be good for me because Its too expensive to shoot. This would work to your advantage because the squirrels would say to themselves, "look at that guy with the gun too expensive to shoot".

They would all come out to see you NOT shoot it.

 

[Birddog6]

You could also own 12 really nice guns for the price of the 1 fancy Crockett replica & then shoot all 12 of them.

 

[roundball]

That's one of the reasons why I have a houseful of TC Hawkens...picking them up here and there
for a song...percussions, flintlocks, different calibers, standard barrels, round ball barrels, etc, etc...
I had a .54cal flintlock trained on 4-6 pointer just before dark but could never get him to stop in a lane, then he was past me