I went turkey hunting this morning, and had plans to hunt squirrels after that didn't pay off. I was right, couldn't get a shot at a turkey, although I saw 9 of them fly down from their roost and feed in a pasture 100 yards away. I was carrying a 20 gauge flintlock fowler with a Colerain barrel, turkey choked. I have been impressed with the pattern that thing throws, and have taken turkeys out to 40 yards with it. I've always thought it would be an exceptional squirrel gun in the tall timber. When I gave up on the turkeys I decided to still hunt back to the car and see if I could get a good long shot at a squirrel. I hadn't gone 75 yards before a fat fox squirrel ran up to the top of a tall tree an honest 50 yards away, so I tried the shot. That squirrel dropped like a stone, dead before it hit the ground. I was loaded with 80 grains of 3F and 1 1/2 oz. of #6 shot, not exactly a normal squirrel load, but I think it would work with a much lighter load if you picked your shots.
I was still in the mood for squirrel hunting, but his time I had another goal in mind. I am wanting to make a flintlock pistol part of my normal squirrel hunting kit, and have been working on a load for a 20 gauge Jackie Brown smoothbore pistol, a way to carry it and a hammer stall for safety. I went back to the car, exchanged the turkey gun for a SxS 20 ga. shotgun and my pistol, carried in a wide leather belt. It was loaded with 35 grains of 3F Goex and an equal volume of #5 shot. A half hour's still hunting in some pretty dense thickets and another big fox squirrel gave me a shot at 12 yards. I was able to quickly draw the pistol, slip off the hammer stall and get on target, and another squirrel bit the dust. I love it when experiments work.
The squirrel shot at long range had more shot in it than the one shot at arms length, but both were cleanly collected and will taste mighty good this winter, fried golden brown then baked until the bones fall out, with biscuits and pan gravy, of course.
Flintlocks can handle it, long or short.
Spence
I was still in the mood for squirrel hunting, but his time I had another goal in mind. I am wanting to make a flintlock pistol part of my normal squirrel hunting kit, and have been working on a load for a 20 gauge Jackie Brown smoothbore pistol, a way to carry it and a hammer stall for safety. I went back to the car, exchanged the turkey gun for a SxS 20 ga. shotgun and my pistol, carried in a wide leather belt. It was loaded with 35 grains of 3F Goex and an equal volume of #5 shot. A half hour's still hunting in some pretty dense thickets and another big fox squirrel gave me a shot at 12 yards. I was able to quickly draw the pistol, slip off the hammer stall and get on target, and another squirrel bit the dust. I love it when experiments work.
The squirrel shot at long range had more shot in it than the one shot at arms length, but both were cleanly collected and will taste mighty good this winter, fried golden brown then baked until the bones fall out, with biscuits and pan gravy, of course.
Flintlocks can handle it, long or short.
Spence
