Realistic 45 caliber squirrel load??

[Skychief]

Has anybody found a 45 caliber prb load for squirrel that they are really satisfied with?

I have shot a few with mine, but it has been too destructive to suit me. I know, I know....shoot them in the head. Maybe years ago, but, not now. I realize alot of fellers on these forums NEVER pull a shot through the shoulders and such, but, I sure do.

So, has anybody come up with a load light enough to leave some squirrel behind after a non-head shot?

Thanks for your thoughts, Skychief.


PS, I am not into "barking" squirrels either. One reason, most that I see are not on a big limb or hugging the trunk too often.

PPS, I recently bought a .45 with buckhorn sights. I plan to experiment with raising the blade front to or near the ears with light charges for a squirrel load.

 

[roundball]

Understand about heads shots being tricky...but IMO, there's really not all that much meat on the front half of a squirrel to begin with...and as long as the hindquarters/backstrap area survived, if I didn't feel confident about a particular head shot, I haven't hesitated to shoot one anywhere in that front head/neck/shoulder part of the body.
I've used 30 & 40 grns Goex 3F in a .32" TC .45cal barrel for some squirrels and that worked fine.

And as an aside I like a .28ga smoothbore a lot and now use a .28ga/#5 shot for squirrels to help justify having it :grin:

 

[Ft. Jefferson]

I've been using 25gr-3f w/440prb's on bushytails for near on ta 30yrs now. Kills'em good and don't send the ball into the next township.

 

[jaw69]

I use 20 grn of 3f spit patch 440 ball It kills em good. That load still carries enough energy to go through half inch plywood and burry itself 4 to 6 inches in the ground at 25 yards. I use middle hold on my buck sights and limit my shots to 30 or so yard. It still makes a big hole in them I have went as low as 5 grain but the ball would bounce off of the plywood :rotf: and that low of powder charge would not pattern. On a side note my rifle breaks the sound barrier at 37 grain. make that nice crack sound and that just happens to be the amount of powder it take to cover a ball in the palm of my hand. and patterns pretty good to.The old timers knew what they were talking about who knew :bow:

 

[longcruise]

About the only way you will slow that .45 ball down enough not to do major damage is by loading it in a slingshot! :shocked2: :haha:

 

[nchawkeye]

The question is how will your gun group with lower powder charges...Find this first, then adjust your sights to hit dead on at 25 yards...

When I used my .45, I went down to 40grs FFF and called it good...I would get on down to 20-30grs if you are going to shoot them in the body...

 

[Eric Krewson]

I used to hunt squirrels with with a 50cal Renegade. I don't remember what I loaded in it but when I shot it, it went bloop instead of bang. I am thinking about 15gr of powder and a patched ball, it was deadly accurate out to about 20yds. I only took head shots and the ball would cut a crescent out of their skull, not blow it up. Got 5 with 5 shots one evening.

 

[Vaino]

My squirrel rifle is a .45 which I've also used for deer but no longer do. This LR likes 30 grs. 3f w/ a .445 ball which gives a low trajectory out to 40 yds and have killed a few squirrels at that distance. Early on I saw what this load did to a body shot squirrel and thereafter only did head shots. Sure there's hardly any meat up front, but skinning a body shot squirrel is a chore. I like 6 pieces of meat from all my squirrels so out of the many 100s that I've taken, only a few have yielded less than that. Possibly a smoothbore w/ shot would be better?.....Fred

 

[juancho]

I have found two loads that are perfect for squirrels for my 45.First is 17 grains Goex fff, good up to 40 yds(same point of aim as 30 or 60 grains), and the second is with #4 shot.
Yes, I know that you cannot shoot shot out of a rifle, but with a 45 you can.Here is how. I got myself a bag of 410 plastic shot cups.First you make a paper cartrige out of newspaper with enough paper to fill the gap between the 45 barrel and the 410 shot cup.Make a punch to cut 45 cal wads out of whatever you preffer, in my case just plain carbord boxes.
My loading secuence is as folows: 30 grais fff, 4 or5 (depending on the thickness )carboard wads, bite the end off the cartrige loaded with the 410 plastic cup and 40 grais by volume of #4s ,drop it in the barrel,here is the key to success or faliure,it should fit just so, that it does not drop in or out,but NOT as tite as to "take" the rifling.That last step took me many many tries to get it right.If you dont, you either dont have enough seal to develop good muzzle velocity , or end up with the pattern blown appart by the effect of the rifling.
If you have the pacience and time to develop this load, you can expect the exact same performance as a modern 410 shotgun.
In my bag I always carry at least 5 such loads some 50 or so round balls and 3 or 4 285 grais hollow point slugs (devastating out to 120 yds).
My barrel is 42 in 1 in 48 twist, and never tried with any other 45.
With that combination of rounds this gun became my one fits all gun I preffer it to my 54.

 

[pooreboy]

I have a .45 jukar that has what appears a smoothbore? When you look down the barrel it appears that the lines(bore) are straight. Can this rifle be used for squirrell hunting with shot? What would be a good starter load? sorry for hijacking this thread but i am curious about a good 45 load too...pooreboy :bow:

 

[Ft. Jefferson]

Well pooreboy, your Jukar is probably not a smoothbore! The lines you see are very shallow rifling and that is common. A smoothbore would have no 'lines' at all. I doubt you'll get good results with shot but 'what the hey', try 35gr-3f and 3/4oz of 6s or 5s at 20yds and see what you get. You can use cardboard or aluminum foil for wadding, ya just never know, but i wouldn't hold out alot of hope. I have however used this load for rabbits at close range with really good results! Sqwerls hides are alot tougher than rabbit skin. You can't go wrong with SAFE experimentation. That's how ya learn!