squirrel hunting

[spangler]

what would be right or wrong hunting squirrels with 50 cal ardesa spain loaded with #4 shot?

 

[August West]

If it is rifled I don't think you will kill many squirrels, rifled barrels throw big doughnut shaped patterns.

If it is smoothbore I would go to number 6s or even 7 1/2s for a few more pellets in the pattern in that small of a bore. Chris

 

[Britsmoothy]

Years ago I tried 1/2oz of shot in a 45 kentucky.

15yds usefull I remember.

Brits.

 

[luieb45]

You can hunt squirrels with a .50 using roundball. That's all I had before so that's what I used. Used about 35 grains of powder and aimed for the head. You want a headshot because where ever that ball goes it will tear up meat bad. So just hit them in the head. :thumbsup:

 

[Twice boom]

You can hunt squirrels with a .50 using roundball. That's all I had before so that's what I used. Used about 35 grains of powder and aimed for the head. You want a headshot because where ever that ball goes it will tear up meat bad. So just hit them in the head. :thumbsup:

I've heard old timers say they used to "bark em" with rifles.. That's pretty good shooting,if true.
twice.

 

[spangler]

It is rifled 1/48

 

[buford87]

I certainly don't wish to say you can't bark a squirrel with success however I will say some oldtimers may have been like my Grandfather , not a man to let the truth get in the way of a good story. I have barked one squirrel with a .50 T/C Hawken and 90 grains of FFg and a round ball. The squirrel looked like a wooden hand grenade had gone off under it. The same .50 rifle worked good on squirrels with a round ball and a .45 colt case full of FFg black powder.....................watch yer top knot................

 

[roundball]

I certainly don't wish to say you can't bark a squirrel with success however I will say some oldtimers may have been like my Grandfather , not a man to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

:grin: ...that's funny...and I agree with your point.
There are too many pieces of mis-information that got started eons ago and they just never die...I guess because we'd "like" to think those things were the norm and we just keep repeating them, but they couldn't have been...might have happened accidently and then the legend was born but it couldn't have neen "routine"...no logic for it.

In this case, a couple of reasons come to mind:

1) The most obvious is "if" they were all such good shots...why not just make a simple head shot...why even risk a slight misjudgement by intentionally trying a so called "barking" shot?

2) And if they were so acutely poor and short of lead that they made a point of trying to stop every lead ball inside a deer for recovery / recasting / reuse, why would they shoot a ball up into a tree or limb that they couldn't recover, just to try and bark a lowly squirrel?

Guess I'm still from Missouri on this old wives tale...just can't believe that was common practice, if true at all
:grin:

 

[August West]

Well I have tried numerous times to "bark" squirrels with both muzzleloaders and modern centerfire rifles. Either the old timers new something I don't or this is as true as Davy Crockett grinning coons out of trees. Chris

 

[larry wv]

I have barked a few. Scared a few off also. I agree its nothing our fore fathers did on a regular basis. Larry Wv

 

[jbtusa]

Just be careful if you use a .50 round ball to shoot squirrels so that you shoot into a backstop. That .50 ball will do some serious damage to a neighbor's cow or horrors the thought of it hitting a person. You are responsible for that bullet at all times.

 

[Dave K]

I agree with you Roundball. If I have ever barked a squirrel, it is because I made a poor shot and missed the head. But, I could say I barked it on purpose, so I wouldn't have to admit, that I made a poor shot. :wink:

 

[CrackStock]

I have never had any positive result when trying shot in a rifled barrel.

A better method was that I use a half powder load and shoot squirrels in the head or mid section with patched round ball. The advantage of the head shot is obvious, but if you hit them dead center, you still have rump and shoulders for stew meat. Not ideal, but it is a .50 after all...

CS

 

[luieb45]

With the type of powder charge you should be using(under 40 gr.) the gun isn't even anywhere close to a .22 because on the back of the box is says a .22 can travel up to a mile. Despite whatever size of the bullet, you really shouldn't be accidentally shooting anything.