I have seen reference to some folks using larger cal. ML's (.45,.50,&.54) on squirrels with reduced loads. I have a 7 yr. old son who loves squirrel hunting and he hunts with a .410 shotgun. When we hunt he always likes for us both to do some shootin' instead of just him so I was thinking the other day about using my .50 flinter to try to put some "sport" back in the hunt rather than me shooting a modern weapon.I also see this as an ideal time to get that much better acquainted with my flinter,and it would be nice to put somethin' on the table with the ol' girl besides venison.(You can't shoot it too much :grin What I would like to know is how effective is the .50 with reduced loads at not destroying the squirrel and not leaving you with no supper? Head shots only? I know a smaller cal. would be ideal but another rifle is just not in the budget right now. Also does anyone know how much powder it takes to fill the patent breech on a T/C Hawken barrel?I would want to use enough powder to fill the patent breech so the ball can be properly seated on top of the powder.I think Iread somewhere that the breech holds 25 grains but I can't remember for sure. What do ya'll think? Any info. and comments are greatly appreciated.