Is it possible to have TOO MUCH gun??

HogKiller said:

Ok, here's the deal some of you know that I attempt to shoot ground squirrels, but I'm having quite a few that are hit disappear, and the ones that are killed, I'm seeing the projectile go right through them, now most are young ones so they don't have the bulk of an adult but instead of me chasing more power and more expansion, do you all think I should back off? I'm using .25 33.9gr pellets and 26gr slugs at 1040.

TIA
Hoggie

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I think it's more of the placement. I hunt squirrels with a 22 using 15 grain pellets going around 900 FPS and sometimes I have some that run and I know it is a hit for sure. I end up finding them a few yards away, unless they go into their ground hole.

Have you tried Hades or FX Atomic & about 880-900fps? Been using them in my .25 for 5-6 years now with RARELY a pass thru. Better than the .22 slug shooter I'm currently using for terminal knock down power. WHERE are you placing most of your shots? That is a deciding factor with "walk-aways".

60 ft lbs seems a bit more than necessary for squirrel inside 150 yards.
If your seeking to harvest, or at least to count, then less energy could be better.
If not, I'd assume the ones that disappeared did not make it far. Hell, they might have flow 20 feet with your pellet strike. lol

You might even have more fun with less gun ?

I've just finished converting my Crosman 2289 Backpacker (10 pumper) from OE stock .22 14" barrel, to, a .177 16" barrel. I'm still blowing through Rats, and hitting backstop. I guess I'll try 8 pumps and see if that stops.

If you like hunting animals that hang out right next to their hole, you have two choices. Increase your guns accuracy capabilities at the distances you are shooting and smack them in the head. Or, use enough gun so at the distances you’re shooting you can obliterate them. Animals that live in holes have an autopilot function that enables their dead corpse to head straight for the hole. Your gun at 1040fps with a little light 26gr slug is getting pretty lame at 100 yards. They can suck that up if your gun isn’t accurate enough to strike the shoulder at distance.

Reg Creep said:

60 ft lbs seems a bit more than necessary for squirrel inside 150 yards.
If your seeking to harvest, or at least to count, then less energy could be better.
If not, I'd assume the ones that disappeared did not make it far. Hell, they might have flow 20 feet with your pellet strike. lol

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Hahahaha!!!!

Get out of my head!!

Pun intended!

I agree with the "placement" comments. I have never shot ground squirrels but all the tree squirrels I've shot have fallen more quickly with more fpe. Not slower. Not much faster either. With 18-19 fpe (at close range) they take a step or two more than with 30-45 fpe. Pass throughs helps too. But shots into the back half of the animal does not have nearly the same effect as a shot through the lungs or brain. I only use non-expanding projectiles. A 25 caliber hole is plenty for a squirrel. It just needs to be in the right place if you want them to be DRT. Front of chest or through the guts and they run. Front of chest they don't run far but far enough to go down a hole. A double lung hit or a shot into the brain and they are down immediately. But I could not consistently do this at 100 yards either.

Lots of run aways is almost expected in my experience with pellet guns and ground squirrels. Prarie dogs too. Even with a powderburner.

It's easy to get a bad shot. Very difficult to get a good one. Some days everything you point the gun at falls over. Some days everything you hit runs off.

I haven't hunted much with a pellet gun. But I've learned that head shots in many (most) situations don't work well. In the shoulder or across the back works dandy.

When hunting most animals the goal is not an instant kill. The goal is to anchor the animal. When hunting large game with a rifle the idea is to break a shoulder to anchor the animal. Then dispatch it.

I like that shot when shooting an air rifle. It just makes sense with such limited power and range.

I go through a shoulder into the chest. On a "leaving" shot I aim center mass between the shoulders. On a frontal shot I aim at one shoulder or the other and not the head. In my limited experience shooting rodents with an air rifle the classic anchor shot has worked the best for me.

When shooting rodents an instant kill is relatively unimportant. A "humane" kill is walking over and crushing the head with your bootheel in a timely fashion. Your main consideration is anchoring the animal for retrieval so they don't run under the house and start stinking.

HogKiller said:

Ok, here's the deal some of you know that I attempt to shoot ground squirrels, but I'm having quite a few that are hit disappear, and the ones that are killed, I'm seeing the projectile go right through them, now most are young ones so they don't have the bulk of an adult but instead of me chasing more power and more expansion, do you all think I should back off? I'm using .25 33.9gr pellets and 26gr slugs at 1040.

TIA
Hoggie

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I'm guessing both your pellets and slugs are not expanders. Keep the power and add expansion. Marvel at the difference when you get that THWACK and DRT.

well you could always go to a bigger caliber, but it would be way overkill.. those varmint are tough just like others said..
that said I have shot a lot with 177.. but I never bothered to retrieve any, figure wild animal food..
Mark

@HogKiller, of course it possible to have “too much gun” for many pesting endeavors. But it doesn’t seem so in your case. You write…

“I'm having quite a few that are hit disappear…”

Selective shot placement to the brain or vitals and maybe letting the squirrels get further from their holes may decrease the numbers lost.

@Bedrock Bob made a good point of anchoring them with shot placement. All animals have a central nervous system that comes from the brain and down the spine then branches out at the shoulders to "run" everything. For example, shoot a deer in this upper shoulder location and they drop right there. It doesn't even hardly hit the vital organs because of it being higher up on the shoulders, but it shuts them down immediately. No signals from or to the nervous system stops their ability operate or to run. Maybe you could try a slightly different shot placement and figure out where these critters' shut off button is (besides their noggin).

Never had a squirrel hit with a head shot run off...just sayin

ZekeZX10 said:

Never had a squirrel hit with a head shot run off...just sayin

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I never have either. But I've shot a lot of faces off missing by a quarter inch. And hit a few down the side.

So far the anchor shot has worked every time. The shoulder bones become projectiles. And the shock usually breaks their back if the pellet dosent. They flop around and struggle. But they don't run off wounded.

I don't shoot as many critters as you and I'm just learning what a pellet gun can do (a .22 springer @ 610 fps). But I'm pretty convinced that an anchor shot is preferrable to a head shot in most hunting situations with the gun I'm using.

I'll go for a headshot if the range is realistic and the opportunity presents itself. And I don't worry too much if he goes in his hole with no face. But if I'm trying to recover them I'll aim for the mid to upper shoulder and try to take out as many bones as I can get.

Here’s a good solution

I was on my porch with my Sniper X2 .30 when a squirrel came down the Acacia tree about 15 feet away.
I'm pretty sure that a squirrel won't run away with their *inards* now *outards*.
Blew a hole right through it and left a spot on the Acacia...

Normal porch gun is my Hatsan Flash .22 which does occasionally let them move off after taking a hit.