Newbie Here - Squirrel Kills with a Weihrauch HW50S Hunter .177

[eclipsor]

Interestingly enough, I just accidentally got a kill with a body shot. Either the squirrel moved or I just had a bad shot, but it looks to have hit him right behind the shoulder.



He was upside down on the side of a tree at the time and seized up, sticking to the tree for about five seconds before falling off. I loaded up another pellet immediately and he looked to be completely dead when I approached. No Mexican jumping bean dance. Regardless, I put a shot into his head to make sure.



Here’s a pic...

 

[intenseaty22]

Nice! Almost exact placement of the last one I got with my HW95 at 27 yards, sub 12fpe. It was DRT within seconds. Found it at the base of the Pecan tree. Vital shots are very effective & humane. I added it to the thread, check it out: 

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/177-hades-hunting-report/page/2/#post-750369

 

[qball]

Think it's ammo dependent, with normal dome pellet I'll be reluctant to take body shots. But with Hades or other hollowpoints the wound channel is much bigger and easily cut major vessels and black out in seconds. My personal favorite is hades simply because of accuracy and relative low cost. 

 

[Blackpaw]

I just got .177 Hades today, and did a quick test on an orange with the Brocock and I will say this, initial thoughts, they are more devastating than the H&N Barracuda Hunter Extremes (BHEs). Some time over the next couple of weeks I brew up some ballistics home made gel and do a side by side comparison, Hades vs BHEs through the Brocock at its 3 power level settings. One comment, Hades were at or pushing 18 ft/lbs in the rifle and around a half to 1 ft/lbs than the JSB 10.34 gr. Exact it is modeled after.

 

[cea1960]

I almost always take head shots to drop the squirrel immediately. It can be tough finding a squirrel in thick underbrush after it ran a few yards. However there is a squirrel in the freezer from last season that fell to a .177 wadcutter from my 7fpe 2400KT with a shoulder shot from 25 yards. It ran maybe 12 feet before dropping. IMO, shot placement trumps fpe and pellet weight/diameter every time.