Stormrider vs Squirrel

[Dr. Kralenstein]

I was out doing my duty clearing out the sparrows. Got 6 of them, and I was lining up another one when I noticed this poor bastard hopping around in the background.

I took an off hand shot about 40 yards while he had his head down below the grass. I honestly thought I'd miss and spook him, but he dropped and then did the flop dance over into the neighbor's yard lol.

Pretty much a perfect shot. Went in just below the left ear and came out the right eye. AEA center punch 15.9 grain pellet doing 18 fpe.

 

[SteveV]

Nice shot, just goes to show you don't have to have north of 30 fpe for squirrel!

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Nice shot, just goes to show you don't have to have north of 30 fpe for squirrel!

I was surprised at 40 yards it was a full pass thru and still hit my one of my backstops with enough force to produce a good thwack.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Well the squirrel i original started with today finally came back out of her hole.

I took a shot on this one and hit what I had thought was vitals. It flopped and then bolted up the tree into a knot hole. I figured it died up there, but I noticed a few minutes ago that it came out onto a branch and was still alive.

Turns out I hit in the neck/collar bone area and it missed the vitals and ended up on the back side of the rib cage. The 2nd pic here shows the lump under the skin where the pellet is.

She was facing away from me and up about 20 feet. I knew she was near death so just about any shot would do. I went for the Texas heart shot, but was a little left. Hit in the left hip and came out the front left leg. Not even any blood on those, she had bled mostly out.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

I was out doing my duty clearing out the sparrows. Got 6 of them, and I was lining up another one when I noticed this poor bastard hopping around in the background.

I took an off hand shot about 40 yards while he had his head down below the grass. I honestly thought I'd miss and spook him, but he dropped and then did the flop dance over into the neighbor's yard lol.

View attachment 509474

Pretty much a perfect shot. Went in just below the left ear and came out the right eye. AEA center punch 15.9 grain pellet doing 18 fpe.

View attachment 509475View attachment 509476

Great shot!

Nice shot, just goes to show you don't have to have north of 30 fpe for squirrel!

I always figured everyone just wants more power. I've read it only takes 5-6fpe with a .25

 

[Ranchibi]

Great shooting on both, nice pics!

 

[Gerry52]

 

[JimD]

Nice kills. The second one reminds me of one I hit with my P35-177 about in the throat. It bled profusely and initially fell from the tree but then climbed back up about 10 feet and sat there looking at me and my dog. Then it fell and my dog shook him a few times to finish him off. Neck shots have consistently worked well for me even if my placement is not perfect. But the larger calibers do provide a little more margin for less than ideal placement in my experience.

I killed one with a pump up 177 that had about 5 fpe but I won't use it again on a squirrel. I hit the shoulder and the pellet broke it but did not get to the vitals. So the squirrel died but it took over a day. It could not climb and couldn't run very well. I don't think guns at that low a power level should in general be used. I did not even like the results with my original Prod tune of about 13 fpe but it did work as long as my placement was good. It it tuned to about the same fpe as my P35-177 (18-19) and has similar results. Any reasonable hit kills them quickly. I like my 30-50 fpe airguns too and I think they kill a little quicker and give a little more placement margin but for backyard shooting I like my under 20 fpe airguns. They are quiet with adequate power and their pellet doesn't carry as far if I miss (but I am still careful what is behind where my gun is pointed).