.223 squirrel hunt

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Last Post 05 November 2020

CBA Member

cfp4570 posted this 28 October 2020

I had a nice leisurely walk in the woods Monday afternoon and took along my H&R 223 with some cast squirrel loads. 2 shots, 2 eastern gray squirrels for the pot. 3.5 grains Red Dot, Lee 55 grain flat point cast of range scrap and lubed with liquid alox. Yes, the barrel has been lopped to a barely legal 16.5 inches. Still not much more noise than a 22 lr and a lot of fun! Not chronoed, but they do have a super sonic crack. Dropping the charge to 2.5 grains gets them into subsonic territory. Farthest shot was only 30ish yards, I like them in close! Bullet casting adds so much versatility to a rifle! Non cast shooters are missing out!

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JeffinNZ posted this 29 October 2020

Awesome. Not nearly enough hunting reports

Cheers from New Zealand

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mashburn posted this 29 October 2020

Hello cfp4570,

Glad to see a post pertaining to hunting with cast bullets.

Thanks, Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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Fitzpatrick posted this 30 October 2020

I just had a good squirrel hunt myself last week not cast bullets but it was homemade black powder loaded in the ole 12 gauge just wanted to see how it perform in the shotgun. H.ere in our part of OK we have the red squirrel they hold still a bit better than the fast moving grays do.

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CBA Regional Director

MarkinEllensburg posted this 30 October 2020

Thanks for posting. Wish we could hunt squirrel. Miss eating them. Dad used to go back to Iowa each fall and hunt his sister's hundred acre woods.

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mashburn posted this 30 October 2020

Hello Fitzpatrick,

I'm glad to see that there is another Okie who is a member of the CBA. I thought I was the only one. When you mentioned making your own black powder it brought back a lot of childhood memories. When I was about 12 or 13 (that was a long time ago) a neighbor man taught me how to make black powder. I didn't have a muzzle loader or tools to reload shotgun shells but I had a lot of fun with it. One of my favorite things was to take about a 2 inch wood augur with a T handle and drill a hole in a tree (Elms were my favorite) and I would then make a tapered wood plug and cut a little grove along the edge of it for the fuse. I would pack all the powder that I could get in the hole. I would take a piece of my Mom's yarn and rub black powder in it to make a fuse .I would run the fuse in the little grove in the plug and take the biggest hammer I had and drive the plug in as tight as I could. Fortunately I was smart enough to experiment with fuses to see how long it took them to burn or my playing might not have been fun. With a very long fuse I would light it and run like the devil.

Making my own firecrackers turned out not to be as much fun. If you are ever in Southeastern Oklahoma, give me a call and I'll take you on a Gray Squirrel hunt with a few red's thrown in. I'll carry a big bore handgun in case the hogs get after us. It's really nice to hear from another Oklahoma member. I would like to hear from someone who makes their own shotgun drop shop. I made very crude shot when I was a kid but would like to know how without a lot of high tech equipment.

Thanks for the article,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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CBA Member

Fitzpatrick posted this 30 October 2020

Mr Mashburn, I would love to gorget a few tree rat and a hog for a bonus what a blessing that would be . The farmers up here in western OK around El Reno to be more precise hat the hogs but I love hunting and eating them ,give me year round big game hunting and opportunity to try out my soft lead paper patched bullet from many different rifles ,but anyway one dayI will make a special trip as one just doesn't just happen to be in the area of south eastern OK or if you get up this way I keep two hog lights on two feeders going all the time , well time to go haul some fuel to help pay for my addictions be safe . James

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CBA Member

max503 posted this 30 October 2020

The load posted by the OP is the only one I could get to shoot out of my Tikka. It shoots good enough at 50 yards to kill a squirrel.

I haven't actually hunted many squirrels last few years -- until a week or so ago. Went out with my Marlin and got this one down in the Shawnee Forest. I forgot how good the meat is. I'm going back down there the weekend before Thanksgiving.

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cfp4570 posted this 30 October 2020

Squirrel hunting is still my favorite. Not many fox squirrels in southern Illinois, but they do turn up occasionally. Last year my son and I hunted them a lot with muzzleloaders; a single barrel 12 gauge that's jug choked and a T/C Seneca .36 caliber. Nothing like the sound of that 12 gauge black powder blast echoing through the hills! Squirrel meat is darn good stuff whether fried or made into a pot of dumplings or stew.

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delmarskid posted this 01 November 2020

I think I better get out there with the 222

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Wineman posted this 03 November 2020

Fox Squirrels were introduced to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. They have moved out and have been steadily displacing the native Grey Squirrels. They are considered a pest and not regulated by game laws. They love to find ways into your attic and make a real nuisance of themselves. Some cities have tried to use birth control bait to knock down the population. The only issue is that any kind of firearm or pellet gun discharge is a crime in most CA cities now. Given the damage they cause, my neighbors are mum to any population control I may choose to use.

Dave

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beltfed posted this 03 November 2020

As a kid, in late '50s a friend had bought a Marlin-SakoModel 322, 222Rem/ heavy barrel for $88 mail order from Klein's in Chicago

We target shot with it in his basement with primed cases and 22 cal pellets. But never successful trying to call in foxes.

Quite accurate pellet shooting across the basement. and perhaps it would work ok on squirrels at modest distance with head shots anyways.

IN later life, I bought the rifle and did good with it on PDs in South Dakota in the '80s

Burned out the Microgroove barrel in 5-600rds. Replacement Douglas Prem/12 twist wears an exact same profile.

Still shoots well after a couple more trips to S.D., last in 2009.

beltfed/arnie

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cfp4570 posted this 03 November 2020

Primed cases with 22 pellets is something I've gotta try. Be a good way to thin the Starlings that flock around my bird feeders in the winter and beer can plinking in the shop, with a proper trap of course.

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beltfed posted this 03 November 2020

In the basement we were shooting into a pellet gun trap with the primer powered pellets. No problem;

But, I do NOT suggest a person do pellet loads with added powder. Possible to blow a hole thru the nose of the

hollow pellet and leave it in the barrel.

beltfed/arnie

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CBA President

John Alexander posted this 04 November 2020

Primer powered 22 pellets in a 222 do very well on starlings. I murdered quite a few on a neighboring appartment house rooftop while living in a fifth floor apartment near DuPont Circle in Washington DC while hoping that the Cuban Missile affair wouldn't involve a nuke while I was sitting in the center of the bullseye.

John