Rimfire Gray Squirrels

6mm06

Well-known member
Yesterday evening and again this morning brought back a lot of old memories of squirrel hunting. Time has a way of getting by and when I stopped to think about it, it has been several years since I actually did some squirrel hunting, something I dearly love.

Yesterday evening I only got one squirrel but did see a couple more. It was a nice evening. A head shot dropped it on the spot. I used a reconfigured Ruger 10/22 that I have had for many years. I put a Hogue green stock on it, a new factory take-off barrel and I had the trigger lightened to just slightly over two pounds.










This morning I returned to the same place. Squirrels were everywhere. Seems there are a lot of them this year.
This time I used a Remington 541-S that is a real tack driver. It has accounted for a lot of squirrels over the years.
Three more head shots resulted in more meat in the freezer.










Seems that predators have taken up most of my hunting time for the last several years, but these two squirrel hunts
have renewed my memories of good days. I may even go again soon. It's been a long time since I had squirrel gravy.



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Good on ya! While I don't do nearly as much squirrel hunting as I used to, I truly love it.
 
That 541 is a real beauty. Reminds me of my youth when my quarry was small, but my imagination was large. Thanks
 

Originally Posted By: atdThat 541 is a real beauty.

In all honesty, the squirrel hunting photos don't do it justice. In the photos, the stock appears to be a yellowish color while in reality
it's a rather nice piece of medium-dark walnut. You know how cameras are. Here's a photo that shows the wood better.




Problem with the 541 as well as the 581 is finding a 5-round magazine. Remington stopped making them years ago and
they are as scarce as hen's teeth now. I saw one on Gunbroker today with a price tag of $100, and that for a little
piece of plastic. The 10-round mags are still available, but stick out too far from the stock and look rather lame.
You would think that someone would have come up with a metal magazine somewhere along the way.

Otherwise, the rifle is a tack driver. It has an adjustable trigger like the 700 does.

 
6mm06,
I think I have one in the miscellaneous drawer (junk drawer) of my gun cabinet. If I can find it, it's yours. I am bowhunting this weekend and won't have time to look for it until early next week. I'll let you know...

Gary
 

Wow guys, that is very considerate. I will be glad to pay you something for them (5-round mag), only I can't pay Gunbroker rates. LOL.
 
Brought back memories of hunting them with my dad. Always needed to hunt them with a 22. I missed my share of them with a single shor 22 rifle back in the day!
 
Sorry for taking so long. My son killed a little buck with his bow Sunday and we had it in the cooler the last couple days and then cut it up this afternoon. I'm pretty sure I have one, however a quick first look this evening didn't turn it up. I don't know, it might even be at dads house. I'll keep looking and let you know if I can figure out where I placed it last. And no, I while I appreciate the offer you cannot buy it. I'll be happy to send it to you no charge however.
 

GC, that's very kind of you and I sincerely appreciate your effort in trying to locate it. This further illustrates the helpfulness and brotherhood that so many PM members show toward one-another. Hopefully I will be able to return the favor sometime.

Congrats to your son on his bow-killed buck. Some fine eating is in store no doubt.
 

Originally Posted By: Weaves I missed my share of them with a single shor 22 rifle back in the day!

I still miss even now. Hitting a tiny squirrel head at 40 or 50 yards, or even closer, is not always an easy task even with an accurate rifle. It's easier when one is sitting on a limb chewing on a nut, but when they are moving up and down trees, out on limbs and across the forest floor, it's not as easy. For the most part, they are a lot like coyotes in that they don't stand still for very long. After the two hunts I talked about above, I went yet another morning for a third hunt and missed two shots right from the start, but did get a squirrel after that.

Rimfire hunting is a lot of fun. I could (and have many times) put more squirrels in the bag by using a shotgun, but the fun of the hunt with a rimfire ranks right up there.

 
Fifty years ago, small game hunting was the only hunting that I got to do. There were very few deer, no turkey, no coyotes, just rabbits, quail and squirrels. I loved squirrel hunting and did a lot of it back when I was growing up. It had been many, many years since I did any serious squirrel hunting, but after I retired this spring, I made myself a promise that I was going to catch up on my hunting. I live right smack dab in the middle of a 300 acre farm, and over the past few years 've noticed a huge increase in squirrel numbers, both grey and fox. They are literally everywhere, and this year they were really doing damage around the corn fields. I decided to thin them out some, but had no idea of the numbers I would see. When I was 12 years old, I got my first rifle, a Remington 511 Scoremaster. This is the one with the clip. It was, and still is, one of the most accurate 22's I've ever shot. I hadn't shot it much lately, but drug it out and zeroed it at 50 yards and took it hunting. To date, I've killed 40 squirrels over the past month, and have hardly dented the population. It's been a hoot, and has brought back a lot of memories. Wish I could share some pics, but I have trouble posting them here.
 
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fw707, message sent.

Kymailman, good job on the squirrels. If you have photos, I'll post them for you if you want.

I remember those days too when squirrels and rabbits, and a few grouse were all we had to hunt. There were zero deer and turkey, and no coyotes either. Squirrel hunting here was a big event. Driving to our squirrel hunting grounds on opening day would reveal cars parked everywhere along side the old mountain highway. I remember those early mornings just as the sun came up (we always got in the woods before daylight) and I would begin to hear a shot or two ring out on distant ridges and knew someone was having some luck. Then usually after settling in for a bit I would hear hickory nut shells hitting the ground, and maybe a tree limb swaying. That is as exciting to a man now as it was a boy then. Back then we used a shotgun this time of year when all the foliage was still on, "cutting season" as we called it. Later in the winter after the leaves were gone we used our little female Mountain Feist to tree them. It was a great time. We didn't waste the meat either and had squirrel meat on the table often. I even remember making a squirrel sandwich that was so tasty.

This evening I went yet again to the same place I did in the posts above, my 4th hunt this year. It was a beautiful evening, quiet except for some leaves that were dropping from the trees. The woods in colored foliage is spectacular right now, especially the hickories with their yellow leaves. It's a beautiful time.

Right off the bat I missed a squirrel with the 541-S. I tried a head shot at probably 50 yards or so. It was difficult to get a good rest. He didn't sit still for very long and kept moving, not to mention all the foliage to deal with as well as a very small target. Anyway, shortly after I dropped one and then continued sitting quietly. After a little while another came along and ran up the tree, then stopped to wag his tail at me. Big mistake. I got him with a head shot. The first one was a body shot, something I don't like to take but sometimes have to. I ended up with two for the evening, missed one and heard at least three more squacking. I'm already anxious to go back.






 
Well you made up my mind. Guess I'm taking out my 541-T out this week. I couldn't decide on that or a .17 rimfire. Thats a pretty 541 you have there. I'm with you on those stupid plastic magazines though. I'd by half a dozen metal ones if somebody made them.
 
What ammo you using? The last 6 - 7 years I started using the subsonic hollow points, Ely when they were available and reasonable in price. That certainly isn't the case now. Then I found the Winchester 40 gr. truncated cone hollow points and love them. They are accurate, quiet and extremely terminal. And close to impossible to find now. Before the subsonics I used the Ely high speed hollow point. That was a magical load, sadly now extinct.
 

GC, once upon a time I used solid lead match bullets. They worked well in not ruining meat but the squirrels didn't always drop right then and there. After shooting a lot of squirrels with them, I decided I needed something to drop them quicker, so I purchased a box of the bulk-pack Federal 36 gr. copper plated HPs. That worked great, but on body shots it sometimes does more damage than I want, but not always. The accuracy from those loads work very well in most everything I use, so I have stuck with them. I managed to get a couple of 550 round boxes of them so I have enough for years of squirrel hunting fun.

 
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