Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Lethality of .22 cal pellets on gray squirrels

Does anybody on here hunt gray squirrels with an air rifle? My wife gave me an RWS 48 in .22 for Christmas, and much to my dismay, my first squirrel was not harvested cleanly. It took two rounds to the head, two to the chest, and at least one in the hind quarters to put him down. Range was 30 yd give or take, about 50 feet up in the tree, broadside. I was using Crossman 14.3 gr hollow point premiers. I do not have a chrony, but the rifle is advertised to shoot roughly 900 fps. Are these results typical?

I was really dismayed that the shot under the ear did not anchor the squirrel. I could not tell that he reacted at all to the shots through the lungs either. One head shot was a little to far forward, but the one under the ear should have got him. Also, the pellets did not mushroom at all, acting like solids.

Are your rifles sensitive to hold when shot from leaning on the tree? I thought I had tested this at the range and did not notice any differences, but perhaps I did not experiment enough. I was careful to keep my hand between the stock and the tree though and thought that would be enough.

Appreciate any advice.

I've never hunted squirrels with a pellet gun. That said, I'd suggest that the squirrel did't run with the first and subsiquent hits IS a reaction.

Thirty yards out and 50 feet up seems a very long shot. At that range I'd think velocity loss would be significant.

I've READ that supporting a pellet gun does change point of impact.

I can tell you that a .17cal will kill a 10 pound soft shell turtle a 8' DRT.(Body shot)

Just my $.02.

The shot you describe to the head would flatten that squirrel easily with 750fps.

I've done that countless times with a .20 sheridan rifle that has less power. I can't imagine what is the issue if that squirrel was hit in the head with a pellet from that rifle and did not fold stone dead?

Maybe head shot is not brain shot? The head is much bigger then the brain. Body shots are different, they can run to a nest and die inside. But an actual brain shot is game over.

Do yourself a favor and order some JSB Diablo Exacts in the 18.13gr size. They're by far the best .22 cal pellets I've used on squirrels, rabbits, and other vermin. The Predator PolyMags work well too, as they are simply JSBs with the polymer tip, and they can be devastating on body shots, but they're not quite as accurate in the 30-50 yard range.

Also... squirrels are pretty damn tough when you're talking about pellet gun quarry. Shot placement is paramount, and small misses often lead to bad results.

Thanks for the tip, I have been meaning to order some of those from Pyramyd Air but have just not gotten to it yet. I am very glad to know there is better ammo out there.

I agree with you on squirrels being tough. I have seen the same thing happen when using SS HP out of a .22 LR, so I know they can take a good hit and still be going. Just was surprised that it took this much effort. Doubly surprising was that it was a young squirrel, we call them fryers, and not a tough old boar.

There is likely truth to this, especially the part of precision and anatomy, so I mounted a higher power scope to make sure I can see more detail next time. It was hard to tell eye from ear with the RWS 4x scope that came with the rifle.

You make a good point I had not thought of. At the time I was thinking he was just a stupid young squirrel, but he may have been bleeding out from the lung hits too. One of the shots did nick the spine.

Much prefer them to fall out from the first round though.

The Premiers is what I've run in 20 cal and shot several squirrels dead, at around 680 mv.......and out to a good distance, 50-70 yds...

RWS guns sometimes prefer RWS pellets like the Roundnose dome and the pointed ones. Bore size varies in airguns, and pellets vary as well.

I think you will find that gun deadly on squirrels

Do any of you have experience with a .25 Marauder? Since pellets do not mushroom like .22 LRs on impact it may be better to use a larger round. Just wondering if it makes that big a difference on lethality and also if trajectory is suitable for gray squirrels. Most of the time range is under 40 yd, but as someone pointed out it needs to be precise as the kill zone is very small. I have been thinking about one for sometime, just have not talked myself into it because of the hassle of supplying air to a PCP. It may be necessary however, especially if the .22 SSP is not sufficient.

You don't need more then .22

The .25's have a more complicated trajectory in my opinion making shot placement far more difficult

I would sooner go to the .20 with a beeman RX2 that is probably the best small game self contained rifle made

Interesting, both RWS hollow points and field points came with the rifle package but I shot them all before getting to hunt with it. Might need to order some more. Thanks!

I was not aware of the RX before, thanks for the tip. Tell us about it if you can.

I owned one in .22 for about two to three years. It was everything you could ever hope for in a self-contained air rifle.

A very good friend of mine with a couple young boys, teenagers also really loved it. They booked a hunt with me in Africa that year. When we got home I loaned the rifle to them to hunt with now and again. They had both shown me they were responsible good kids. It was actually spending more time with them, than with me! I eventually just gifted it to the youngest boy and he still has it today.

There is not a day that goes by when I'm hunting with the TX200 that I don't wonder if I screwed up and should have bought the RX2 again instead. I do love the TX200, but the RX2 is, in my opinion, the absolute best self-contained hunting air rifle I've ever laid hands on.

One hole accurate, instant firing cycle with the gas cylinder, can leave it cocked forever I guess? No spring inside. Hunting with it cocked and ready to go was nice. The ability to reset the safety was also quite nice. The Power...... Astonishing from an air rifle!

As I am writing this now, I want to zip over to the Airguns of Arizona web page and buy one now! The gun is also known as the HW90, actually it's this company that built them for Beeman. The Beeman version has the laminated stock though. Mine shot an actual 840fps with 14.3 Crossman premiers. Not some ultra light weight pellets. However the 15.9 JSB's were the most accurate by far. They clocked in at just about 800 or a bit under. To put into perspective I was framing an addition on my house. I set up some 2X4 stubs to knock over. They were unsupported standing on end. At 30 yards the pellets did not exit, but the wood splineterd out the back. That's a massive level of power from a self contained air gun!

Thank you, sounds nice. I almost bought an HW 95 myself.

The safeties are one thing you don't often hear referred to. Mine is automatic, and it can not be reset once disengaged. I hunt by myself most of the time so it is not a big deal, but I wonder how they deal with it in a match setting? Unsettling to know you have to fire the rifle to make it safe.

Killed 120-130 with my .25 marauder the last two (combined)seasons.Absolutely love that gun-hits like a hammer!Mine is shooting a chronoed 850 fps with JSB pellets.0n at 30 yards,about 1.25" low @ 50.Extremely accurate compared to the springers I have owned,1/2" groups at 50 yards are the norm.

Have killed literally hundreds of rock chucks with 14.3gr Premiers at 650fps MV. My guess is you hit a little low and did not hit brain or spine.

Owned a 34 in 22. Buried premiers in a Pallet at 60 yds.

Dropped squirrels dead at 70 yds running in power line w a FWB 124 w body shot. Led about two feet and held high. Guess I got lucky. Him. Not so much

Don't overthink it on one sample. I once meant to sting one w a BB via one or two pumps and a daisy 880. It dropped him at 30 yds....

Killed many squirrels, coons, ground hogs with my 22 marauder, I use the JSB 18.13 gr. Shot groundhogs out to 52 yards with head shots and all they do is surrender by raising there tail. Squirrels are head shots under the bird feeder 38 yards out, in one side of the head and out the other, sometimes they flop around alittle but most of the time there DRT. Can't wait to see what PA is going to allow what we can use a airgun on.

Did a little testing yesterday and found that the further I extend my left arm on the forearm, the lower it shot. I think that might be why the first shot was not in the brain cavity.

Still don't know why the shot under the ear did not drop him, but I have some of those JSBs and Polymags they were talking about on the way so maybe they will perform a little better. Hope to hunt again later in the week and give it a try.

Thanks guys!

Re: the head shot. I once shot (with a .22LR) a squirrel in the head. Bullet entered behind the right ear and exited the inside edge of his left eye. That squirrel ran from one side of the tree to the other and jumped to another tree. He died in mid air during that jump.

Guess sometimes they ain't dead yet no matter where you hit them.