For decades I've used Eley Tenex or similar premo match ammo for squirrels. I strive for head shots but shot a fair percentage through the chest too, and have never lost one, and don't recall many if any second shots to finish them off. Putting a solid 40 grain bullet through a squirrel's chest at 1000fps is like putting a 50mm shell at 1000fps through you or me. Death is the result and expansion isn't necessary IMO.
Hollowpoints to me are secondary to pure accuracy. If I find an accurate HP load, great. If not a HP, great too.
I did latch onto a brick of Federal Hunter Match HP's for curiosity sakes this year, and shot a couple 50 yard backyard groundhogs with them. Through the neck and dead right there. Pretty slim statistical proof but there you have it. I was/am impressed by the paper accuracy of those rounds too. In reality, previous garden marauder groundhogs succumbed to Eley Tenex in the head/neck too, as did a couple with .22 shorts.
