I used my 40 cal Lancaster (head shots) and my 20 ga Chief's gun. I loaded the smoothbore with one ounce of #2 shot over 80 grains of Goex.
#2 shot may seem like over kill. But I shot a ton of squirrel with #6 shot out of a 20 ga, 870 as a kid. Usually tore them up, and left pellets in the meat.
Thinking fewer pellets would cause less damage and larger pellets would penetrate totally, I loaded #2 and took some #6 in case my theory didn't work. Well it worked like a charm. I was able to make mostly head only shots with the smoothbore and no pellets remained in the meat.
Other hunters were shooting 32, 36, and 40 caliber flint rifles. There was another smoothbore in camp but he didn't use it preferring his rifle. One hunter loads his 36 cal with 15 grains of powder. It sounded like a pop gun when he fired, but he knocked them out of the tree with head shots.
The recipe for squirrel and gravy was awesome! Using a 14 inch Dutch oven, 14 squirrel hind quarters were floured and seasoned, then browned in lard. Those were removed, and flour, butter milk, sliced onion, and a little water added to make gravy. The meat was returned to the gravy, the lid placed on the oven, covered with coals and baked for 30 - 45 minutes.
Those were the most tender squirrels I've ever eaten.
