Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires anyone shoot wood and metal rimfires?

thinking back, as a kid here in NE Okla, almost never saw any grays, but then again i hunted around the house and a few miles was all we ever traveled to go hunt, if even that far.......a lot of squirrels bit the dust in the pecan grove behind the house, as i tried my hardest to wear out a tired and somewhat homely old Remmy 514 single shot...

For the most part, now grays count for somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of our kills.

I've been hunting the Missouri Ozark timber for nearly fifty years. We have always had grey squirrels, they probably made up 70% of our big timber squirrel population. Fox squirrels were in the big timber, but were more numerous around farms and wood lots. Interesting that the fox squirrel population in the big blocks of public land timber have steadily declined. It's rare to see a fox squirrel nowadays.

Just got this one yesterday, thanks to another member here on the fire.....Anschutz Model 54.
Mark, if you see this, those Conetrol rings & bases that were on there allowed the 4-12x to clear the barrel by about
the thickness of a piece of paper, and comb height is perfect for that combo.

All of mine are currently blue/wood. Rem 12c, Rem 582, Win77, Browning SA, Win 9422M, Rossi 62, S&W 41, Single Six.

I believe the grays are more aggressive than the fox squirrels and will displace them. We have them both in my area. Used to be almost all fox squirrels except in really large pieces of timber. Fox squirrels do seem to prefer edges and open woods more but the grays are now very common even in yards.

My first .22 rifle was a birthday present for my 13th birthday in 1949. It was a Marlin bolt action .22 tubular feed. short, long and long rifle. It had and still has a peep sight with two aperatures, one with a small aperature and one large. It has a real walnut stock and is blued with all metal parts with the exception of a plastic trigger guard. It has been exceptionally accurate for a 1948
retail priced rimfire ($21.95) rifle. Our farm on the edge of the Willamette valley was inundated by greydigger squirrels. Took me about a year to thin out the "herd". That was in the days of being able to buy a brick of .22 LR hollow points for less than what a box of 50 goes for now. I still have it.

Old .22s are cool. Most of the new stuff doesn't catch my interest. Which is probably a good thing!

Wood and steel 22 LR rifles? Youbetcha.

Loved reading about Don Lewis articles in Gun Digest and Penn Game News / The Shooter’s Corner about his love of squirrel hunting with accurate 22 LR rifles in the 1970’s. That’s what got me started.

Have had several...

Current inventory:

CZ 452 American
Winchester 310 ( single shot)
Rem 540x. (single shot)
Anschutz 1411 match rifle ( 1970’s era with dual extractors)
Marlin model 60

And... a Marlin 880 squirrel gun 7 rd mag, ( ok , it has a black composite stock - not wood, but it is a heavy barreled bolt action 22LR, and a heck of a shooter, once you stone down the sear engagement to 3 lbs). I’m sure Don Lewis would’ve approved of it, and liked shooting it. 1/2” groups at 50 yards with CCI standard velocity would’ve made him smile.



Have had ( past tense):

Marlin 39a Article II ( gave it to my niece)
Rem 581 (single shot)
Rem 510 (single shot)
Rem 511 ( 5 round mag)
Rem 521
Ruger 10/22 carbine ( w/ barrel band)
Mossberg 144 heavy barrel (7 rd mag)
Winchester model 75 Target w/ grooved receiver (5 rd mag)
Winchester model 69a w/ grooved receiver (5 rd mag). ( gave it to my other niece)
Marlin 783 22 mag , 7 rd mag, ( great 100 -125 yard woodchuck gun)

Hard to imagine finding something to do which is more fun than spending a few hours plinking / hunting with a nice 22 rimfire rifle.

Hey SCgunnut,

Like the picture of your Savage 24 o/u. What kind of accuracy do you get with it? We grew up with. Savage 22/410. Never really shot groups with it, but don’t remember missing a lot with it during plinking sessions. It did not have a grooved barrel for scope mounting. My brother has it now. Your picture brought back some very nice memories.

That one is a .22 Mag/20ga, also have a .22LR/.410. Anyway, the one in the pic will shoot one hole @ 25 yards with Winchester FMJ, which is about all I shoot in it.

Most of mine are wood and blued steel, which like others on here, is my favorite.

SCGunNut...is that a fairly common color phase for squirrels in your area?...really cool looking....

There goes the neighborhood......

Up until a few years ago, I hunted a piece of land that was full of Fox Squirrels. Saw all sorts of color combinations. I killed two of the blacks, this one with the .22LR/.410.





My favorite was this one, also with the same .22 Mag/20ga.







Unfortunately, I lost that lease 5 years ago and don't see the Foxes where I hunt now, which isn't that far from the old property.

Same where I do most of my squirrel hunting in the panhandle of WV. I kill perhaps one or two fox squirrels a year and they are invariably along a creek bottom through a field.

I tried to post a pic but the file is to big my favorite right now is a marlin xt 22 mag tube fed with a fluir de lis(sp?) Stock

All of mine are either blued steel/walnut furniture or blued steel hardwood furniture, no stainless and no Tupperware.

2 Savage 24J-DL's - 22 Mag over 20 gauge walnut
1 Savage 24 Series S 22 mag over 20 gauge walnut
2 Savage 24 Series S 22 Mag over 20 gauge hardwood(birch I think, I refinished)
1 Savage 24C Camper 22 rimfire over 20 gauge hardwood
1 Marlin Papoose 22 Rimfire hardwood
1 Stevens Favorite model 30 22 mag walnut (reproduction)
1 Remington model 580 bolt action 22 rimfire hardwood
1 Remington model 552 Speedmaster semi 22 rimfire walnut
1 Marlin MN 25 bolt action 22 mag hardwood.

Don't have pics of all of them but here's a few pics.

Them are some fancy squirrels

All of my rimfires are wood and metal.. Have to get some photos..