Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Remington .410 Pump for Squirrels

I haven't shot at many squirrels at all with a .22lr.
Maybe a few, and I was impressed by using a hollow point with a Ruger 10/22.
But I have shot many, many more using a Remington .410 pump.
If a squirrel is moving around in the tree tops, or you have a chance to shoot them where you find them when they’re moving from place to place through the woods,
it's hard to beat the .410, especially for not peppering them with too much shot.
Also when a squirrel is hugging the top side of a tree branch, staying perfectly still and trying to avoid being seen, and all you can locate is a wisp of its
tail hairs blowing in the breeze with the help of a monocular, I'd take a shot at the underside of the branch to get it to move, and then the game is on.
As he'll bound from branch to branch and present himself with multiple moving shots, the ..410 is definitely up to the task.
I made my choice a long time ago.
The .410 requires aiming almost like a rifle, can have a 40+ yard reach with a full choke, and doesn't allow very many to get away.
It allows the hunter to storm the location of a chattering squirrel from a distance after using some stealth to get into a closer position, even if it knows that you're coming, as long as its hole isn't in that tree.
Sometimes an Olt bellows type squirrel call can help with that, or can get them to start chattering when there doesn’t seem to be any squirrels out & moving about within a close distance.
And a .410 helps a squirrel hunter to cover a lot of ground, especially on state lands where not all squirrels are out of their nest at the same time.
I've even had squirrels fall and get stuck in the crotch where two branches will intersect up in a tree after being shot out of the tree top.
And sometimes just 2 or 3 well placed shots can dislodge the dead quarry and send it falling to the ground.
Yep, the .410 with 3 inches of #6 shot is good squirrel medicine.
Always make sure that the eyes of what you think is a dead squirrel are open, because if they’re not then the squirrel is only unconscious.
I learned that lesson once after it fell out of the tree tops and then when I went up to bag the critter, it suddenly woke up and bounded away.
Yep, sometimes squirrels lose their balance and fall out of the tree tops too when they’re being shot at.
There have been some moving shots that I’ve been fortunate enough to make with a .410 when they're trying to bound away from me through the tree tops that have even surprised myself.
I’m relatively sure that if a person is willing to give a .410 pump a try then the chances are that they’ll like it.
It promotes a little bit of a different style of squirrel hunting than with a .22lr.
It's a little more of an up close and personal style of hunting, that can involve more action shooting into the tops of the highest trees.
But not always as sometimes they're moving on the ground.
In some places, one needs to be as quiet as possible and tiptoe through the leaves.
At other times, you want to try to move with a few small short series of steps like a squirrel would make, so that any squirrel in the vicinity will think that you’re just another squirrel or a deer.
Some of the best deer scouting that I’ve ever done was while squirrel hunting.
That also helped to teach me to be a better deer hunter too, how to act like your quarry when in the woods.
And such as how to move through the woods and to be aware, to allow you to see the game before it can see you.
That's what it's all about. seeing the game first or reacting before it can get away.
Thanks to Remington for all of the squirrel hunting memories with their .410 pump!
One can only hope that there’s more .410 memories to come.

"The .410 requires aiming almost like a rifle, can have a 40+ yard reach with a full choke, and doesn't allow very many to get away. "

Your .410 must pattern WAY better than mine does.

I grew up with a Savage model 24 .22lr/.410 o/u with selective hammer. I liked being able to decide what type of shot to take, and what was needed. For that matter, I've taken deer with .410 deer slugs. I like a .410.

That's why I switched to the Remington pump after starting out with a single shot.
It's a combination of the sighting rib and using good shells I think.
I like the Winchester shells the best. But most shoot well.
And also, only a few well placed balls of #6 shot are needed to kill a squirrel.
One in the head can do it, or 2 to 3 in the chest.
There's usually a few pellets that will hit the legs and lodge just under the skin, or in the muscle that can also break a leg.
But it's usually only a few pellets that need to make it into the head or chest.
When cleaning them, it's easy to see where the pellets end up.
I was never as successful with an H&R single shot without a sighting rib, and the ability to make quicker follow up shots.

It has been several years since I pattern tested a .410 but my freezer paper results showed 25 yards as my max sure clean kill range. I had back surgery last year and this will be my first season back in the squirrel woods in a long time. If I use a shotgun it will be my 28 gauge. Amazing patterns from a light weight gun.

I've been fooling with 4 different .22s all Summer in anticipation to "limb chicken" season. A S&W model 17, a Ruger Mark II with Volquartsen trigger upgrades, a Browning reproduction of the Model 52 and a 10-22 with a Kidd trigger and barrel.


My wife and I have been scouting the woods around the house and we have the best mast crop I have ever seen in the NC Mountains. We counted 8 squirrels on our last outing.... I'm pretty sure I've watched every YouTube squirrel cooking clip ever posted