doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Decline of the Side-by-Side

I thought seriously of "multi-use" for birds and game and decided one or the other afield 50 years ago. I have one rifle/smooth in aircraft survival kit, the right place for me. RWTF is right on: .22s for squirrels are a great start for hunting, still or running. When we were kids it made no difference.

Stan yes and I do. The more I snip off the poorer they hide me and my dog and boat. And of course pushing the boat in concentrates the stems along the gunnels.

If memory is correct in the fall squirrel season of 1964 I was introduced to Standard Velocity .22 LRs. Prior to that, I had not even known they existed. After trying them I never looked back & have shot almost nothing since. The Squirrels simply do not pay as much attention to one of them going off as they do to the Sonic Crack of a Hi-Vel .22 LR. Never found them lacking in killing power if one shoots straight. Once rolled over two young groundhogs with one shot, I thought I was shooting at one didn't see the one behind him. Also knocked out a few coons which showed before dark while squirrel hunting with them.

I was never a really good pistol shot but did kill some squirrels with a Roger Mark 1 as well as a groundhog or so with it. The problem there was simply one of shoot-ability.

And, I thought I hunted in some bad stuff. But, if there's any way possible I get out of the boat, hide it a ways off, and slip back to the hole in waders. Can't always, I know how it is.

Can't say I ever shot behind one because I was pushing brush out of the way with my barrels, tho'. Hang in there, halk.

SRH

2-piper, have you ever tried subsonics? The high grade subsonic hollow points are more accurate and quieter than the standard velocity ammo, in my experience. Just as deadly but less meat damage should you miss the head shot.

I always used .22 shorts, for the same reason. My rifle, a 552 Remington, with a K4 on it, was THE squirrrel rifle in my group of buddies, and would cycle garage sale .22 short, long, and long rifle interchangeably. The Marlins, Winchester�s and whatnot all demanded LR ammunition.

My 552 autoloader is about as accurate as my 581 bolt action, and that is actually saying something.

Best,
Ted

Stan, I suspect halk hunts waterfowl in similar conditions and temps as I do. You aren�t standing in waders in water for very long when there is ice forming where the reeds meet the water. If you can�t find something to stand on, you have to use the boat.

Ted;
When I was doing most of my Squirrel hunting I was shooting a Mossberg, 144MC as I recall, with a 7 shot detachable magazine. (Most incorrectly call these Clips). It had a spacer rod you could screw in the bottom of the magazine to block it off for shorts. I bought one brick of short hollowpoints & tried them. It was a Tack Driver with the Standard Vel LR but shot about a 40% pattern in the 30" circle with shorts. Was a lot more economical to stay with the LRs than acquire another gun which might not shoot right either. If I had been serious into groundhogs & such larger critters I likely would have gone with high-speed hollow points, but for the squirrel, I just stayed with regular standard velocity solids. Neither killing power nor meat destruction was ever a problem with them. When I started a had an economical source for CIL (Canuck) brand which I used for quite a while. As this rifle did not have a dovetailed receiver I machined a dovetail rail out of aluminum & anodized it black, using a car battery & Rit Dye. Mounted a Bushnell 3x7 .22 scope with a 7/8" tube. After I used it a bit I set it to 5 power & never moved it again. The 5 power setting gave it a large enough exit pupil it was bright right up to dark. I went to work early in the mornings so did a lot of my hunting in the afternoons.

At that point the "Target" loads were about 3*times as expensive, "Perhaps" they would have shrunk my group size by �" but it just wasn't worth the expense. I got the CILs from a gentleman I worked with who coached a junior rifle league & he would let me have all I wanted at cost. I would probably have to have driven at least 50-75 miles to have even found a dealer who stocked the standards at that time, much less the higher quality stuff.

Later I did find a dealer who ran a Country Gunshop who kept a good supply of both types, but I had done so well with the regular stuff I just stayed with it, shot mostly Win T22s after that.

Those 552s were nice rifles incidentally, in fact, I don't think I ever shot an older Remington .22 from their lowly Single shots on up that didn't shoot way above what their price would reflect.

I had taken that old Mossberg in on a trade for something in my younger & less intelligent days & soon found the only way to recoup my investment was to shoot it out of it, which I did. I could not in any way badmouth its shoot-ability as long as I stuck with the LRs.

I had an 1890 Winchester growing up that shot only shorts and it was great with them. But when it had to be relined, I changed it to long rifle and use subsonics.

I have many squirrel rifles but my favorite is a very tricked out 1885 Winchester which usually has a 4x Unertl SG scope on it, though it might be equipped with an MVA tang sight instead.

In any event, discovering high quality subsonics (I prefer Eley), has been a game changer in so many ways.
Brent

BrentD, since you are such an expert on most everything, do you still think that golden retrievers are more dangerous than coyotes?





Pets, children, or chickens must never be permitted to be outside in your yard... according to BrentD, well known expert on most everything.