I been using h/p on squirrel for yrs.Do you think solid point would be as effective on the kill and not tearing up the meat as bad? I could try some s/p and see for myself and probally will I was just curious.

Daddy used to do pretty good using .22 shorts (solid point - no hollow point). But, I've seen squirrels finally give it up even after being shot in the gut with a CCI mini-mag. But, like you say, it's not much left. I think it's more about where the bullet hits than how much damage the bullet makes.

Just my 2¢...

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If I Ain't Crappie Fishin', I'm Thinkin' About It

Thats all I ever used back in by squirrel hunting days.

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Work is for people that don't know how to fish!

Bill H. PTC USN Ret
Chesapeake, Va

i love sq hunting and hunt almost always with a 22 rifle just to put a twist on your question with an answer i have tried all types of shells flats, round , pointed , hollow, regular speed and hyper. but the best i ever shot was eley subsonic in a hollow point guess the slow speed and soft lead get the shock needed and have shot them in the ribs and have lost very little if any meat. so i would suggest any subsonic hollow point .
good luck season comes in in 5 days here in maryland .

Scott

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Life comes at you fast ... Better have a net...

Scott Beitzel
Western maryland

was done with a 22LR Hollow Point shell. But, I used a scope and tried mainly to make head shots (as long as the squirrel had tree behind him).

I have used a shotgun, but prefer a scoped rifle .... why ?? .... simply because, when they're shot with one well placed round, they're dead when they hit the ground -- when shot with a shotgun, you don't know how many pellets went in or how many found a vital mark. I had an experience that makes my point :
A buddy and I were squirrel hunting w/shotguns, and he shot one out of the top of a very tall tree. When it landed, it fell on solid rock ... and I'm guessing it to have been a 50-60ft fall. It wasn't moving a muscle, and I'm thinking that ... if the shot didn't kill it, the fall surely did (or at least finished the job)
WRONG !!! ... when I went to pick it up, it bit me Luckily I was wearing fairly heavy gloves, and the bite was minor. After a few well placed gun butt taps to the head, the drama was over.
I've also noticed, when cleaning a shotgun shot squirrel ... that many of the pellets barely made it thru the hide. Never had to pick any 22 lead out of the meat (or my mouth)

.... cp

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Thanks for the replies all. Im going to give the solid points a try and hope they work better.

IF you can find them try CCI mini-mag solid head I can't always find them but thay work real good on tree rats

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Just my two cents

A vote for target grade stuff and head shot here.
Don't matter much what kinda bullet when you pop his
lil' noggin a good one

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Shoals Area Crappie Association

Well I have went down both these roads...I started out with a little lock 410 Winchester that I still have, in a full choke. Graduated to a 20 guage Wing Master and then went crazy as a loon with a 3" Mossberg Magnum. You know how you do when you are in high school and feeling your oats, THE BIGGER THE BETTER!!! After that I started collecting 22's and never looked back. One of the worst tongue lashin's I ever got was over a limit of fox squirrels and a box of yellow jacket hollow points. My dad was raised in a good country home but they was brought up not to waste anything, NOT EVEN THE HEAD!!! So when I showed up in camp with that limit of fox squirrels missing the better part of all the heads he went a little NUTTTS!!! So after that it was solids, like dad said, if you can shoot you can kill them just as dead!!! I never was much on body shots. I was always a EYE MAN...lol..or a occasional neck shot if I could not see it's eyes...lol. SO MY VOTE IS FOR SOLIDS...and save their tails for jigs and spinners...lol..REMEMBER, DON'T WASTE ANYTHING!!!!!!

what you should do is get a half dozen different brands of cartridges and try different ones to see which brand shoots the best in your rifle. i have two rifles i squirrel hunt with. a ruger 77/22 and a cz varmit rifle. the ruger likes eley orange and the cz likes cci green tag competetion. standard velocity sp cartridges work fine for me. i dont like the high velocity stuff because the mfg standards arent as strict and you will get a lot of fliers, which wont be good on a small target like a squirrel, gettin you a bad hit or a miss. if you got your rifle sighted in correctly, you shouldnt have a problem making head or chest shots. any gut shot animal is gonna give you problems, wether its a squirrel or a elk. I think rws makes a standard velocity hp. i bought a brick once and got good service out of em, but went back to the sp's because they are more readily available, plus i sold the rifle that shot em the best.

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If it aint UGLY, it aint worth the price..