Squirrel shooting

[Sterry 0]

was speaking to a few peopl over the months and found out that a fair few people shoot squirrels with a .22lr, now this would be fine but when i asked i found out that they shot them whilst up in trees, although i dont yet own a rifle i would have thought this would be really quite dangerous with the bullet missing and goin god knows how far.

does anyone else do this???

[Fidgety 8]

No, it's fekkin stupid and they should have thier licences revoked!

[whippeter69 88]

Its a bit stupid isnt it, unless you can see a clear hard enough backstop to stop the bullet, then the shot taken is a very unresponsible one, only shoot Greys in the trees with shooties, or even an airgun but never a rifle.

[mole trapper 1,701]

NO deffinetly not , i always use my 6.5x55 i want to make sure it is a clean kill.

[Sterry 0]

its crazy isnt it, im worried about being grant a FAC coz of my age and reletive inexperience and then there some who been shooting for years doin such crazy things as this, who are granted FAC both closed and open by a different licensing office to myself.

[claybusers al 9]

this is an old school rule of thought with modern day knowledge of ballistics we now know it is dangerous and foolish but at 1 time it was quite the done as with rooks as in a .22 rook rifle

[paulus 26]

difficult one this ive never done it myself, but i did sit and watch a myth buster programe on it, they worked out that a 308 bullet fired in the air, came back to earth with a terminal velocity of just over 100 mph and proved that that wasnt enough to even break the skin of a pig carcass, and if you watch all the news programs showing people in other countrys shooting ak47s in the air why are people not dropping dead everywhere???

[Sterry 0]

That said paulus, my aunt is a misionary in paraguay and she knew some kid killed by a falling bullet after a football match they all started poping away.

[SportingShooter 0]

Now I never condone shooting without a backstop. Never will. That bullet must be in something substantial if I miss or if it goes through it.

 

Now if that Squirrel was down the trunk of a Big Oak, two and half foot wide trunk.

 

Would that be a substantial backstop for a .22LR?

 

If a bullet is fired at the right angle it will travel, in the case of the .22LR with subs, about a Mile.

 

Now it has been seen that people are killed with a .22 bullet coming down with around 11ft/lb of energy after a mile and killing people. It doesn't happen often but it does.

[paulus 26]

That said paulus, my aunt is a misionary in paraguay and she knew some kid killed by a falling bullet after a football match they all started poping away.

 

its a strange one ive also read a report of a lad being killed by a 22lr bullet from someone rook shooting, its a bit like barrel shortening the normal is a loss of x ammount of muzzel velocity per inch but ive also read an article in an american publication of a scientist testing it and finding that the muzzel velocity increased until the barrel length fell bellow 14 inch

[Fidgety 8]

SS, a big oak trunk is a backstop, but the bullet can bounce back at you with wood - not a shot i'd like to take.

[SportingShooter 0]

Nor would I with a calibre with the reputation of the LR for ricochets!

 

I'd shoot them with the HMR, Ballistics. Once that hits it, the chances are pretty slim square on as it were.

 

Doesn't bother me either way, I would wait until it was on the ground or had the shotty

[martin 332]

You can safely shoot squirells in a tree with a .22lr rifle,but,you need to be using CB caps which are like shooting a powerful air rifle.................martin.

[jamie g 17]

ive shoot woodpigeons out the trees with hmr but i was sat up in front of a tree on a big bank and the trees below in the vally had a big back stop between them. BUT I COULD SEE THROUGH THE TREES TO ! SO I NEW THERE WAS NO CHANCE OF HITTING ANYONE OR THE BULLET GOING WHERE IT SHOULDNT.

 

I WOULD NEVER SHOOT UP INTO A TREE THOUGH

Edited January 20, 2009 by jamie g

[Mr_Logic 5]

if said squirrel has all of a decent tree behind it, then it gets shot, no problem there.

 

But there is no way I'd shoot it without that decent backstop, that's mad...