What .177 pellet for squirrel?

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I would like to know specifically what .177 caliber pellet you have successfully used to kill a squirrel with a good chest hit. In this thread I am not interested in theory or how you should always aim for the head or whatever. I want to know what has worked in the past for you on a good chest shot and it would also be good to know what didn't work. I assUme that just about any pellet at a decent velocity will work on a head shot,let me know if I'm wrong. It would be nice to know also at what approximate velocity your gun shoots that pellet at. Since this is Bladeforums,how about telling us what your favorite knife is to clean and skin the squirrel too. Thanks for any info you can share.
 
beeman silverjets I believe.. I've had the most success with... but any pointed pellet out of a weapon with an fps of over 650 will do if you do your part. I have uses swiss army knives and moras to clean squirrels in the past.
 
crosman 10 grain magnums. Crow magnums. Round lead ball (BEST, but least accurate past 15 meters), gamo hunters (not recommended by me.)

The crosman heavies are the best bang for the buck, the crow magnums expeand even at low velocities. I wish lead ball was cheaper, it really hits harder than most pellets.
 
sorta in between really gamy rabbit and retail market chicken.

Don- I tried the silverjets and never got enough out of them to justify the cost. What do you shoot?
 
Back then I was squirrel and rabbit hunting with an old 1970s Daisy Feinwerkbau...that needs to be rebuilt now. Also used .20 Cal./5mm Silverjets through a Sheridan Blue Streak. Hard on squirrels and rabbits!

What do squirrels taste like? Uh...I dunno! Squirrels? :D

I've eaten two rattlesnakes, they taste like rattlesnakes too! Chicken tastes like chicken to me...
 
Can you guys get (and I'm not sure they still make them to be honest) H&N Barracuda.

yep, they do! :D

Baracuda-Match.177.jpg
These will drop Crows @ 50 yards, no problem at all out of the right gun (>900 fps)
 
Where are you guys getting Silver Jets?

They stopped making them, at least the nice lathe turned ones a few years ago.

Closest you can get are silver arrows, and they are anything but precise like the old Silver Jets were.

BUT, I would agree they are a great .177 for head OR chest shots on a squirrel.
 
The crosman heavies are the best bang for the buck, the crow magnums expeand even at low velocities. I wish lead ball was cheaper, it really hits harder than most pellets.
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Galati International sells the Gamo .177 round balls for $2.95 a tin. That's not as cheap as wadcutters, but a lot less than most places charge.
 
mp510 said:
Galati International sells the Gamo .177 round balls for $2.95 a tin. That's not as cheap as wadcutters, but a lot less than most places charge.
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that's $1.00 less than I have been paying! almost down to daisy "randomly shaped lead" pellet prices.



On a larger note- one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that not all airguns will shoot all pellets well. I have found some guns that purely love round balls. I have found some that hate them. I've had the same thing with the crow magnums, all the gamo stuff, and the other beemans I've tried. I have to say that overall, no gun I've ever had hated crosman premiers, but i have had some guns shoot a bit more accurately with other pellets or ball.
 
Three choices for me :

Beeman kodiaks

Crosman Premier heavies

Beeman silver jets(just as a note.. I don't consider these as pointed pellets, because of the design)
 
Put a pellet in the head appears you can use ANY "pellet".

About four years back, a couple squirrels keep stealing bird seed and I used BBs and a Daisy rifle (with 2-3 (out of 10) pumping) to get the squirrels moving.

I aimed toward their butts ;), but one moved and the BB hit him right in front of the ear. He was dead in 5 seconds. I definitely didn't intend to kill a squirrel (used to do that (using .22s) in my teen's and early 20's, but not since), but I guess air guns CAN kill.

At the same time when I killed that squirrel, I used to use the BB rifle (pumping up to 10) to get the geese away from my corn (set out for ducks)..., that same BB rifle killed two geese. I shot toward the butt again, but the BBs went into the body.

One goose died in about 30 seconds. A few weeks later, the other goose was flopping around, broken leg and other damaged..., I had to bread it's neck.
 
As Koyote already mentioned not all guns would shoot well same pellets. Make sure you dont go too heavy for the gun.. If you want to use the 10+grain pellets, You would want to have atlist 1000fps or more..

Sasha
 
I've killed 8 in the last week using a Beeman R7 and the cheap Daisy Quicksilver pointed pellets.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience everyone. One thing I noticed that I didn't see before is that the good game getting pellets seem to be the ones that cost as much or more than a .22 rimfire to shoot. Does anyone have any experience with the Crosman Premier Hollowpoint on squirrels?Preferably out of a Crosman 1377? I am trying to find something that will work as inexpensively as possible out of a 1377(around 600 fps) on a squirrel or other edible small game even if you are shivering and need to aim for a bigger target than the head.
 
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