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.410 Effective Range for Squirrels

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  • gdr_11

    TGT Addict
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    Aug 1, 2014
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    We seem to have a lot of interest in the once maligned lowly .410 on this forum. I spent more than 50 years thumbing my nose at this “kid’s” gun until I bought my first one 3 years ago.

    Since that time I have been constantly amazed at my ability to get one shot kills on the hefty squirrels here in the Big Piney. I alternately use Remington American Clay and Field loads in #7 1/2 or their Game loads in #6 depending on the anticipated range.

    I have made solid kills at 30 yds with both loads which completely astounds me for such a light load. I use a Mossberg 500 pump that throws an extremely tight pattern that keeps 90% of the pellets inside an 10” circle at 20 yards when I patterned it.

    I haven’t had the chance for any shots beyond 30 yds but wondered if anyone has had any long range success with this little bushy tail slayer.
    Guns International
     

    satx78247

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    Jun 23, 2014
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    We seem to have a lot of interest in the once maligned lowly .410 on this forum. I spent more than 50 years thumbing my nose at this “kid’s” gun until I bought my first one 3 years ago.

    Since that time I have been constantly amazed at my ability to get one shot kills on the hefty squirrels here in the Big Piney. I alternately use Remington American Clay and Field loads in #7 1/2 or their Game loads in #6 depending on the anticipated range.

    I have made solid kills at 30 yds with both loads which completely astounds me for such a light load. I use a Mossberg 500 pump that throws an extremely tight pattern that keeps 90% of the pellets inside an 10” circle at 20 yards when I patterned it.

    I haven’t had the chance for any shots beyond 30 yds but wondered if anyone has had any long range success with this little bushy tail slayer.


    gdr-11,

    FYI, individual pellets from a .410 hit just as hard as the individual pellets from a 10-gauge do, thus the effective range is the same. - There is just a lot less pellets in each shell.

    You just have to AIM a .410 to take bushytails out of tall trees.
    (On our family farm, we require squirrel hunters to use only shotguns for everyone's safety.)

    Note: My "pet squirrel gun" is a 1930s vintage WINCHESTER MODEL 42 Skeet Gun, that my late Uncle Wayne bought used just after Pearl Harbor & completion of his USNR training, while he was awaiting orders to the USS CHAMPION.
    (I would bet that a half-dozen pickup trucks wouldn't haul all the fox/cat squirrels that that single .410 pump-gun has taken, over the last 80+ years.)

    Note: Squirrel hunting & HS football are said to be the 2 "major religions" in NETX.

    yours, satx
     

    Jack Ryan

    Mr. Medium
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    Aug 22, 2016
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    Eseldorf
    Shoot one and find out.

    You don't need permission from any one. How could any one on here guess what you and your gun and what shell you are going to use and what it will do. I've shot 410's for 60 years and couldn't tell YOU what YOU can do with it.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    Dec 15, 2019
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Ah hell. We use to pop them tree rats at over a 100 yards with a 410 when we was youngsters. Our favorite method was floating down the river or the crick, and we'd spot up a ways and we'd then pop them in the head, and then float down and let them drop in our jon-boat. We then turn around and paddle back upstream, and do it again and again, until we had us a boat load of tree rats. Then we'd check our trot-lines for some bug channel cats to take home with us.

    Ma would fry up them tree rats and channel cats just as soon as we got them skinned and cleaned. She' make a batch of biscuits to go with the squirrel gravy she'd make. We'd get so full, we'd fall asleep under the big oak tree behind the house and wake up an hour later with skeeter bites all over us! Ma would hand us a jar of her special skeeter salve for s to use on them skeeter bites. Pa drank a lot of corn liquor so that might be why he never got skeeter bit!
     

    Patience0830

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    Dec 27, 2020
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    FreeStateuv IN
    Ah hell. We use to pop them tree rats at over a 100 yards with a 410 when we was youngsters. Our favorite method was floating down the river or the crick, and we'd spot up a ways and we'd then pop them in the head, and then float down and let them drop in our jon-boat. We then turn around and paddle back upstream, and do it again and again, until we had us a boat load of tree rats. Then we'd check our trot-lines for some bug channel cats to take home with us.

    Ma would fry up them tree rats and channel cats just as soon as we got them skinned and cleaned. She' make a batch of biscuits to go with the squirrel gravy she'd make. We'd get so full, we'd fall asleep under the big oak tree behind the house and wake up an hour later with skeeter bites all over us! Ma would hand us a jar of her special skeeter salve for s to use on them skeeter bites. Pa drank a lot of corn liquor so that might be why he never got skeeter bit!
    First liar don't stand a chance.
     

    satx78247

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    Jun 23, 2014
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    Shotgunning tree rats is cheating.

    Patience0830,

    MAYBE SO but after a ''visiting hunter'' put a .22RF round through the windshield of a pumper's PU, my late mother said, "NO MORE rifles on the farm, except during deer season or after dark, for hunting coons/hogs.''
    (The oil company personnel do NOT work on our farm after dark, unless they are hunting with permission.)

    Note: My kid sister, NANCY, manages the farm now & she decided that Mother was correct about people shooting rifles on the farm & kept the farm's policy.

    yours, satx
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    Dec 15, 2019
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Patience0830,

    MAYBE SO but after a ''visiting hunter'' put a .22RF round through the windshield of a pumper's PU, my late mother said, "NO MORE rifles on the farm, except during deer season or after dark, for hunting coons/hogs.''
    (The oil company personnel do NOT work on our farm after dark, unless they are hunting with permission.)

    Note: My kid sister, NANCY, manages the farm now & she decided that Mother was correct about people shooting rifles on the farm & kept the farm's policy.

    yours, satx

    Sounds like y'all needed to learn the basics of gun safety. Or more particular about who is hunting or shooting on your land.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    Dec 15, 2019
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    First liar don't stand a chance.

    Most assuredly a tall tale!

    I have never squirrel hunted in my life with a shotgun, ever. My departed uncle that taught me to hunt squirrels when I was youngster, said any idjut with a shotgun could knock a tree rat out of a tree, but it took skill to use a 22 rimfire. My Marlin 60 has taken it's fair share of tree rats over the years.
     

    Patience0830

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    Dec 27, 2020
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    FreeStateuv IN
    Patience0830,

    MAYBE SO but after a ''visiting hunter'' put a .22RF round through the windshield of a pumper's PU, my late mother said, "NO MORE rifles on the farm, except during deer season or after dark, for hunting coons/hogs.''
    (The oil company personnel do NOT work on our farm after dark, unless they are hunting with permission.)

    Note: My kid sister, NANCY, manages the farm now & she decided that Mother was correct about people shooting rifles on the farm & kept the farm's policy.

    yours, satx
    My friend, I am not saying it is wrong under the circumstances. It's just cheating. Sometimes, if you aren't cheating, you're not trying. And if you get caught you aren't trying hard enough.
     

    Patience0830

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    Dec 27, 2020
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    FreeStateuv IN
    It's a great morning here in the Hoosier state. Light steady rain and We've watched the Tom turkeys in the yard, the catbirds, orioles, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers on the feeders. Wifey's sore throat seems to have abated some and the coffee is good.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    I rarely go hungry hunting them with a rimfire.

    I never failed to get any squirrels using a 22 either. But in a SHTF event, and all I had was shotgun, tree rats are going to be on the dinner plate.

    That is why I like the versatility of a shotgun. Different barrels, and different ammo they can can utilized for many different needs.
     
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