Taking Grey Squirrel with a .22LR at a Feeder

[paul o']

Showing your age Grandpa, phone books are rarer than unicorn poo

Glad I kept a few then who wishes to buy one £150 each

 

[Squirrelbasher]

You tried cci quiet amigo?

Yes Ben, both the 40 grain solid lead and the segmented. I found the solid lead we’re more accurate, both ok out to about 40 yards but they drop after that. Z langs shoot flatter. To be honest, the segmented quiets have got too expensive in my opinion. Z langs are £8:20 at Nev’s so I’ve been using them mostly when I need a lower powered shorter range round. I still have some cb longs but they’re 25 yards max really, and that’s if your rifle likes them. The z langs have about 50% more energy than cb longs so each have their use for me.

 

[Kevinfish13]

You've obviously never tried this. Normal steel plate (mild steel) fixed to a solid surface simply doesn't ring like a gong. Bullets hit it with a 'whack' and then disintegrate. Gongs are made of Hardox steel, not only so they can withstand more punishment, but free hanging Hardox makes a lovely 'Ding' when you hit it.
I'd use subs because that's what I have plenty of and it's what the rifle is zeroed with. They also cycle nicely in my 10/22. I have been known to use my little bolt action .22 with Z-Lang ammo for extra quiet jobs. At squirrel feeder ranges they do the job superbly.

It’s the bit, as you say, “when the bullet hits the metal it disintegrates” that I am trying to prevent.

 

[Longstrider]

It’s the bit, as you say, “when the bullet hits the metal it disintegrates” that I am trying to prevent.

Then unless you can happily leave the bullets in the tree you mount the feeder to I can't see many options. You could choose a dead tree that the landowner won't be taking a saw to. Try a section of railway sleeper, or a sacrificial log behind the target zone to catch them ?

I once made a pellet catcher for the air rifle with steel baffles at 45 degrees and a steel back-plate. If you can cut and weld heavy-ish steel you could perhaps make one of those ? It's a good bit of work to do it though and if you don't have the kit it would be expensive to have made for you by a fabricator.

I think that hanging a sacrificial log behind the target zone is probably the easiest solution. Just replace it when it gets a bit too 'worn'. An 8" thick 'round' cut from something like ash or oak should be able to stop and hold a good few .22 bullets I'd have thought. I wouldn't use willow, it's so soft it would probably fail too quickly.

 

[Kevinfish13]

There doesn’t seem to be any examples of what I am thinking about using so I am going to make my own and try it out. I’ll post pics etc if it’s a success. Thanks.

 

[Dodder]

@Longstrider , really curious what subs you can get to cycle in your 10/22! My Ruger has had all the usual mods (adjustable sear, comp hammer, polished internals, new springs etc etc) but really doesn't like to cycle anything much slower than AR tac / mini-mag... Whats your secret

I have an Theoben AMT which is basically a stainless steel clone of a 10/22. It has a tight bentz chamber, so probably more ammo fussy than a standard 10/22. It jams every single round with eley subs and every other round with winchester subs. CCI subs are so-so but I get a lot of supersonic 'crackers'. However... It cycles RWS subs perfectly despite the fact that they are the slowest velocity of all the subs by a country mile. Makes no sense to me but try them, you might just be pleasantly surprised!

 

[stubear]

On the estate I shoot on I just wait until they’re off the feeder and shoot them on the ground - works fine and they always hop off eventually.

 

[JDeeres2]

Made a feeder up for this purpose. Has backstop hollow box with 3 spaced sections of 3/4 " ply attached to side of feed hopper (approx 6" x 15"). Box filled with sharp sand. Used CCI quiet rounds with hide setup 20 metres from feeder and they just lodged in front piece of ply, so fairly confident it should trap subsonic rounds. I know best practice is to use an air rifle but I would rather make use of what I've got than add to the cabinet!

 

[FISH BOY]

Regardless of backstop, they will still destroy them, no matter how much effort you put into making them.

Make as cheap as possible, treat as disposable items per season and crack on.

Last picture was after a month…

 

[Donkey Basher]

If you’re worried about ricochets from a steel plate simply put a ‘sacrificial’ piece of softwood in front of it to catch the splatter - when it gets too tatty simply replace it with a new bit.

 

[bumpy22]

Sounding daft I can never work out people make feeders with hole at front so you are shooting it.
I make mine with hole on side with a ledge for squirrel to sit on if needed a board behind

But I only shoot the squirrels with airgun. But see no difference as you would need safe back stop behind feeder if using rim fire

 

[JDeeres2]

Sounding daft I can never work out people make feeders with hole at front so you are shooting it.
I make mine with hole on side with a ledge for squirrel to sit on if needed a board behind

But I only shoot the squirrels with airgun. But see no difference as you would need safe back stop behind feeder if using rim fire

Yep I agree. I cut hole to the side of the feed hopper so the squirrels sat away from it in front of the backstop.

 

[Drum123]

At a quick glance I thought this was about talking squirrels.

 

[hammo]

Happy memories of countless hours nestled in the base of a big oak, always nabbed them under the standard pheasant feeder with a big log backstop.
Then the wood became more and more popular with dog walkers. And that was the end of that!
I bet the place is crawling with them now.
22 rimmie, flask and buttered hot cross buns used to keep me going.