Squirrel shot placement /.177 pellet selection...

[Progun]

Hello Todd, The above posters have all given good suggestions. The consensus seems to be that even with your 11fpe gun, at the close distances you are shooting, you should be able to consistently cleanly kill squirrels regardless of the pellet you shoot if you brain shoot or heart/lung/spine shoot. You will waste some of your pellets  precious energy if you try to drive the shot through a foreleg before it gets to the ribcage which it must punch through to reach the vitals.fwiw.About that better penetration thing you mentioned. Actually it does make sense that the heavier pellet seems to penetrate better when compared to a lighter pellet when both have equal energy It's  a classic case of equal on paper only. The inertia of that heavier pellet helps to drive it deeper.Keep shooting at those squirrels. They are great for learning about shot placement and if you are fan of fried squirrel I salute your good sense.

[Perry50]

The Kodiak has better ballistics and carries more FPE down range. That may be why there were no runners.

[djmyers]

I use JSB 8.4 out of my hunter, 7.33 in the big cat and 10.2 in my 350. If the squirrel is facing straight at me I aim right between the eyes. If its looking away I aim dead center between the ears at the base of his skull. If its quartering shots which most are where he is facing at and angle to you. I either aim at the ear hole or the eye ball. Thats the thinnest part of the skull and drops them dead everytime. Pretty much have to picture the nutters brain and make a straight line from you to the opposite side of it.

[Mebits]

I'll add that I almost always had a couple runners with shoulder shots and almost never any when aiming at the head/neck area. Even imperfect shots typically knocked them down and made for an easy coup de grace. Shoulder shots too often ended up with me chasing a wounded squirrel around a tree.

But that was years ago, with a 5mm pellet out of a Blue Streak at an alleged 800 fps.

[ray1377]

Shot placement is everything.
I have shot rabbits at 45+ yds with a 1377 carbine pumper that is hovering around 10fpe.
It was head shots and they went less than 3 feet before dropping.
I find its easier if you use a high magnification scope so you can really dial in where your shot is going.
Looking at a nutters head through a 4x scope and then through a 16x scope is a world of difference.
Its the difference between hitting him in the head and hitting him between those two gray hairs you see between his eyes.
Some will say you might be on the lower limit of fpe when it comes to killing humanely.
But remember, David killed Goliath with a very small stone.!!!!!
Practice-Practice-Practice.
Ray

[crowpopper]

i nailed a nutter in the jaw through top of head with my P1 at i think is 6 fpe
545 wth cp's
he dropped like a rock

[Sniperdad69]

Did I say under power? I meant over power.
My .457DAQ shooting a 400gr bullet backwards at over 770fps will do a number on a nutter's head.
Yes shot placement is everything.
Cheers, David.

[redroush00]

My Ruger goes 3/4 of the way thru a yellowpages at 20 yards...I dont think Ill be knocking anything out with a headshot.

[Wade.S]

I too have an underpowered Mendoza, mine is a 22 cal RM 600 that shoots about 560 fps. It is a very accurate gun, it just needs more power. My next AR is going to be a 22 cal Mrod.

[jake]

if your gun is accurtate. try to go either between the eye and ear, or right to the top of its head if its looking at you. that should drop him on the spot