Got some squirrels with my 7.62x39

T

the possum

New member
Ever since I got my CZ carbine in 7.62x39 I've wanted to take some small game with it. So I loaded up some cast lead pistol bullets over a light charge of Red Dot (a little under 4 grains). This should put it somewhere in the same power neighborhood as the .32-20.

I haven't chrono'ed them yet, but they seem very mild, and I discovered they destroy less meat than hyper velocity .22 hp's. I took mainly head shots, but hit one a little further back behind the shoulder and it wasn't even bloodshot around the hole. And at less than 10 cents per shot, it's really not much worse on the pocketbook than high quality .22 ammo either.

I gotta make up a bunch more of these rounds. They're just so dang fun.
 
Stop using 22 hollow points and you will still kill them dead with more meat saved.


But a 7.62x39 ruskie is always fun to shoot! :D
 
When I was a kid we gravitated towards .22 hollowpoints for better killing power on our huge fox squirrels. Those are easily twice as long as grays with body mass bigger than a lot of rabbits. It's weird to watch them because they don't scamper and hop around in classic squirrel fashion; they're so big they actually walk around on all fours most of the time.

But the ones I shot the other day were all grays, which seem to be overtaking the woods.

I was also a little surprised at the damage. The head shots looked similar to a .22. But that one I hit through the body, I actually thought I missed, because it jumped down off the log and took off running out of sight. I went over to investigate and found him lying 7 or 10 yards behind the log. When I skinned it out, there was almost no blood around the hole and at first I thought maybe I somehow poked through with my knife. But upon closer inspection it was a perfectly round hole the same size as the flat point on my bullets.
 
You don't realize what amount of damage they do until you start skinning the squirrels. Also using hyper velocity hp bullets those things blow up passing through a sheet of paper. I never knew a fox squirrel that walked away from a simple 22 lead round nose to the vitals or head. Problem is I hate cleaning those rats...yuck.
 
I have a similar load for the .300 Blackout. I use 2 to 3.5g of Red Dot behind an 86g round nose .32 revolver cast bullet. With 2g of red dot, it's shooting them at a bit over 850 FPS.

I havne't tried them on small game yet but they're quiet and accurate at plinking distances...

Tony
 
I never knew a fox squirrel that walked away from a simple 22 lead round nose to the vitals or head.
Click to expand...

Neither have I. I've known quite a few that made it to a hole/hollow in the tree only a few feet away, though. ;)
 
Geezerbiker- This was my first round of experimenting with loads like this, so now I'm curious about ones using even less powder. Thanks for the tip.
 
I'd like to see one of your squirrels with a bullet through the head that made it to a hollow in a tree. ;)


ZZtEi4D.jpg


PS: I can't believe it happens that often? Good thing you're using a ruskie rifle then.
 
zipspyder,
Did I really fail that badly at expressing my thoughts, or are you just trying to start an argument? Did anyone else reading this believe I claimed to see squirrels still run away after getting their head blowed off? I was referring to your bullet "to the vitals" comment. I already posted that a 100 grain .312" bullet "to the vitals" failed to drop a small gray squirrel on the spot, and was in fact so underwhelming that I thought I missed. Sheesh. Believe what ya want.
 
Oh, I believe you it it happened and can happen. I just don't think it happens often enough that you would need to switch to a hollow point if you are concerned about ruining meat or losing a squirrel. That was just my thought, but whatever works for you and is fun is all that matters. A ruskie 123 grain fmj seems like a lot more fun to shoot at squirrels than a 22! :)
 
the possum said:
Geezerbiker- This was my first round of experimenting with loads like this, so now I'm curious about ones using even less powder. Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...
I've use a lot of Unique too but I still have about 1/4 of a 15 pound keg of Red Dot so I use it all I can. It's ideal for these low powered cast bullet loads.
 
I tried using a cast bullet out of the CZ527M/CSR on rabbit one day, but this was a 129gr NOE powdercoated loaded middling warm - rabbit exploded. Oops.
 
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