Shooting a tree down

[oldbillthundercheif]

My best wood-clearing firearm was a .454 Super Redhawk. I never fired at a tree thick enough to stop the heavy CorBon loads... they always just blew on through leaving a large, badly splintered hole.

12ga slugs also work well for tree-removal, but I've been less than impressed by buckshot's penetration in solid wood. You can blow off big chunks if you are close enough but who wants to be that close to an unstable tree?

Not me. I'll take my shots from where there is no danger of being crushed by falling timber.

 

[Rangefinder]

Just to be the devil's advocate for a moment... Might we all consider what we're discussing here? In several posts, I seem to visualise a shot being fired into the air, at a tree branch, at an upward angle... Anyone else seeing a problem with this little practice? Such as... a stray bullet coming down somewhere miles away? What happened to "Know your backdrop"?

 

[Hedley]

^Well, I was under the assumption that we were talking about clearing trees on rural property where bird hunting also takes place. Don't know about clearing branches with a .22 though.

 

[biglabsrule]

I was rather amazed at how far a .270 win round can go through the woods. I was sighting in my featherweight this fall, targets were set infront of a small woods before it raises into a hill. The lead went through about 3 or 4, 4" little trees before stoping, that's after 100 yards ..., be sure of what's beyond the target...

 

[Carryabigstick]

Hey 1badF350 Are there any restrictions on the purchase of those explosive rounds? I looked around on the site but didn't see anything. Anyone else who want to help me out is also welcome

 

[Carryabigstick]

I'm also curious about what kind of damage those shells can do. I imagine that they still aren't too deadly unless you are hit directly?

 

[CALNRA]

you are gonna spend a lot of money on shotshells to shoota tree down. My advice from shooting at trees is to get 2 bricks of 22LR and get you least favorite 22 and have a long day of plinking.

 

[ebutler462]

I use promo dove loads and shoot from about 3 feet. A 12 ga with these el cheapos will pulverize the trunk small tree with two or three shots. Been doing it for years. Never had a shot to ricochet that I am aware of. For larger trees, use dynamite. A half stick will lift them right out of the ground. It's not hard to get dynamite. Just go through a few beauracratic hoops and you are good to go. Take the shotgun with you to play with on the smaller trees.

 

[rem33]

We usta shoot cactus down when we were stupid kids.

Don't know about clearing branches with a .22 though

Use a shotgun and the down range problem is solved at any distance.

a stray bullet coming down somewhere miles away? What happened to "Know your backdrop"?

Still not a good idea but I have lived where in some directions there wasn't a house for 20 miles or farther.

I have shot a couple trees down that were 4"-5" in diameter. It took me and a buddy about 50 rounds of 12g number 8 shot to get it to fall.

Stand closer from about a foot # 8 target loads will blow a hole clear thru a 4X4

want to do a bit of "light" clearing next time I go back. What shot size do you fellas recommend for the smaller stuff

A good chain saw. 16 inch caliber otta work great.

For larger trees, use dynamite

Just don't use to much. We knew how to safely use it but didn't know how much to use to blow up a half a car sized rock once. Blew that dang rock all over the mtn. side. Amazing what small amount of dynamite will do. We useda lot less on the next one