358495 for squirrels

[Elric]

Things were strained the first half of last year, then about three months of waiting for the final bills to arrive... Horrid bird season, the wettest I have ever seen...

But, you can't stop the urge to cast... Just picked up a 358495 and a 495 top punch for use with a 357 revolver and a 357 Max T/C. Any repressed memories involving an S&W 686? I _want_ the bullet to start to tumble after 50 yards or so, makes things safer.

 

[RicinYakima]

Four grains of Bullseye, but it doesn't tumble until about 65 yards. Crimp it hard and it will tumble quicker.

 

[Hawk]

My low velocity training load has always been 3.0 grains of Green Dot.
This is a powder puff load.

 

[Bret4207]

I carried a 681 for many years and it was a particularly accurate revolver. I killed a lot of stuff with it, mostly car struck deer out to 75 years or more and several coyotes. If yours is anything like mine was it will serve you well.

No idea on the load you're looking for. I can't say I ever wanted a bullet to tumble and I'm not quite following your thought process there.

 

[fiver]

tree squirrels?
I gotta drop the your planning on using enough dynamite anyway.

I think your gonna be walking a pretty fine line between not stabilizing the thing for the first 50 yds, and getting it to de-stabilize afterwards.
your looking at something like 600 fps or maybe a little less.
I'd try something like 2.8grs of red-dot or bulls-eye and then be real careful about going down .1-.2gr at a time until I had some predictable results. [maybe even looking at clay's at that lower amount for a good burn]

 

[Brad]

A 38 at even a modest velocity with a WC is gonna be wicked on a squirrel. Don’t expect to get much eating on a shoulder hit.

 

[RicinYakima]

Brad, just my theory but with the .38 (or in my case .357 Martini) if you aim at the head, you have a pretty big target. Even the edge of the WC just about anywhere above the shoulders will knock them down on the ground. I quit using a .22 because it is also the time the young and dumb coyotes are out, and they need killed.

 

[Dale53]

I, too, subscribe to a full charge wadcutter for squirrels as well, sometimes, as other edible small game. If they are close, a head shot. If they are further away, I shot "through the slats" works perfectly without any meat loss to talk about. That works for all edible small game.

The full charge .38 wadcutter is a seriously effective round. I always try to back up my shots with a tree trunk but if something happens, a tumbling wadcutter will seriously limit its "dangerous range".

I always paid extreme attention as to the back ground of my shots, of course.

A good semi-wadcutter has a longer effective range on ground dwelling small game, but frankly most edible small game is taken at relatively short range. I have seldom felt limited when carrying the full charge wadcutter...

FWIW
Dale53

 

[Intheshop]

The smaller the "X" ring.....

I used to love squirrel hunting with handguns. Mainly an 8" Python.....

My feelings are,strive for as much accuracy as you can get. The 358495 over ? 700X was/is a favorite. But the Lee 358-140 SWC over 5g of 231,38 sp case is noticeably more accurate out of my rigs. Bttm of beercan @75 yds..... @25,you can put them in the drinking hole. Working on camo,general hunting skills,good backstops(head shoot them spread eagle on the side of a tree,don't get much better),and some shooting sticks. I've been shooting them.... and "at" them,haha... with my trad bows for the last 10 years. Good luck with your project. BW

 

[telebasher]

Might I suggest the Lee 105 swc over some Bullseye, Red Dot or 231. Out of my 6 in Blackhawk it is minute of squirrels head to 50 yards easy and from my Handi-Rifle with Weaver 2 1/2 power scope anything under 80-90 yds is in serious peril !

 

[Rally]

My Star is set to throw 3.7 grs of BE. I use bullets ranging from 125 to 160 grs in my .38’s. I don’t have to worry about houses where i hunt and we have big coyote

 

[uncle jimbo]

Thread hijack alert!
Intheshop, you still got the 8" Python?

 

[358156 hp]

Some of the LEE SWC are real sleepers as far as design goes. I used to buy 140 gr SWC LEE moulds for awhile. They always struck me (figuratively, not literally) as a full wadcutter with a dunces cap on them. The 140s were especially cool because I could cast them in lino, and push them really, really hard in a 357 magnum. Loading data was easy. Cast from lino, the bullets weighed 125 grains.

Yes. I once bought LEE stuff before I got pissed off at them.

 

[Pistolero]

I hunted and occasionally still do hunt squirrels with a Ruger standard auto. Head shots only.

My most memorable shot was one sitting on a huge horizontal live oak limb, with the sun
setting behind him. He thought he was safe at 75 yds. He was wrong.

Bill