This year I decided to use a few older firearms for hunting squirrels. And, this year was an excellent year to hunt. There was a bumper crop of hickory nuts, acorns, and squirrels – at least in southeastern Indiana where I do most of my hunting. If I recorded them correctly, so far in 2015 I have taken 30 squirrels. Not bragging, but reliving some hunting memories from my teen-age years when adding squirrels to our family food supply was very much appreciated by the whole family. Today I have a 62-year old younger brother who has really enjoyed those squirrels with his immediate and extended family.

Last week I used an old Marlin Model 39 (not 39A) with a 4-digit serial number made in the 1920s or 1930s. However, its original barrel had been replaced with a 39A barrel (pre-microgroove) sometime before I bought it. The barrel had at one time worn a side-mounted scope (filler screws now in those 4 mounting holes). Also, when I bought the rifle the top of the barrel sported an old Redfield scope base that included a very nice, classic Lyman Alaskan scope (2.5 power) from the World War II era. By the way, this is one of the scope models that was used to some extent on some World War II and Korean War sniper rifles.

But, enough background on the rifle. How did it perform? Very well I would say. It shoots much better than I can hold under field conditions. However, I did manage to get 4 squirrels last Thursday morning. And, after hunting several days in both September and October in the same general area the remaining squirrels were getting mighty wary of this 2-legged predator. The grays, especially, were constantly on the move it seemed. You think the cross hair is on the right spot and before you can squeeze the trigger the squirrel moves! And, by the time you find it again in your field of view the rascal moves again! Very frustrating!




On Friday morning I went out again for a couple hours but only bagged one young gray squirrel. He was busy on the ground and only 20 yards or so away when I first spotted him. He was generally moving toward me but would not hold still long enough for me to pick him up in the scope and get a good head shot. Finally he was only about 5 yards away when he stood up and looked to my left. I had the cross hair on his head, figuring if I hit a little low the hollow point bullet would get his chest cavity. I fired and he took off running as fast as he could away from me. I thought how could I have missed him? He ran by a large fallen tree some 50 yards away and I did not see him after that. I hunted the general area a while longer but only saw one gray squirrel at about 40 to 50 yards away on the ground. I was standing next to a large tree when I raised the rifle to try to find him in the scope. However, when he saw me move he took off like a rocket to get the heck away from me!

It was getting late in the morning so I decided to take a look where I saw the gray that I had earlier shot at. When I approached the place I had last seen him, a gray takes off from beside the fallen tree! He runs to a poplar tree some 20 yards away and climbs about 2 feet off the ground and stops, broadside to me with his head pointing up the tree. I quickly aimed for the center of his chest and fired. He dropped and expired almost instantly, the bullet tearing through his lungs.

Post Mortem: My first shot hit his left front shoulder and barely opened up the upper part of his chest cavity. The bullet did not do significant damage to a major artery in the neck or chest area. The first bullet basically struck directly below where I was holding, since the squirrel was standing on his back legs and facing to my left.

One lesson I took from this year’s hunting is to do some more close-range shooting at targets to verify where the bullets strike at distances of perhaps 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards. A distance of 25 to 30 yards is arguably the ideal distance at which to zero the scoped .22 Long Rifle firearm for squirrel hunting. Regardless of exactly what distance you zero your scoped rifle there is no getting around the fact that it will shoot low at very close range. This is especially true for rifles equipped with scopes, the center of which are in many cases 1.5 inches above the bore centerline. In other words, if your squirrel is very close you need to aim somewhat high to hit where you want. I know this may seem counterintuitive to the beginning squirrel hunter, but it is basic physics.

Congrats!!

Cool!

Hunting with a new weapon or new challenge always brings more fun and satisfaction to the hunt.

Deer hunting is exciting but few things beat a good squirrel or rabbit hunt!!

Nice pictures and good score on the gun and squirrels. h.h.

Nice story and pictures good looking ol gun as well

Guys, thanks for the congrats and other comments. As you can tell I really enjoy using some of the older firearms. They may not be "tacticool" like some modern firearms, but they often give hunting performance as good or better than many of the modern firearms. I think that is cool.

Well, this morning I added 5 more squirrels to make it 35 this year. Also, I did a little better “allowing” for the bullet point of impact relative to the line of sight for close shots. I was 5 for 5, with 3 being head shots and 2 being chest shots. I was hunting in a south-central Indiana woods, which had not been hunted this year. So, the 4 grays and 1 fox squirrel were not nearly as nervous as those two weeks ago in the southeastern Indiana woods.

That Marlin 39 really has a slick action! And its accuracy isn’t bad either.

That's awesome.

Nice looking rifle...jealous...