Tree Squirrel Rifles

[codyadams]

Darn don't let the ATF see that rifle!

No violation I see. Long barrel, fixed stock. Could cut the stock off and have it as a pistol with a long barrel and would still be fine to my knowledge, as long as the barrel isn't short

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

If that's in violation of some rule, we'd better not call attention to it. You think? Maybe just edit your comment and quote out?

It was meant as a JOKE with all the BS that is going on, but see where you are coming from.

 

[codyadams]

It was meant as a JOKE with all the BS that is going on, but see where you are coming from.

Makes sense ha ha. Ya it's getting ridiculous anymore. ATF needs to chill.

 

[woodneagle]

There's a bill introduced by Matt Gaetz to abolish the ATF, which is getting so far out of control these days. The ATF is making millions of law abiding gun owners into felons because of an "attachment" to the AR pistol, for example. It's not because they are using in crimes either, which was the original intent of the NFA when gangsters were using fully automatic .45s to rob banks all over the country. Remember Bonnie and Clyde? Write your representatives and support 2A groups or we will lose our rights, slowly but surely.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

My very first .22 rifle, age 13, was a JC Higgins model 31 by High Standard. On the farm as a kid I shot "at" a lot of crows and missed them all. Grandpa had guest hunters from the next state over who did squirrel hunt and who proudly show me their bags full. There were about 40 acres of woods on the farm, plenty enough for good squirrel habitat with all the grain droppings they could find. The weakness of that rifle was the rear stock attachment to the receiver and eventually it broke off. View attachment 432145
In order to preserve the rifle, I cast a resin handgrip and added an aluminum plate for a butt stock. The recess or dip in the stock makes it very comfortable to bring up to align the crosshairs and the hand is in a good position for trigger squeeze. The grey plastic pieces are just 3/4" electrical PVC slotted to slip onto the 1/8" thick aluminum. I never altered any mechanical part of the rifle, just made a new stock, so I think I'm safe in doing that. It sure made a more functional rifle from a family heirloom piece that is now 67 years old. That's a nice REX 4 X 32 AO scope, cheap, but just right for this application.

There's a original stock on Ebay if interested ? If you would like to have for the future to restore to original quality. Not saying it's better but for OEM. Not that expensive as of now. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275631032907?hash=item402ce3ca4b:g:5F8AAOSwxs9jyESg

 

[woodneagle]

There's a original stock on Ebay if interested ? If you would like to have for the future to restore to original quality. Not saying it's better but for OEM. Not that expensive as of now. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275631032907?hash=item402ce3ca4b:g:5F8AAOSwxs9jyESg

Thanks, but the rifle is now so much better than the original as far as shouldering and aiming, that I wouldn't really want to restore it.
And it's bit of a novelty to show what can be done with some simple additions, and no hand carving was needed as might have been necessary to make a stock replacement.

 

[436]

My very first .22 rifle, age 13, was a JC Higgins model 31 by High Standard. On the farm as a kid I shot "at" a lot of crows and missed them all. Grandpa had guest hunters from the next state over who did squirrel hunt and who proudly show me their bags full. There were about 40 acres of woods on the farm, plenty enough for good squirrel habitat with all the grain droppings they could find. The weakness of that rifle was the rear stock attachment to the receiver and eventually it broke off. View attachment 432145
In order to preserve the rifle, I cast a resin handgrip and added an aluminum plate for a butt stock. The recess or dip in the stock makes it very comfortable to bring up to align the crosshairs and the hand is in a good position for trigger squeeze. The grey plastic pieces are just 3/4" electrical PVC slotted to slip onto the 1/8" thick aluminum. I never altered any mechanical part of the rifle, just made a new stock, so I think I'm safe in doing that. It sure made a more functional rifle from a family heirloom piece that is now 67 years old. That's a nice REX 4 X 32 AO scope, cheap, but just right for this application.

Kinda cool, but.. didn't I see the Jawas on Star Wars carrying one of those??
Good luck... Cheers.

 

[436]

Kinda cool, but.. didn't I see the Jawas on Star Wars carrying one of those??
Good luck... Cheers.

Oh darn, I was wrong it was the Sandpeople.

 

[ObiJohn]

This is my favorite squirrel rifle. It's not my nicest... my Kimber 82 Super America is prettier. But it's the first firearm I bought as an adult, specifically to hunt squirrels based upon an article I'd read maybe 5 years earlier... a Don Lewis article on using target rifles for squirrel hunting in Gun Digest. It was the first really accurate rifle I owned, but not the last. It still looks new and puts them all in one hole at 50 yards... of course, I take care of it.

I bought this rifle for $300 back in 1981 and killed my first squirrel with it that fall. I was a practiced shooter by then, had shot 4-position smallbore competitively in college, and had no problem getting my limit... collecting every squirrel that I saw. In the next several years I killed a load of squirrels, a rabbit that made the mistake of running (so I saw it) and then stopping on the top of a ravine about 40 yards out (yes, head shot rabbits still stink to high heavens to clean), and a bunch of crows. I remember one time standing in the woods near the edge of a field in the late afternoon, using a mouth call to respond to a murder of crows cawing away in the field, and as one would come in and land at the top of a dead oak about 40 yards away, holding on the breast as it faced me and squeezing the trigger to see it fall, frozen dead... I killed a half-dozen crows without moving in a few minutes. I moved to WA from LA in the late 80s, shot smallbore silhouette with it (and won a few matches) for a few years in the late 90s, then let it sit in the gun safe while I used more expensive, but not more accurate rifles. I got it out for a hunting trip to Arkansas after a two decade hiatus, disassembled and cleaned it (the trigger was frozen from dried grease, and the bolt needed some help, too), and then took it with me. Again, I got every squirrel I saw. This is the first with that rifle, in 2022. I had snuck up a creek bottom and over a ridge during a light rain. As I stood under a pine tree to get out of the rain, I heard a squirrel cutting a pine cone nearby. I pulled the rifle to my shoulder and looked up at a pine tree to my left about 30 yards, and this squirrel was sitting almost at the top spitting out pieces of pine cone. A few seconds later it came tumbling down after a shot at the back of the head (on the other side). That's a Leupold Vari-X III 6.5-20x44 AO 1" scope with a target dot reticle. I often hunt at 16X and at that magnification I can see the bullet zoom out and land on the target dot at 50 yards.

I have over a dozen .22 rifles, and this one and my dad's Browning .22 Auto are the last two I'd ever sell.

 

[jbronner13]

This is my favorite squirrel rifle. It's not my nicest... my Kimber 82 Super America is prettier. But it's the first firearm I bought as an adult, specifically to hunt squirrels based upon an article I'd read maybe 5 years earlier... a Don Lewis article on using target rifles for squirrel hunting in Gun Digest. It was the first really accurate rifle I owned, but not the last. It still looks new and puts them all in one hole at 50 yards... of course, I take care of it.

I bought this rifle for $300 back in 1981 and killed my first squirrel with it that fall. I was a practiced shooter by then, had shot 4-position smallbore competitively in college, and had no problem getting my limit... collecting every squirrel that I saw. In the next several years I killed a load of squirrels, a rabbit that made the mistake of running (so I saw it) and then stopping on the top of a ravine about 40 yards out (yes, head shot rabbits still stink to high heavens to clean), and a bunch of crows. I remember one time standing in the woods near the edge of a field in the late afternoon, using a mouth call to respond to a murder of crows cawing away in the field, and as one would come in and land at the top of a dead oak about 40 yards away, holding on the breast as it faced me and squeezing the trigger to see it fall, frozen dead... I killed a half-dozen crows without moving in a few minutes. I moved to WA from LA in the late 80s, shot smallbore silhouette with it (and won a few matches) for a few years in the late 90s, then let it sit in the gun safe while I used more expensive, but not more accurate rifles. I got it out for a hunting trip to Arkansas after a two decade hiatus, disassembled and cleaned it (the trigger was frozen from dried grease, and the bolt needed some help, too), and then took it with me. Again, I got every squirrel I saw. This is the first with that rifle, in 2022. I had snuck up a creek bottom and over a ridge during a light rain. As I stood under a pine tree to get out of the rain, I heard a squirrel cutting a pine cone nearby. I pulled the rifle to my shoulder and looked up at a pine tree to my left about 30 yards, and this squirrel was sitting almost at the top spitting out pieces of pine cone. A few seconds later it came tumbling down after a shot at the back of the head (on the other side). That's a Leupold Vari-X III 6.5-20x44 AO 1" scope with a target dot reticle. I often hunt at 16X and at that magnification I can see the bullet zoom out and land on the target dot at 50 yards.

View attachment 605485

I have over a dozen .22 rifles, and this one and my dad's Browning .22 Auto are the last two I'd ever sell.

All that love and you never say what model the gun is, I am dying to know!