Let's see your squirrel rifle!!!

[oldtravler61]

  Anyone working on a squirrel rifle? Oldtravler

[Mike Brooks]

  Anyone working on a squirrel rifle? Oldtravler

I think I'll be selling my .36 so I'll be building a .32 sometime this spring. Wanted a .32 anyway.....

[Kermit]

I hardly slept last night, I'm so excited. Tomorrow my Deep River-ish .40 x 46" curly ash rifle arrives. Joe Schell has been working away on it, and he finished it up just after my chemotherapy ended. How 'bout that--kill a cancer, get a new flintlock.

Pix will follow in due time.

[oldtravler61]

  Kermit wishing you the best an can't wait to see your rifle. Joe does fine work. Oldtravler

[nosrettap1958]

Not only a great shooting rifle Don, sweet lines also. can't beat that combination.

[hanshi]

I hardly slept last night, I'm so excited. Tomorrow my Deep River-ish .40 x 46" curly ash rifle arrives. Joe Schell has been working away on it, and he finished it up just after my chemotherapy ended. How 'bout that--kill a cancer, get a new flintlock.

Pix will follow in due time.

Can't beat that, my friend.  Good luck all around.  I take a cancer drug but it's for a chronic problem.  It has only done away with all my body hair and really thinned out my raven locks; but it doesn't make me sick.  Hang in there.

[Daryl]

  Anyone working on a squirrel rifle? Oldtravler

I think I'll be selling my .36 so I'll be building a .32 sometime this spring. Wanted a .32 anyway.....

LOL- I went the other way, Mike.  I had a .32- didn't like the groove/land configuration so ordered another .32- form Jason- he mistakenly sent a .36- oh well. I just happened to have a .350" DC RCBS mould - imagine that!  The Rice .36 is more accurate (although many would consider the .32 -accurate) and it will hold up better over the longer ranges we shoot on our trail.
For a straight bunny and squirrel hunting rifle only, I'd even consider a .25 or .28. What a blast!

[Kermit]

Arrived this afternoon, safe and sound. Joe Schell has better pix up on his blog than I'll ever produce. Curly ash stock (bought the blank on this site a few years ago--can't remember who had it), Rice A-wt .40 x 46" round rifling, Davis small Queen Anne brass/bronze plate. Jerry Rice did the engraving. I was looking for some light engraving, and Jerry went above and beyond. I was hoping to portray a rifle reusing a pistol lock in a later, plainer gun. I'm delighted. Tomorrow we have rain forcast, so I'll cast some .395s and this weekend there's a shoot. I'll see how she does. I planned this with my younger daughter--she's 45 and started shooting when she was 5--and this will eventually be hers. Maybe Joe will have some words to add.

https://joeschell.blogspot.com/2017/02/ash-stocked-40-lock-engraved-bu-jerry.html?showComment=1486689834115#c8938049374619053408

[Joe Schell]

Im glad you like it, i hope you get many years of enjoyment out of it.
This was the first ash stock i've worked with and it was a bit of a challenge at times. Jerry did a nice job on the lock and hes a good guy to deal with .
Let me know how it shoots.

[WaterFowl]

Wow ..That's cool! pleasantly surprised how much I like the very dark stained ash.
That 40's gonna be a shooter!!!
My kinda rifle..
Good luck  and good shooting..hope your daughter lets you shoot it now and then!

[hanshi]

Kermit, that's a great looking rifle and I'll bet it's a tack driver.  I also like that dark stock.

[tddeangelo]

[Eddie Southgate]

.40 Rice barrel





Robby

   That is special !
  Eddie

[Eddie Southgate]

Here's  mine.  32" Rayl  3/4x36 bbl.  L&R lock. Wormy maple

 



Beautiful gun!!

~Tony

  Really like this style . Beautiful rifle.

   Eddie

[hanshi]

Let's keep this going; I'm getting jealous and breathless. 

[oldtravler61]

 Robby I'd be scared to take that in the woods . Beautiful!   Eddie that's one good looking squirrel gun! Really nice.   Mike

[Robby]

Thank you Eddie and Oldtraveler, oh, it goes and will be going this afternoon.
Robby

[nosrettap1958]

Seeing all of these beautiful longrifles, I consider that the 'Golden Age' of the American longrifle combined with its world wide reputation for performance, not many people haven't heard of the 'Kentucky' rifle, was the greatest period of gun making ever.

End of off topic post. 

[Kermit]

Kermit, that's a great looking rifle and I'll bet it's a tack driver.  I also like that dark stock.

Well, I got rained out this weekend (we can use it) so the tack driving determination will have to wait. Time to sew a bag and make a horn. The fun continues.

Glad to see the new posts. I love this thread!

[Bob Roller]

With all these beautiful squirrel rifles around, does anyone have a good recipe for squirrel ?  I only ever had one, and it was tough to skin, and even tougher to eat     Something close to how I imagine a bicycle tire would cook up

They are supposed to be annealed and allowed to cool with the furnace.
We have some really fat ones here in my back yard and we let the cats
tend to them. Fun to watch these little predators lay a trap for these
tree rats.

Bob Roller

[Eric Krewson]

I pressure cook my squirrels for 12 minutes at 15# pressure then put the pressure cooker under the water faucet to kill the pressure. Any more time and the young ones meat will fall off the bone, the tough ones will be as tender as young ones. I proceed to frying them after they come out of the pressure cooker, you can just about suck the meat off the bones.

[tddeangelo]

If you YouTube how to clean squirrels, there are ways to clean them quick and easy.

The one in my pic above took me about 10 min total to do and it was my first try at this method of cleaning. I can probably do it in less than 5 next time.

That's skinned, gutted, cleaned, and done.

I'm on the go today, but if I can link a video later, I will.

[Daryl]

I pressure cook my squirrels for 12 minutes at 15# pressure then put the pressure cooker under the water faucet to kill the pressure. Any more time and the young ones meat will fall off the bone, the tough ones will be as tender as young ones. I proceed to frying them after they come out of the pressure cooker, you can just about suck the meat off the bones.

This is how I make wild game meat stew - pressure cook for 15 minutes at a rocking spout. Beef stew meat also benefits from pressure cooking.

[tddeangelo]

Here's a good vid on squirrel cleaning for those who dislike skinning the little buggers...

[Daryl]

Well done. Much better than the way I cleaned them when I was a kid.

TKS- too bad no grey or black squirrels around here.