Big fox squirrel bagged with .25 cricket-w/pics. And a ?-
Hey guys. Went out today as soon as I could which was about 2pm.. Not the ideal time to go after squirrels but I figured what the hell. Last fall I cruised around looking for hunting spots and found a huge unfinished sub division. It’s perfect, it’s basically a road that leads straight Into the woods for about half a mile ending in a giant culdesac that was littered with acorns last fall. I knew that day it would probably be a good spot. Today I finally got a round to going back and checking it out. I have no idea who owns the property- it has to be some commercial entity or something, that’s why I haven’t hit it until today. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere, and I don’t think it’s alright to trespass.. But this place was irresistable today.
As for the particulars- the squirrel was sun bathing/ relaxing just watching me sitting still on top of a tree that was cut in half. Maybe 30ft tall- my range finder pegged him at 30yds from me. Pretty cut and dry scenario- she felt safe and didn’t bat an eye at me until that Predator smacked her in the chest. Surprisingly she didn’t just fall down and die.. As she fell back, she still had the juice to grab the tree for about 3 seconds.. When the adrenalines pumping, that 3 seconds seemed like 30 to me and I went to load again but she let go and hit the ground right before I could. Once on the ground she didn’t budge.
You can see in the Pics that the pellet hit square in the chest, and while skinning it I found the pellet right under the fur towards the tail. So the Predator almost made it through the whole squirrel length wise.
As for my question- it seems to me like the Polymag didn’t really expand much. What kind of expansion do you guys see from them in .25? The Kings and Preds are about equal accuracy wise in my gun, so I think I’m just going to start using the JSB Kings exclusively in my gun from now on since they’re cheaper and the Polymag isnt really giving me any expansion advantage.
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Good point GKU. With the Prod, I’m shooting at 45 yards and thats where I pick up the impacted pellets.. Chairgun tells me that my energy at that range drops to exactly 8fpe. Do you think they use the same lead formulation at Predator for both the .22 & .25 Polymags? The .22s seem to have a different shine to them.. that could be because my .25s are a couple years old, idk. I just squeezed one of each and it seems to me that the .22s leave my finger nail impression easier… hmm.
710 fps, is that the point of impact velocity at what distance or is that just the muzzle velocity ?
To get more from the 25 cal Polys @ 920 fps you’d need to either dial it down or increase to shooting distance to get more transferred energy into the game.
I’d compare the FPE @ the impact distance and note the penetration. Meaning if it when right through (semi transfer) or stayed inside the game (full transfer).
Just my :2cents:
Food for thought:
Some that use Ploys also report that compared to domes when shooting birds that they take longer to fall. When actually they do because on impact they’re not falling straight down. On impact with the Polys they’re being pushed back from the impact transfer energy. A longer hang time when seeing from the shooters prospective and not from right above the bird.
~ GKU
When I took that picture of the chest shot was while I was skinning it.. I really had a hell of a time trying to pull the skin off this one using the standing on the tail method. I mangled it up a bit using my knife to coax the skin off, but I still came out with enough for a meal. I just boiled the squirrel in salt water, peeled all the meat from the bones, took one of those uncle Bens 90 second instant microwave rice pouches (Spanish rice flavored), and threw them together. Really quick/easy meal.
And about the Preds.. I don’t get it because in my Rapid Prod bull pup, the .22 Preds completely mushroom out at a much slower velocity- 710fps. I was just expecting a bit more I guess from the .25s since they’re soaring at 920fps.
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Nice shot man !
Polys are devastating when they find their mark.
I’m still waiting for the MetalMags to come out in 25 cal, better shock value !
In 22 cal the MetalMags penetrate (pierce through) faster then the Polys and also expand/stopping faster. Like a small internal explosion going on inside. Often finding them inside of the varmints even at close ranges, where as the Polys will often pass right through.
Have them both in 177 cal also, but haven’t compared them in the field on game yet.
~ GKU
Nice kill! Did you eat it? Despite her clinging to the tree, my guess is that she was most likely dead the moment she was hit. Probably just muscle reflex that caused her to stay gripped onto the tree. That Predator looks nicely mushroomed to me. I recovered a King from a squirrel I took at 25 yards with a similar chest shot, and it was still fairly dome shaped. The Predators are fun for effect, but I have yet to see a squirrel walk away from a solid hit with the Kings…
The preditors in my 25 are only good for 50 yards. I really prefer using the kings because they go where they should. I rather place the shot good and right than rely on ammo to do it.
Neck shot on squirrels are devastating. I bag feral cat all the time with them up to 75 yards.
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I have never shot a Polymag out of my 22 or 25 Cricket, I have them, just been shooting the JSBs…
I can say for sure at 30 yards and 48 yards the difference between a Polymag and a 25 gr JSB shot out of a 950 FPS Marauder is a very different sound hitting a sparrow…
Much more of a pop with the .25 polymag,, I did have to adjust my POI between the two,,,,
Mike