Hands down a .22LR. A .22 Mag is just overkill on squirrels and is pretty expensive to shoot. If you was a .22 cal. gun with more poop then I would get a .223, they are cheap to shoot (not as cheap as a .22lr, but still pretty reasonable) and you can take coyotes out to about 300 yards with them. Everybody should have at least one 22lr rifle. If I where you I would just clean up gramps ole 22 and use it. Which I do, I am still shooting the 22 Winchester which was my great grandads and it shoots better than any gun with open sights that is in the family. You just cannot hardly hurt those old things, and in my opinion any nicks or dings that might happen to it just adds to the heretige for when you pass it down to your kids.

Thanks for the replies. I decided just to shoot the .22 of Papa's at times. But I did break down and get a Savage 17HMR, synthetic stock, heavy barrell. Plan to do some shooting tommorrow.

Was going to say tell you to scrap the 22 and go with the 17hmr. Havnt touched my 22's since I got mine!!!! I love it. I go to the range and dont even take any thing else! Wait till you really see how accurate they are.

Well now I have another question. Should I go with a low fixed power scope like a 4x32 or a variable power scope?

i've used both scopes on my 22. I currently have a 3-9 32mm bushnell 22 scope on it and i love it. The 4x worked great but trying to pull off a headshot on a squirrel 50yd away at 4x was a little rough sometimes. Now i just crank r up a lil and it makes the picture alot better. I'd say stick with something in the 32mm range. Check out a 3-9 22scope they are the way to go in my opinion.

I would go with a variable. Squirell heads get a little hard to pick out past 50 yards. Good choice on sticking with Gramps gun. 22LR tend to be a little more accurate then mags.

I have a Ruger 10/22 LR and love it. I put a nice little scope on it and it's perfect for squirels or just plinking targets.

22lr. PERIOD. end of discussion. I've shot the .17-both hmr and mach2,and while they are accurate,the tiny bullets tear up meat except on head shots.Also,the .17s cost a LOT more to shoot than a .22lr. So the main consideration remains shooter skill and you can afford to shoot and hone your skill more with a .22lr. I've shot yotes and groundhogs with .17s and had approx. 30-40% run off only to die later. 1 thing I have found out is that .22wmr fmj or solid points has EXACTLY the same wound channel(terminal ballistics) as a .22lr high velocity hollow point only with more penetration and range.

don't rule out the t/c contender g2. you can get a 22lr barrel and tehn later on get a 17hmr barrel, or just about anything else for that matter. downside is the price. i bought a t/c encore 5 years ago and a g2 contender last year. wish i had picked these up alot earlier in life, i would definitely have saved alot of money buying barrels rather than the whole gun. just my .02

Id say the 22lr because they are quieter, the shells are cheaper, and i love my 22lr