It all depends on what " mom" will let you spend. If you are going to be limited to one firearm, go with the 20ga. You' ll be able to hunt bird, small game, and deer. If you' re able to buy both, then nothing beats a accurate 22 with a scope for squirrel.

Your realy cant beat a ruger 10/22 from wal-mart topped with a cheap scope (your not shooting loooooooong range). They are great guns, hardly ever jam, recoil is light enough so that u can shoot it all day and your arm wont tell u to lay off. Cheap to shoot as well. My favorite is gettin a good headshot on mr bushytail when he never knew u was around.

TREEDOG;
Hey, I love the picture of the Walkers, That sure brings back some sweet memories.

Coyote Caller

Good old .22

Shotguns work as well[>:]

I would suggest you first consider an inexpensive shotgun before you get a rifle. My first shotgun was a New England Firearms (NEF) single-shot break-action 20guage and it served me well. I believe they still cost less than $200, but are decent guns for the money. I hunted squirrel, rabbit, and pheasant with that shotgun, and many many rounds a trap, before I got my own pump action 12 guage when I was old enough to work for it. A shotgun is the ultimate multi-purpose weapon for anything from squirrel to deer, and if you want to try your hand at trap shooting it' ll work for that too.

But, if you really have your heart set on a rifle, then I' d suggest a Ruger 10/22. I' ve had mine for years and it' s been a good, accurate and reliable rifle. The base model 10/22 can be had for well under $200, and there are aftermarket parts galore available to customize it later to your liking. A .22LR is also a very cheap rifle to shoot so you can get lots of fun and practice for a small amount of money in ammo (as in 500 shots for less than $15). Not only will is make a good rabbit, squirrel and small varmint gun, but it' s also a blast just to plink with. My brother and I would devise all sorts of competitive shooting games and we' d spend hours plinking against each other. Lots of fun and a great way to build the fundamental skills before you move up to a more powerful rifle.

Mike

One other thing to consider if you are planning on hunting squirrels with a rifle is making sure of the backstop. If you are shooting up into a tree at a squirrel on a branch and miss, even a .22 Long Rifle bullet can travel a long way, well over a mile, and still damage property or injure someone. That means that you have to be very careful about making sure that if you might miss the squirrel you' ll hit the tree. A shotgun takes care of that problem because the pellets from, say, a #6 field load are only dangerous to a 150-200 yards AT MOST, which means that it' s much safer when shooting into the air.

Mike

I agree with drift. I think shooting with a shotgun would be more effective let alone safer to shoot at a squirrel that is in a tree. The .22 round has an average 1 1/2-2 mile if you shoot at the right angle. I have shot severa squirrels from trees while using my 12ga.

For the challenge I started using my .32 cal. muzzleloader, its a CVA squirrel rifle. I' ve gotten 3 squirrels so far this season with it. This little gun is pretty accurate out to 30 yards. I still will use my .22 cal. at times , but this muzzleloading is so much fun. I never used a shotgun for squirrels, to me it tears them up to bad and I don' t like biting into shot when I' m eating. Later, Max

Hi HNI Visitor ,
Dick' s Sporting Goods recently had an over and under in 20ga/.22 and .410/.22 that would fit your needs for $99 . I' d go for the 20ga/.22 myself .

I agree with some of hte above, do not overlook a Nef or h and r break open 20 or 12 gauge (depending on how much recoil u can tolerate). My first gun was a 20ga nef and it counted for lots of small game and realy helps get them guys on the run.