Very small game and shotguns
 

So for bunny's and squirrels and such, do you run into problems with the shot penetrating the guts? I'm just curious. I use my pellet gun for things like that...

You can. However, it is about learning to shoot a shotgun, not merely to point it and hope. Head shots.

I've been hunting squirrel this year with a recently acquired 16 gauge with a full choke barrel. The secret is to lead them a little off the nose and let about half the shot pattern hit them in the head.

I will take a .22 squirrel hunting but limit my shots to ground shots or with solid background. I have land neighbors that are withing a few hundred yards depending on where I am on my property. I'm not a big fan of putting lead in the air and not knowing where it will be coming down.

Very good point- the humble .22 rifle can lob a bullet about 1.5 miles.

You use a small shotgun, I use a .410 with #2`s or #4`s.

What about a .22 pistol?

It's still going to travel a lot further than shot. Use light loads with #4-#6 shot and lead the buggers. Even if you get a gut shot just clean it right away and clean it real good when you get home. You're likely going to stew them for a few hours which will kill anything anyway.

I field dress immediately after the kill. Pull the head off, split the chest, hold by hind legs give em a wipe, if you do it right everything should come out, plus it reduces 1/3 the carry weight.

was looking at a .22lr shot shell put out by cci for a squirrel / rabbit round any thoughts?

I'm not real sure that will do it. Close range in my revolver works ok on smaller snakes but I doubt it will do well with any distance between you and the critter. The rifling in the barrel screws with your shot pattern. Instead of a group of pellets hitting you get kind of a circle with an empty area in the middle