I won't take issue with any other man's method with squirrel, and I'm sure there are more dedicated squirrel hunters here than myself. My dear old Dad hunted squirrels with a shotgun... and I love him still, even though he has been gone now some 55 years.. I never could however, get used to biting onto lead pellets, while eating some fried squirrel.
To me it was espacially distasteful when the pellets were wrapped in squirrel fur..
That's why I use a rifle.
I hunt rural enough areas, so I can just about know which direction houses lie within plausible range from my vantage point and try to pick shots accordingly, keeping a reasonably steep angle, so the return trip is more a "drop" than a shot. In fact, my own recreational acreage about 5 miles from my house, has no homes within range from a falling .22 bullet. For these reasons, I stay with .22 LR or less, usually CCI standards.
So many rifles..hard to choose.. I have a Marlin 795 and an Anschutz "woodchucker" with adult size stock..but these are light for a steady offhand shot. My 'first year model' 10/22 is more accurate than those made in the last 40 years. Having given my grandson my Marlin 880SQ, I really like my CZ 452 Special for the job. Occasionally, just for fun, I'll take my H&R .22 with homemade peep sights (peeps are the only irons these old eyes can use).
I am a cemetery administrator, so when my groundsman is not running his mower, I will take my Ruger .177 airgun there to knock off Chipmunks. They like to dig down around the monuments, and the air rifle pellet is less likely to damage any stones. Those red/green..Tru-Glo type sights, though not "irons" work well at reasonable ranges.