[[I’ve never had a squirrel hang from a branch using a 12 gauge, 6 shot. I have with .22s.]]
I was never mad for firing 22’s up into the air. Miss and you don’t know where the heck its going in settled areas.
The 12 gauge seems to blow them off a branch. But with a .22 sometimes they may not and they just dangle off the branch (maybe eventually they fall, maybe they don’t). So a fried squirrel, biscuits and gravy dinner forfeited.