I occasionally use a 17 for squirrel hunting. The only difference I've notice between it and a 22 is the lack of "thump" on impact with the 17. As for damage, I haven't seen the "blew em in half" thing yet.
I dont have any pictures, but I can tell you that the first squirrel I ever shot with my .17 HMR was literally almost blown in half. The red was sitting up on a stone wall facing me at about 20 yds. I put the crosshairs in center of mass and took up the slack. It hit him so hard that he flipped up in the air off the ground about a foot and a half high and then landed dead. No twitching, no movement, no last breath, NOTHING but dead! When I went to pick him up, I held him by a hind leg only to see daylight passing through his mid section and the only thing holding his front end to the back end was a small flap of skin on one side and a little bit of spine muscle! Yeah, I considered him "cut in half". I even took it to the dealer I bought the gun from to show him and he was in disbelief. The .17 was new then, and neither of us knew what to expect. The .17 HMR deals instantaneous death to such little critters every time.
So to answer your question, yes, it can and will "cut them in half"
Horse crap. I've shot squirrels with everything from a .177 pellet to a 308 Win. Never seen one blown in half, or "literally almost blown in half".
Well I shot a pigeon once with my 22-250 and the pigeon disappeared and all that was left was feathers. We had to look around for what was left. The impact of the bullet had pushed the snow away from the area that the pigeon had been hit so yeah it could happen...
Horse crap. I've shot squirrels with everything from a .177 pellet to a 308 Win. Never seen one blown in half, or "literally almost blown in half".
Well, I am just speaking from my experience, and frankly, it doesnt matter to me in the least if you believe what I posted. I am just trying to answer the question in the original post. I don't understand why some people on this site are so quick to discredit what people post just because they haven't experienced the same thing. I am sure if I had a picture of that squirrel, someone would say "Horse Crap! There is no way that was shot with one 17 HMR round!" I have been a member of this site since January of 2005, and these kinds of responses are why I only have 60 something posts.
Type of ammo makes all the difference in the world go to I believe its dogbegone .com show footage of 17 blowing a larger prairie dog from long range in to total pieces they slow footage down so you can actually see flight of bullet. Just checked that is the right web site. Film speaks for itself.
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50 Cal Traditions XLT EXTREME camo/nickel
50 cal Omega ,thumbhole stock ,fluted stainless
Browning Citori "sporter" ULTRA 12 ga
Marlin 22 mag
Mossberg 12 ga Trophy Slugster /bushnell scope
Remington scoremaster 22, What gramps taught me to shoot with!! Sure do miss ya buddy
Damage pics
