Of the two the .223 is the better round for sure. More range, more energy, less wind drift and not that much more expensive. Not to mention most of the rifles would be better considering it is a centerfire not a rimfire. Not that you can't get some nice 17's.

I own a savage 17 HMR and love it, they are great little guns for 200 bucks. I specifically wanted it the HMR though because of the limited range and highly frangible bullet. It is pretty populated where I live so this round is more practicle for me, yet still does what I need it to do. And I have no desire to hand load. The 17 is a great little rimfire round, but it really doesn't compare to a centerfire, even in the same caliber.

You could also consider a .243. Then you could hunt medium sized game like deer as wella nd it would work even better on coyotes in my opinion. Nor would I rule out the 22-250.

Wow, what a help I was.

Paul