The 17 Hmr will be a good choice for most all varmints, although anything small you want to keep the pelt off of I would stay away from the 17-grain V-max bullets, as they will just blow up the little critters.

For pelts and table fair, one will probably do best to stick with a 20 grain Hornady XTP, as they are less likely to fragment. Usually the XTP bullet will mushroomin nicely giving a pin hole entrance & a small exit wound channel.
For longer range flat shooting and little wind drift the 17 grain V-max bullet will be hard to beat. I personally would have no problem taking out a P-dog at 175 yards with my 17HMR and the 17 grain v-max bullets. I would not feel at all comfortable taking the same shot with any bullet from a 22 Mag, just for comparison.
For more info give the following site a look. Should answer all your questions & more

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...a1c1f&f=15