the 17hmr is explosive on small game. i shoot gophers with mine and if its a smaller gopher he will end up in 2 pieces when shooting the ballistic tips. the hollow point are useless for me because there moving so fast they dont expand and just pass through the gopher without much damage. the hollow poitn just leave a tiny enterance and exit wond and the gopher crawls back to its hole before i can get a second shot off.