Stone Cold

I usually hunt squirls with a .22. Lately there has been a bunch of talk about the .17. What are the good and bad about the .17. Is it worth buying instead of using the .22.

Thanks

Aught Six

I've never fired the .17 HMR before, but I've seen the results on squirrel. Tiny entrance wound, the entire back on the animal blown away. It has great velocity and energy for such a small round. The .22 LR really can't compare to the .17's ballistics.

m2fin

That is a lot of FPS for squirrel.

The .17 round creates a dime size dent with a center raised point in the dent at 50m on a .22 hanging metal target! The .22 leaves a grey circle with no physical mark at .50m.

A buddy uses his savage .17 at 300 yards for coyotes with one shot results. Probably to hot of a round for squirrels.

Pro-Line

m2fin...you mean the 17HMR or the center-fire 17 Remington? The 17HMR hardly has enough energy at 300yds to kill a squirrel. At 200yds, the energy is around 70 foot pounds, and at 300 is less than 50. That's less than a 22-short has at 50yds.

I own a 17 and love it, but don't reccommend it for coyotes. It'll do the job at reasonable ranges if you hit them right.

As far as squirrels go, it'll work. Just don't hit em in the body or your gravy will be boney. LOL

rcw280

I agree with Pro-Line not enough gun for coyotes past 100 yards and maybe not even that. As for squirrels I wont take a shot with either my 22 or 17 unless I can head shoot them. Also factor in cost of ammo. Abox of 17s is going to run you eight to ten dooars for a box of fifty.

TREEDOG

17 hummer (rimfire) blows away and .22 out there. The only downside to shooting the 17 hmr is 1) price, you can order the bullets around 7.50 a box, or pay 10$ localy. 2) Headshots only, not realy a downside but you'll ruin anything u plan on eating without a headshot. Now besides having great ballistics the 17 seems to be very accurate round. My gun loves the hornady 17hmr, shoots the cci nearly as well, having shot the remington. You can get the savage 17hmr blued, for 183$ at wal-mart. And walmart carries 17 hummer ammo. Also the 17 shouldnt be used on coyotes, just my opinion but i think they deserve better.

m2fin

Proline -
Referring to the 17hmr rimfire shooting boat tail Hornady rounds. This round has a lot of power, necked down 22mag brass going +2800 fps. It goes out to 275m easily with much to spare. As I said, my buddy drops coyotes with ease. Something I would never try with a .22....

As I stated earlier this is way above a .22 in fps and ability. It dents the steel swinging target at 50m, the .22 leaves a grey mark.

frizzellr

Coyotes at 300 yards with a 17 HMR? I believe you are confused as a pet duck in a well. The 17 HMR was never designed for coyotes at any range.

Pro-Line

With a 17gr bullet, a coyote is going to have to be the un-luckiest dog on earth to fall to a 17HMR at 300yds.

I have a 17, and have shot the 3 different types of bullets. None penetrate anything, and this is go be expected with the pill it's shooting for a bullet.

It's not a coyote gun. If you haven't seen your friend do this personally, you might want to smell his breath.

TREEDOG

Even with a perfect shot angle it would be unethical imho to shoot at a coyote sized animal with a .17hmr. Its not desighned for large predators. 300 yard one shot kills on coyotes is hilarious.