Still new on the scene, I had one of these, and got rid of it too soon. I want to pick up another in a Savage 93R17GV. My little .17 never blew gophers to pieces, but it did kill em' quick at ranges that the good ol' .22 can't do consistantly. It's flat shooting, quite, and is extremely popular with varminters, though a little pricey to shoot. Best of all, there are now a few more bullet choices coming out. Could you have a better 250 yard gun, that won't wake up the country side on a crisp, sunday morning?

Super fun shooting this little guy, Then I picked up the box of ammo and realized it was not as cheap as I would have liked. Oh Well,

This should be the rifle that everyone get's for their kids as a first "varmint" gun. no kick, cheap to shoot, not too loud, shoots well, great all around light cal.

I was very skeptical about this little round at first. Figured it was an answer to an unasked question or just a souped up pellet gun. I was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy one can get out of these little pills though. I have what can be considered a very accurate 22 WMR, but my 17 HMR will shoot circles around it. I use mine mainly for crows and it works wonders on them.

This is one that I have no use for. I don't hunt small varmits and the 223 is cheaper for me to shoot and has much more range and many more uses. Same goes for the newer 204. The 223 is a better all around varmit gun than the newcommers.

agreed James B .223 has hardly any recoil and is cheap to use

The 17 HMR avereages about $ 0.16 per round. 223 Rem is running about $0.20 a round so not a whole lot of difference in price. You are really comparing apples to oranges though. I can see if you don't shoot small varmints or squirrel hunt the 223 would give you more, but the 17 HMR does far less meat damage on small game.

It does not cost me anywhere near 20 cents a round for 223. I have 5000 brass that were free for the picking up and bullets bulk are dirt cheap. I can reload them for a fraction of what the 17 HMR costs. I can't reload the rimfires. Therefore the 223 is much cheaper. For me. I have nothing against the 17 HMR its just that I am a reloader and thats not an option with the rimmies. I can get plenty close to the squirrels to use the 22 rimfire.

The 17HMR isn't expensive to shoot in comparison. Obviously, you can't reload it...But it's $8.49 here for the CCI's, and that's 50. Like Friz said, that's $.17/shot.

I love mine, and it'll do more than I thought range wise. It lacks the punch of a 223, but is one gread woodchuck and squirrel gun. Great fun for plinking, too.

I ran about 3 boxes through mine a few days ago, and had a ball. We shoot clay pigeons off the top of a mountain, and they float downward into a meadow. If they were unbroken, I'd shoot them with my 17. (OBVIOUSLY after they had landed LOL) Some shots were approaching 300 (we had a rangefinder) so holdover was a must. I was holding about 12" high at 290-310yds and breaking clays. Gun did more than I ever thought it would.

Don't have any use for it.
.22LRs are much cheaper and are just as good on squirrels as a .17 HMR. Squirrels are the only game animal I shoot with a .22 rifle. The only varmints in my area are woodchucks and coyotes, both of which I'd rather shoot with something much larger than a .17

The prices for .17 ammo are now coming down. It started at about 10.00 per 50 rounds. Midway just sent out a flyer for 6.59 or something like that per 50.