leman

The problem I have found with the .17HMR for squirrel hunting is the loud report. After your first shot you're gonna have to wait a while for the other squirrels to calm down enough to come back out. I personally like to use subsonic .22LR or even .22 Short. They have more than enough power to kill a squirrel with a head shot and are quiet enough that other squirrels won't be alarmed by it.

IndyHunter83

Loaded question... It depends on the yardage. From 25 yards.. maybe.. from 60 yards. no. Hell.. I'm going squirrel hunting this weekend and because of how thick the leaves are in the area I'm taking my 12 ga. just incase.

13pointjomc

Thanks,i mostly hunt squirrels with a shotgun,just wanted to give the 17hmr a try.

Sheridan

Hey skb,



How far were your shots ?




Were you using the 20 gr. loads ?




I'm looking to buy a HMR and having concern about the same issue.




I want it for ground squirrels out to +/- 200 yards (as I have a .204 for the long shots).

skb2706

sher - I have several thousand acres of private land prairie dogs to shoot and I go all the time.
I will usually take three or four rifles and this particular time I took a .17HMR to sight in for a friend and use occasionally for the weekend. The rifle was a Savage 93 I believe and wicked accurate. But once we got set up out in the pasture we had all kinds of trouble making hits beyond 50 yds. It wasn't that the gun wouldn't shoot well, it was any cross wind and we'd be blown off ....not in inches, in feet. The bullets we were using were the little Vmaxs 17 gr. ? When we got set up with a direct wind at our backs the thing was deadly out past 100 yds., pretty much automatic, scope, shoot, kill.
I know alot of guys who use them and love them in the field but given the cost of ammo, I can load up my .204s and my 22-250s and easily triple my effective range and get some real air time.
If I owned one I would take and use it but it would not be my primary shooter and I'd use it to fill in while waiting for barrels to cool.

With that thought if you were in a place where the wind wasn't constantly blowing and changing they might just be the cats pajamas...but again limited carnage.

Two kinds of days we have on the prairie -

days when the wind blows

days when it blows harder

Early season say around mid May til mid June our shots range from 75 to well over 350 yds.

Two weekends ago when I went with a friend we lasered back to the truck from just about every dead dog we found and the average was 225 yds. the longest we found was just over 400 yds and the closest was about 50.

live2Draw

i have a 5mm rem mag. tehy recently starting making the ammunition for them again, and talk about a superior little round!! I would take it over a .17 any day! if you can find one of these neat little rifles i highly recomend them! they do get to be overkill for anything small within 50 yards though. I have no problem waxing coyotes lol

ilyotehunter

no it is not overkill as long as you take head shots. ive had 2 that i have sold and i am in the market for another. they are extremely accurate out to 100 plus yards. i know numerous people who kill and eat squirrels and that is all they use.

13pointjomc

Well,if the 17 hmr is as accurate as everybody says it is i should be able to hit um in the head,if i hit one behind the shoulder,its not a problem'cause i don't use the rib meat,thanks.

soulless

the 22LR is nothing compared to the 17HMR. check on youtube 22LR vs 17hmr

Use 20grain CCI FMJ and you should be fine. I shot a few critters in the torso and only left a hole. Use hornady vmax or any other explosive hallow point rounds and you've got a mess..

IndyHunter83

It just sighted in my 17. today. shootin dime size groups at 50 yards. I'll try it on squirrels later this week and I'll let ya know if its overkill. my assumption would be maybe.