Best rimfire cartridge for varmints?
01-23-2012, 05:05 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 178
Best rimfire cartridge for varmints?
I can't hunt with centerfire rifles in my county, so I was wondering what caliber would be best for varmints, including coyotes. .17hmr or .22 Win Mag maybe? They seem to be the two best options. Also, any weight or brand specific bullets would be nice. Thanks.
01-23-2012, 05:38 PM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location:
Posts: 647
You're probably going to get multiple answers to this question based on who answers. Personally it depends on the varmit for me. Ground hogs and small I like a 17. Its flatter shooter and a little bit faster than the 22 win mag. For Raccoons and all the way through coyotes I'd definately stick with the 22 mag. The reason simply is going to be knock down power of the bigger slug.
01-23-2012, 07:10 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 5,130
"After researching and writing this article, I have reached a conclusion about these two cartridges. I would favor the .22 WMR for shooting small game and varmints within 100 yards, and the .17 HMR if shots often run much beyond that distance."
Chuck Hawks
+1
Proud owner of Marlin 917 VS-CF .17 HMR & Marlin 60 DLX .22LR
Chuck Hawks
+1
Proud owner of Marlin 917 VS-CF .17 HMR & Marlin 60 DLX .22LR
Last edited by Sheridan; 01-23-2012 at 07:13 PM.
01-25-2012, 01:17 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
Been there, debated that...
17hmr 22mag coyotes under 100 yds
22 vs 17 hmr
Frankly, either are going to work. To call one "ideal" over the other is mostly subjective. Some guys say "use the .17HMR for longer shooters", other guys say "use the .22WMR if your game is over 30lbs". If we're 100% honest, a skilled shooter with a good rifle and the proper bullet choice can reliably take coyotes to 100yrds with either of them, some guys even farther.
Personally, I have both. Both work, honestly can't say I see much real difference on coyotes to 150yrds. I've had success with both, and admittedly I've had failures with both. Sometimes dogs just don't want to go down fast enough to find them.
17hmr 22mag coyotes under 100 yds
22 vs 17 hmr
Frankly, either are going to work. To call one "ideal" over the other is mostly subjective. Some guys say "use the .17HMR for longer shooters", other guys say "use the .22WMR if your game is over 30lbs". If we're 100% honest, a skilled shooter with a good rifle and the proper bullet choice can reliably take coyotes to 100yrds with either of them, some guys even farther.
Personally, I have both. Both work, honestly can't say I see much real difference on coyotes to 150yrds. I've had success with both, and admittedly I've had failures with both. Sometimes dogs just don't want to go down fast enough to find them.
Last edited by Nomercy448; 01-25-2012 at 02:39 PM. Reason: Corrected link
01-25-2012, 02:37 PM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
A picture is worth 1000 words...
I know we've belabored this topic over and over again, but I had some free time this afternoon and thought I'd add a little visual fodder for everyone to mull over.
I ran some numbers through a ballistic calculator based on Hornady V-max ammo for both the .17HMR and .22WMR. Using published data from Hornady's website for bc's and MV's, the following picture describes the ballistic performance comparison between the two.
Obviously, the .17HMR is faster, but what's that really worth? The faster .17HMR might not give the wind as much time to drift it off course, but the lighter weight bullets will be more apt to drift (lower inertia) than heavier bullets. Faster bullets generally give greater hydrostatic shock, but as you'll see below, the 17HMR sacrified more with its smaller diameter and lighter bullet weights than it gained in velocity when it comes to hydrostatic shock. In my book, the difference in velocity is mostly conjecture.
With a 100yrd zero, the trajectory difference is never outside of 2" apart clear out to 150yrds. The .22WMR is point blank (assuming +/-2" for point blank on a coyote) out to 125yrds, the .17HMR is point blank out to 135yrds. Not much difference in my book. Just because a round drops less, it doesn't mean it's more accurate, just that the shooter has to compensate slightly less. Again, if we're talking about 100yrd coyote hunting, there's not enough rise or drop to compensate for with either round.
Compared for Energy, the .22WMR starts out considerably stronger but the .17HMR to catches up at about 100yrds, then they hang out together at about the same energy out to 250 (only as far as I thought was relevant to run the sim). Under 100yrds, the .22WMR has the advantage for energy, beyond 100, there's really no appreciable difference.
The only interesting variance I see is the Taylor Factor. Taylor KO Factors are a combination of a bullets diameter and it's momentum (TKO = velocity * bullet weight in lbs * diameter). TKO gives you an idea 1) how well a round will buck the wind, and 2) how hard the round will hit, aka, stopping power. Frankly, the 22WMR has almost twice the TKO factor of the 17HMR. TKO factors tell us a lot about wound characteristics and hydrostatic shock. The higher a round's TKO, the larger the temporary cavity will be (as well as the permanent cavity usually). Even though these two have the same energy past 100yrds, I would still actually expect better wound cavity and hydrostatic shock from the .22WMR, even though it's moving slower.
Granted, that's comparing ONE pair of factory loads, and bullet choice is obviously a very imortant aspect of any hunting application, but frankly, there just isn't enough proof, either on paper, or in the field, to convince me one is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the other for coyotes.
I ran some numbers through a ballistic calculator based on Hornady V-max ammo for both the .17HMR and .22WMR. Using published data from Hornady's website for bc's and MV's, the following picture describes the ballistic performance comparison between the two.
Obviously, the .17HMR is faster, but what's that really worth? The faster .17HMR might not give the wind as much time to drift it off course, but the lighter weight bullets will be more apt to drift (lower inertia) than heavier bullets. Faster bullets generally give greater hydrostatic shock, but as you'll see below, the 17HMR sacrified more with its smaller diameter and lighter bullet weights than it gained in velocity when it comes to hydrostatic shock. In my book, the difference in velocity is mostly conjecture.
With a 100yrd zero, the trajectory difference is never outside of 2" apart clear out to 150yrds. The .22WMR is point blank (assuming +/-2" for point blank on a coyote) out to 125yrds, the .17HMR is point blank out to 135yrds. Not much difference in my book. Just because a round drops less, it doesn't mean it's more accurate, just that the shooter has to compensate slightly less. Again, if we're talking about 100yrd coyote hunting, there's not enough rise or drop to compensate for with either round.
Compared for Energy, the .22WMR starts out considerably stronger but the .17HMR to catches up at about 100yrds, then they hang out together at about the same energy out to 250 (only as far as I thought was relevant to run the sim). Under 100yrds, the .22WMR has the advantage for energy, beyond 100, there's really no appreciable difference.
The only interesting variance I see is the Taylor Factor. Taylor KO Factors are a combination of a bullets diameter and it's momentum (TKO = velocity * bullet weight in lbs * diameter). TKO gives you an idea 1) how well a round will buck the wind, and 2) how hard the round will hit, aka, stopping power. Frankly, the 22WMR has almost twice the TKO factor of the 17HMR. TKO factors tell us a lot about wound characteristics and hydrostatic shock. The higher a round's TKO, the larger the temporary cavity will be (as well as the permanent cavity usually). Even though these two have the same energy past 100yrds, I would still actually expect better wound cavity and hydrostatic shock from the .22WMR, even though it's moving slower.
Granted, that's comparing ONE pair of factory loads, and bullet choice is obviously a very imortant aspect of any hunting application, but frankly, there just isn't enough proof, either on paper, or in the field, to convince me one is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the other for coyotes.
01-25-2012, 02:47 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
Oh, and for the record...
Gentlemen, let the pot shots at the plots begin!
I'm fully aware of the "danger" of taking shot after shot about the error in data, calculations, etc etc when a guy posts info like this. Don't worry about me, I came prepared!!!
Gentlemen, let the pot shots at the plots begin!
I'm fully aware of the "danger" of taking shot after shot about the error in data, calculations, etc etc when a guy posts info like this. Don't worry about me, I came prepared!!!