I have a Marlin 917VS with a Leupold Vari-X II 3-9x on mine, and have only used it on rabbits and squirrels (other than target shooting).

If you check out Midway (www.midwayusa.com) there are a lot more bullets available for the .17 HMR than you usually see in stores. If you are going for rabbits and squirrels, forget about the ballistic tip styles. They are way too destructive. CCI now has a 20 grain Gamepoint. While less destructive, it is still a hollowpoint, and moving very fast. So far, my favorite round for small game is CCI's full metal jacket. That thing is moving so fast, and has so much energy for small game that expansion isn't really necessary. With this bullet, it is deadly on rabbits and squirrels.

I will try and take a couple pics this coming weekend for you.

i bought a matching pair of savages in the model 93 with stainless barrels on composite stocks. one was a .22 mag for myself and a .17 hmr. for my son. the .17 will out shoot the .22 mag with ease if there is no wind but does not do very well in any kind of wind if you are shooting much over a 100 yards. the kid can keep his shooting about the size of a dime at 100 yards which i think is really good. they are a very fast round but they also lose speed very fast. over all they are a very fun gun to shoot. they just do not have much power behind them. someone early was comparing it to a 22-250 well they would never begin to compete in that class not even close. a 3 foot drop at 300 hundred yards is not a good varmint rifle. i know that one of my boys friends was going to buy one to hunt coyotes with until he tried one of my .223's. he forgot about the .17 in a big hurry. i forgot about the price question. they are $200.00 a piece for the .17 or .22 mag.

I have a Savage in composite with the stainless heavy barrel on it, and I wouldn't trade that gun for theworld, I love it. It has a redhead cheapo 3x9x40 scope on it, but it still takes birds off of limbs and fenceposts at 100 yards, with a body shot to the upper body. Any further distance accuracy isn't important to me, the area where I hunt is heavily wooded and I would never get a shot that far off anyway.
I agree with what was said earlier about being too destructive on rabbits and smaller, it leaves an exit wound about 3" across or just explodes the body part. I have never tried any other FMJ or game point though, I'll have to give that a world. As for game it takes, I have killed rabbits, squirrels, crows, doves, armadillos. I have killed 1 hog with it, but it was about a 25 yard shot, and I put it right through the hogs ear and it dropped where it stood, by no means would I recommend this gun for game that big, I just had the oppurtunity for the shot and took it. It dressed out at 95 pounds.
As for coyotes, I have a story for that too, as it is my favorite, albeit the hardest, thing I hunt. In 3 years, I have only been able to call in 2, so they are tricky around here. I shot the same coyote oncein the body, looked like through the lungs or in that area at least from about 80 yards, heturned and started to kind of jog in my direction, I don't think he knew where the shot came from, and I shot him AGAIN from straight on in the chest, and he still kept going.Needless to say, I am sure I hit him, but for coyotes, I think I am going to upgrade to that bushmaster varmint AR-15 in the future in .223. And for the record, I got the second coyote last year, but it was with a 12 gauge and buckshot, about a 20 yard shot.