I'm in the market for a smallbore rifle for small game hunting, and I'm stuck in between these two choices. What are everyone's opinions on these two calibers, and have you used them to hunt with before? How is the accuracy and damage? What is the largest quarry I can take down with a .17 HMR? How about a .22? Thanks guys.

distance needs to be considered.17 for longer distances,squirrels and that size 22,i have both and i've learned which one to use and not to use, if your shooting everything in the head, i'd say the 17. its awesome

17hmr is a blast, it is devistating on small game. and is accurate out too 150 yards. if you go to the link there s few pic of the targets i shot yesterday.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com...c;f=5;t=010583

I have had my daughter target shooting with since she was 8 and she can tear down a rifle do all the maintenance herself and knows how to handle the gun very well. She is aware of all the hunting saftey percausions and to be sure of the background when shooting. Till now she has pretty much only shot .22 LR - am I thinking of getting her into high powered rifles.

What do you think of the .17 HMR as a starter gun for this purpose?

The 22LR CCI Velocitors are only 20 ft-lbs less than a 17 HMR at 100 yards. I can shoot a 1/2" at 50 yards with my Ruger 77/22 and just over 1" at 100 yards. 22LR ammo is much cheaper than 17 HMR also. I would say get a good 22LR.

As for the 17HMR being a good high power starting rifle I would say try a .223 they have very little recoil and will reach out to 300 yards easily. The 17 HMR is still just a small caliber rimfire.

Hope this helps.

Id have to say that you cant even campare the 17hmr to the 22lr. A 17 will out shoot it any day.

I'm gonna have to agree with you there aborquez. Absolutely no richochets with the .17HMR either unlike the .22LR which seems to richochete rather easily.

What do you guys think of the .22 WMR?

i like 17hmr its faster, flatter trajectory and shes fun as hell on gophers. i cant wait to bust mine out this year.

The .17HMR is better right across the board even against the .22WMR.

This site has all the info you'll need on the .17HMR
http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm
Its got charts and the whole works.