Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Why 22mag when 17HMR is so much better?

I like both. There is overlap, but they excell at different jobs. I like the HMR for small fuzzies at longer range, .22 mag for bigger fuzzies up closer.

Tom

.22 Mag. If I need more there are other options superior to the .17 HMR. Things being relative in the world of external ballistics there is a slew of options with better numbers than the .17...and cheaper to shoot as well.

I'm not knocking the .17 in general terms, just don't have a need for it.

It's price of ammo. When pay more, for less! I don't intend to get in a pissing match over this. You asked, and I gave my opinion. Nuff said!

Price of ammo has almost no bearing for me. "The store" carries most .17 HMR ammo for $11.97 a box of 50 or $1 more for Winchester. The same store carries my preferred Maxi Mag +V .22 magnum for $12.97. I make the choice based on what I'm shooting at. For jackrabbits and up, the .22 mag hits a bit harder. For ground squirrels, the .17 HMR reaches a little farther.

I can "upgrade" either by setting 'em aside and grabbing the .204. Just depends on what I feel like.

It ain't religion. Or shouldn't be.

FWIW, the Centurian 30 grain ammo isn't nearly as accurate as the original 38 grain Remington/Peters ammo in my Remington 592.

Jeff

I have both , two 17 HMR'S and the 22 Magnum. I have killed maybe ten or more coons with the 17 HMR and they died right there. The 17 is a much better killer if you use the 20 gr XTP and stay away from the 17 gr Vmax even tho i have killed a few groundhogs with the 17 gr and they died instantly. The 22 mag is my choice when you get to animal bigger than coons and foxes . Most people who put down the 17 HMR have never used it or shot anything with it. Accuracy wise the 17 HMR has it all over the 22 mag when you get pasted 50 yards. In my opinion no rim fire is a coyote killer unless it is the only rifle you have, then call them in close and make no bad hits are you will cripple but that happens with center fire also. The 17 HMR is the best round i have ever used for gray and fox squirrels and this is where they really shine. If the 17 Hornady is the only rifle you own then hunt with it but use the 20 gr XTP, if you own something bigger then use it for coyotes.

The 17HMR is a niche round that does it's thing very well.

The 22 Mag is an all-arounder with bullet choices from 28gr to 50gr, in B-tip, HP, SP, FMJ, and snakeshot.

I'm in the 22Mag camp, but let mine go a long time ago. I like versatility.

Mine was a Win Model 94, 22 Mag. Traded it long ago. Dumb, dumb, move.

I like my 17 HMRs, and my 17 HM2s for that matter, but I carry/use my 22 MRFs more often. In the summer, when I am out and about, I often carry a discontinued Rossi 515 4" stainless 22 MRF revolver in a belt holster with 2 loads of snake-shot and 4 40 grain JSP cartridges. When I am Jeeping in central and southwestern CO, I keep a Marlin 982S close by, plus my survival pack that includes a Rossi 515, to shoot targets of opportunity.

I think that, in general, the 17 HMR rifles that I've owned are slightly more accurate than the comperable 22 MRF rifles, but not by a lot. Even my least expensive 22 MRF, a mid-1960s vintage Savage 63M single shot bolt gun, is minute-of-pdog accurate with the right ammo and, thankfully, will shoot the old Remington 22 Special/22 WRF 45 grain lead bullets to the same approximate POA, only about 30 yards closer, if the target is a rabbit for the stew pot. The 22 MRF is the smallest, least powerful, cartridge that I would consider for a survival rifle in the lower 48 and I think that it would be a good choice for a person forced to live off the land if he/she had a Savage 24 combination gun chambered in 22 MRF over 20 gauge.

I have found that the 22 LR to 22 MRF chamber adapters sold by MCA Sports, Ace Dube, in Anchorage, AK, will allow you to shoot less expensive 22 LRs in your 22 MRF revolvers and single-shot rifles for practice, or for shooting small game within 50+/- yards in a pinch.

www.mcace.com

Jeff

DigitalDan: I often think you come with these bizzare-o things you post just to get a rise out of more intelligent folks than yourself!
Well you are getting a rise AND a lesson from me!
Here goes, and pay attention, so in the future when you make your postings people won't laugh at them so often!
I began shooting/Hunting with various 22 "Magnums" back in 1955 - I have owned and shot them all. I still own several 22 "Magnum" Rifles and pistols in fact.
They don't get used much at all anymore.
The 17 HMR so far outperforms the various 22 magnums that its laughable ANYONE is stupid enough to deny this fact!
The speed of the 17 HMR and the flatter trajectory and the ability to shoot straighter in the wind ONLY compliment the enhanced accuracy of the 17 HMR over the various 22 Magnums!
The speed of the 17 HMR's projectiles (both linear and rotational) add a level of lethality to the 17 HMR that no 22 Magnum can even approach!
To date, with my various 17 HMR's, I have killt: Coyotes, Fox, large Porcupines, Raccoons, Rock Chucks, feral cats, Skunks, Jack Rabbits, Prairie Dogs, Snowshoe Hares, large flying Varmints, Ground Squirrels, Weasels and on and on!
I VERY SELDOM have to shoot any of these Varmints twice with the 17 HMR.
Looking back on my extensive experiences with these same class of Varmints and my useage of the various 22 Magnums on them there simply is NO comparison.
The 17 HMR outperforms the 22 Magnums by a significant margin!
Let me relay just ONE recent harvest I made with one of my 17 HMR's.
My friend Jack Veness from Yelm, Washington and I were Hunting Ground Squirrels in a high valley of SW Montana. He was shooting from his swivel bench and I was shooting while standing on the tailgate of my extended cab Dodge diesel truck. I was using the top of my trucks camper shell as a rest for my sandbags/Rifle.
Right in the middle of our shooting up pops the head of a large Badger. He was crouched in his den mouth and looking straight at us with only his head and part of its neck showing.
I thought he will only be there a second or two and I had better shoot. I knew he was a long way off and I held on the crest of his forehead. The 17 grain 17 HMR V-Max bullet struck that Badger in the throat and killed it instantly.
I whooped it up for a moment and grabbed my camera and Leica Laser Rangefinder venturing forth.
Jack and I went out to see if we could retrieve the Badger.
Indeed we could - it was laying on its back in the den mouth stone cold dead right there!
I then lasered back to the grill of my VarmintMobile it read 173 yards!
Add two yards for the length of my VarmintMobile and that is a one shot kill on a BADGER at 175 yards.
The Badger was a large mature Boar and I am guessing weighed 18 to 20 pounds!
I simply could NOT have done that with any of the MANY 22 Magnums I have owned - I know - I have tried!
Pay some more attention there DigitalDan, your lesson is not over!
My friend and I go back to shooting Ground Squirrels with my trophy Badger now resting in a garbage bag in the cooler. About 30 minutes later from the near the same spot ANOTHER Badger emerges from its underground den.
Jack killed that Badger with his 17 HMR Rifle as well. It was about 10 yards closer and was an adult female.
This simply could not have been accomplished with any reliability with the slow projectiles and rainbow trajectory of the 22 Magnums.
PERIOD!
I could go on and on with examples of the superiority of the 17 HMR versus the various 22 Magnums but for now I will let that one example suffice.
I will add this though - I recently posted on this forum my experiences from last spring/summers Varminting. My recent post relayed that I hosted MANY Varmint Hunters at my home this year and Hunted with all of them - mostly for Ground Squirrels, Rock Chucks and Jack Rabbits.
Fully 25 of those Hunters used Rifles and pistols in caliber 17 HMR - not ONE of them brought along a 22 magnum of any stripe!
I am also very close with several men who own Gunshops and they relay this to me (in response to my direct questioning) the 17 HMR arms now outsell 22 Magnums by over 20 to 1 (twenty to one!)!
Maybe everyone else is wrong and YOU are right - NOT!
LOL.
Man, how long is it going to take you to realize when you post your bizarre-o blather that people are going to laugh at you and some will take the time to correct you???
I really got a big laugh out of your bizarre-o land statement where in you reference a "slew of options with better numbers than the 17 HMR"???
Well that "slew of options" does NOT contain a single currently produced rimfire cartridge now does it?
Or are you ignorant enough to be trying to compare centerfire munitions to the 17 HMR???
Sheesh, in either case.
My strong suggestion to you is get yourself out to the range and to the small game and Varmint Hunting fields and get some extended and real world experience with the fine 17 HMR cartridge before you even try to besmirch it again!
Long live the 17 HMR.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Depending upon the bullet energy, bullet drop and weight of the animal hunted each cartridge has its limits. I started shooting prairie dogs in 1952 with a 22 RF rifle. Later I got a 22 WMR rifle that gave me about 50 more yards. When the 17 HMR rifles first came out I got one . I likes what the 17 HMR would do so I had to try out the little 17 HM2. At times I will shoot the 22 rimfire rifles but for prairie dogs the 17s are the only rimfire rifles I use. When I go out after bigger varmints or shooting at longer ranges I like the 22-250 or Swift but for some hunting conditions I can use the 17 Fireball, 17 Remington, 204 Ruger, and 223 rifles. When hunting, I like to be a bit over gunned for the size of the animal and the distance I will shoot them at.

VG, you're the easiest target in the lower 48 so far as I see it.

Someday maybe you'll be less full of yourself and better able to comprehend what people write.

The .17 HMR ain't a bad cartridge and has advantage over the .22 WMR insofar as trajectory. Never said otherwise. Accuracy is where you find it and a lot of HMRs shoot well, but that does not mean the WMR does not. I have one that does fine out to reasonable range, which for me is around 100-125 yards for the cartridge and gun.

When I referred to a slew of alternatives I was not referring to rimfires ya dimwit. Anytime you want to race your beloved .17 HMR against any .17/.22/6mm/.257 cal CF rifle do let me know, cause I'll take that bet is a heartbeat. I could probably meet you in Cody next June. If one hand loads, and I do, the CFs are cheaper to shoot, more accurate and have far better ballistics, both in drop and drift, not to mention splat factor. Oh yeah, range..they got a lot of range...

Having those alternatives available, I see little need for the HMR. That's a personal choice, not a slam on the cartridge. If I didn't hand load I might own one. I do, therefore I don't. OTOH, I have a friend or two that do have one. I don't pizz in their beer and call it Schlitz.

How's your .17 work on hogs by the way?

I'll check back later today for your 1,000 word essay in response.

I'm always amazed that any discussion of cartridges on the Campfire ends up as a put-down of any cartridge that isn't somebody's pet.

Of course, the original post in this thread was guaranteed to start this one off in that direction.

The truth is that the .17 HMR and .22 Magnum are very different rounds, despite using the same basic cases. The differences between the weight and bore-area of their bullets are very much like the differences between the .223 and .280.
So why in hell would their performance be directly comparable?

Personally, I find all the present easily-available rimfire rounds very useful, with niches for each, the reason I own rifles chambered for the .17 Mach II, .17 HMR, .22 Long Rifle and .22 Magnum. And I shoot all of them every year, on various kinds of small game and varmints, just as I shoot a wide variety of centerfires on varmints and big game.

Are you kidding??????

24-HCF is full of narrow minded intolerant people who dismiss the citation of anything that doesn't fall within their, often limited, scope of actual experience. Which is why I often post the following, "Standard disclaimer; "YMMV and since my experience is mine alone, your experience is likely to be different.".". Which is a polite way of saying "[bleep] you if you don't believe what I've posted.".

Jeff

Mule Deer, well said. Different tools for different jobs. I, too am amazed and perplexed about why some have such emotional energy invested in what is merely a pet theory or cartridge or way of doing things. There are things to be dogmatic or emotionally invested in in this world, but cartridges and rifles ain't one of 'em. Of course non of this will stop me from continuing to twist the tails on occasion of those so affected, all in good fun..... Some people are so easily riled up about such that it is a shame to not help get them all worked up. Must be some kind of energy thing for them so I will continue to assist.

John, your comments on this and my reply comined with some of the stuff that has been in recent threads have inspired me to change my signature line after 5 1/2 years and nearly 10,000 posts with the old one. I hope it will maybe help change the tenor of some of the threads here in some way. Maybe my expectations are too high of this small gesture and move, but I want to try.

I like both, but if i could have only one it would be the 17 HMR and take my chances on a coyote if that is what walked into rifle range . The two rifles in my truck at the moment are my Browning T-Bolt in 22 Mag and my Rem 700 in 17 Remington. The 22 Mag i use the Hornady 30 GR V-Max and in the 17 Rem 25 gr Berger Match HP.

I agree 100%. I love my Remington 5mm. I'm really glad I held onto it all these years.

VG made a very determined post. Unfortunately, the .22 WMR wasn't introduced until 1959, so it mostly refutes all else he wrote after "1955".

Maybe he was one of the guys handloading the 22 WRF before the WMR was produced.

Like this WMR handloading is being done now.
http://www.gun-tests.com/performance/apr96reloading.html

Bruce