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

I see that you like the 17HMR, but you way overstate your case for it and against the 22mag. The 22mag is a pretty decent round and works well. I don't think it has any advantages over the 17HMR, but I will still shoot my 22 mags.

Agree totally with what JB wrote..........Moreover, the 5mm is the best of the lot! Wish I still had one!!!


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Last spring I went on a ground squirrel safari with a good friend who has access to very rich dirt rat hunting grounds..

Like most ranchers/farmers in Central California, he's always considered shooting dirt rats with anything other than a .22 LR as silly. I brought along a .223 squirrel sniper shooting hot 50 gr. BT's, a .22 mag shooting 30 gr. winchester supreme hollowpoints and a .17 HMR shooting hornady 17 gr. vmax's. I let him shoot them all, from "at your feet" to "dude, I can't see that far" ranges.

At the end of the day I had to pry the .22 mag out of his hands.

RL, next time just give him a couple cups of coffee. He'll set it down soon enough and you can avoid the wrasslin' part....

Both work on small critters.
I own both if one goes it will be the 17. On small critters the mag seems more devastating from what I can tell.
If I am going to hunt something coyote size I will use a centerfire anyway.

Far to petty of an issue to argue over anywho. You use what pleases you, and I'll do the same.

+1 very well said.

Horseapples.

Especially that last line of the first quote.

Funny, Funny stuff.

A 17g Vmax will do this to a Kansas Jackrabbit at 180 yards.

I guess he died of sheer fright instead of that nickle sized hole knocked out of his upper shoulder?

.

I have a 22 Mag around here somewhere .....

Not a lot of crittervarmintrodents around here to slay.

If the 22LR won't do the job then I have 223 & up


Mike

Nice picture and great shot jim, somehow it doesn't look like a coyote though. I thought keith said he shot two coyotes in his post and he didn't recover them. I may be wrong but that is how I read it. I've had the same problem with the 17 and so have 2 of my friends, they just don't kill coyotes or larger animals like the 22 mag does. I also agree the 17 is the cats meowe for sage rats and pd's and I guess I'd add jack rabbit to the list at up to 200 yds. After that, I'm swithching over to something bigger like the 223 or 22-250.

B,

My main refute to the post you cited was that last line.
It's good too see that when confronted with evidence you admit that a 17HMR slug does not bounce off of Jackrabbits as well.

I say this about the 17HMRs and coyotes.

Anyone who shoots a coyote inside 100 yards 17HMR and loses that animal-

A) Does not know where to hit a 'Yote with a rimfire for sure drops- i.e. the C.N.S.

or

B) Can't shoot worth a damn..

Period.

In which case NO currently available rimfire load is going to make up for the shooter's shortcomings. There is not a rimfire round made- 17 OR 22 cal that will drop 'yotes consistently with any old hit in the thorax.

Blaming perfectly good equipment for sloppy shooting/bullet placement is the highpoint of stupidity.

Why shoot a 17HMR when the .22Mag is so much better?

once you get past the thrill of the 17hmr, I would prefer a 22WMR to the 17 because the 22WMR hits with more authoriy.

Ditto

Sorry Jim, I still dissagree. I've killed thousands of jacks in Nevada where I grew up. You cannot compare that to a coyote. My friends and I have made good shots on coyotes with the 17 hmr and my friend was at one point going to bash his rifle over his tailgate. He has way more confirmed coyote kills than I do because of the many coyote competitions he partakes in. His count 2 weekends ago was 31 yotes in 2 days. I've seen the 17 hmr's deficiencies first hand and it wasn't due to poor shooting. As I've noticed with some of your posts it seems you dissagree with a lot of people just because it has not been your experience: As we all know everyone's experience may not be the same. Take care, bsa.

CNS on a yote is a very small target and a good way to miss a little and have a wounded animal on your hands. Too small of a target even on larger big game animals. No experienced thoughtful hunter aims for anything BUT the heart lung area of a game animal and if a rifle will not put them down with a shot to that area it is inadequate for that animal. So, if a thoracic hit to a Coyote with a 17HMR is not a dead sure right now killer then it is an inadequate round for such. I have not even thought to try such so cannot speak to it from personal experience (would also choose larger armament) but had to address the really silly statement about CNS shots. A trick shot attempted by or 'braqged' about by the uninitiated or inexperienced excepting from quite close range under good conditions and circumstances. And yes, the Elephant in my avatar was taken with a heart shot. To say a rifle is adequate for whatever animal if it will kill with a CNS shot would make the 22 Hornet an Elk rifle. Silly beyond the pale.

In terms of target size,head shots on coyotes are just as easy as clean thoracic hit on a squirrel or cottonatail rabbit..

My point is, if you TRULY care about humane kills on Coyotes, those are the ONLY shots folks should be taking with ANY currently available 17 OR 22 rimfire. Period.

If you like "runners" than by all means pretend "the Mighty" 22 mag is a 22-250 and fire at will. If you loose most of them in the Sage or tall grass, don't blame the round- be it 17 or 22.

There is a difference between hitting the head, and hitting the brain. Lots of now deceased former elephant hunters know this all too well. Plenty of deer get thier jaws and such blown off by Davey Crocket wannabees every year. If you cannot kill it with a chest shot, get a bigger rifle, period. I stand by my comments. At the origin of the post, the point that was trying to be made was the superiority of the 17HMR to a 22 MAgnum. Now we are to beleive that the intent of this idea this was relgated to brain shots. Not flying so well here.

Sorry, a chest hit coyote, hit by a 40gr HP from a 22 Magnum at ranges of 75 or so yards or less is a very dead yodeler. Won't go all that far either. Longer range - get your 222 or similar. No longer rimfire suitable.

Safariman,

Actually, I am fine with the origional topic of this thread. As a rimfire round overall ,the 17HMR IS superior to a .22 mag. And ,I know all about the anotomy of an animal's skull thank you.

No need to be "Dave Crockett" -just a competent rifle shot. Which many folks in this world are NOT, so they blame their armament.

A 40g bullet at 1,900FPS does not elevate the 22 mag into centerfire level of performance. It is still literally HALF the rifle that the little .22 Hornet is.

Inside 75 yards,if someone feels the need to take chest shots on coyotes with a rimfire, the 22 mag WILL NOT kill coyote 'em any deader than a 17HMR will with 20 grain slugs... Actually, with lung hits ,a 40g 22 mag load won't kill them any better than a 22LR with hollowpoints.

They all produce a holes going in and going out with a runner to be trailed 90% of the time.

No 22-250 "smackdown" with any of them.. Which is why I say and stand by based on experience- that C.N.S. hits are the only way to go on something as large as a Coyote with a rimfire.

Not in a 5 mph wind.

Swampy.


Actually shoot the two rounds SIDE BY SIDE in the same wind conditions.

It's no contest- the 17HMR drifts less. About 2/3s as much.

It's not even debatable to someone who's actually done it and honestly compared them.

BTW, every source of Ballistic data backs this up.

Which makes sense, because it's true.