Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer with .17's

They've got it [bleep] there's no way we can fix it........

The use of .17 is legal for deer here in PA. I know of one guy who is a moderator on a PA hunting forum and he swears that his .17 Remmy is da bomb for deer hence the question. I just wanted to see if others have tried this and what their thoughts were. I've hunted deer with the .22-250 and regular old 55 soft points but if I were to attempt it with a .17 it would have to be stoked with Barnes.

I have killed whitetails with a .17 Remington and 30 grain Berger bullets. All were shot in the center of the white thought patch as they were facing me. If I couldn't get that shot I let them walk.

PO Ackley messed around with a .14 caliber.
The 14-222 pounds an 11 grain bullet outta the tube at 4465 fps.
Hand me my tweezers and magnifying glass please,
whelennut
Has anybody shot any big stuff with these?
(Sorry about the Hijack)

Years long gone by, wildcatter Vern O'Brien lost his .17cal rifle to his guide on a bet with him. The guide shot a big grizzly bear, around 10in skull, if i remind well with head shot. I think he shot twice. Do you think the .17 is a grizzly caliber?
Some poachers in my country are known to kill red deer (bull, wild boars, gams, roes, with silenced 22LR? Is a 22lr a elk caliber?
Dom

Just for clarification.
Ca. DFG regs. state minimum for big game "centerfire cartridge".

Currently no compliant bullet exists to legally use a .17 or .204 in the condor zone.
That's a separate issue entirely.

DK

Juts use a .177 air gun with a 8 grain lead pellet and shoot the deer in the eye. After he is blind keep shooting the poor SOB in the head till he dies from old age.

From the Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders by P.O. Ackley 1966
The 14/221 Walker will heave a 15 grain bullet at 4330 fps with minimal recoil. "often the bullet completes its blowup after it has passed through the animal. In other words the little pill isn't in there long enough to blow up completely."
I can't buy that. I doubt if time has much to do with it.
whelennut

I'm not sure that's still true of .20 cal:

Speer: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=119084

Hornady: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=826121

Nosler: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=1758580011

Tom

Thought it was interesting, on the Swamp People show, the father/son team who are members of the Houma Tribe use a Savage in 17HMR. No mention of which ammo.

Granted, most of their shooting is close range despatching of hooked gators, but they occasionally smoke one at extended range.

Pete

Taken from Ca DFG web site.
"Frangible bullets are not certified for use to take any big-game species (as defined in Section 350, T14, CCR) and/or fallow deer, sambar deer, axis deer, sika deer, aoudad, mouflon, tahr, and feral goats (Section 475(c), T14, CCR) in any area of the state, including the nonlead zone."

Frangible of course is "Reg Speak" for varmint bullet.
Nonlead zone = condor zone.


DK

Never could understand the banning of lead bullets in condor areas. I've never shot a condor, but have shot a few big buzzards and they die just fine when lead bullets are used. I would think the same would be true for condors....lead will kill them just fine.

That's the belief of some.
That's the problem for the rest of us.

DK

Retired military, I know from personal experience what a .223 will do. Is it my first choice for a deer? No. Edumication Popeye or otherwise not needed.

There was this fellow Frank Glaser in Alaska. Interesting book on him called "Alaska's Wolf Man." Worked a lot in the old days procuring meat for railroad and mining crews. Shot more stuff probably than half of the members here. He alone IIRC shot over 250 Dall sheep. The man was also a rifle looney.

He mentioned the Swift would be his cartridge of choice if it were not having to occasionally deal with big bears, and he shot a couple of them with one also. Although it did get more than interesting on at least one I remember reading about.

He based that opinion on much more than an example of few experiences and didn't have the better bullets available today.

and the dark.

I've been known to travel a good distance for baked goods and stocked bar.

It works and would be even better with PO Ackleys original controlled expansion bullet. Those bullets were in between a Barnes X and a trophy bonded core they were mono metal with just a little lead in a punched hollow point.

Those bullets were used on a number of feral burros. The Deer I shot only a few dropped immediately others went as far as 200 yards with no blood trail at all. Most it was hard to even find the entrance wound usually just a drop of blood and almost always no exit would. This was with the old Rem load that was bonded or plated and tougher than the current Hornaday HP.

How'd I miss Scott's post? Now that's funny!!!

Joseph

Tzone, that hospitality is offered to most of any 'fire member that's passing through...especially the turd-like ones......