Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 17 hmr

There is a store in my area that routinely has many thousands of rounds of ammo in the 17 hmr. I don't have one, I have a 22 wmr.
The question is, should I switch?

What kind of shooting do you usually do with your .22 magnum?

Most of my shooting is at skunks, raccoons, badgers and some coyote/bobcat calling. We don't have prairie dogs here.

Also, when the 17 hmr was new, lots of people around here traded their 22 wmr rifles in. Most switched back 6 months or a year later. That may be the answer to my own question.

I gave up on the WMR after trying two rifles, a CZ455 and a 9422, with a bunch of ammo, and never really getting any consistent groups under 3/4". My Hornet with handloads is cheaper to shoot, way more accurate, and a lot prettier too. The 9422, after I took off the scope and fitted a Williams peep, was nice to carry around, but the law here doesn't allow walking around the woods with a rifle unless a regular hunting season is open. You have to have it cased unless you are in "open fields".

What?!!! It's time to move to a non-communist state! That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard today on the fire!!

For the size of the animals hunted you would use the 20 grain 17 HMR bullet. But for the little prairie dogs the 17 Gr is better. I have Kimber Mdl 82 22 WMR which I don't use much since getting a 17 HMR rifle.

Outdoorsman, I think you did answer your own question. Now if your looking for an excuse to buy another rifle, thats a different story.

outdoorsman74,

For the size of the animals you shoot, I'd stick with the .22 Magnum.

The .17 HMR is at its best on animals like prairie dogs and ground squirrels, and while the 20-grain load will work on larger varmints I've had much better luck with the heavier bullets of the .22 Magnum.

A FMJ .17 HMR can be deadly on hogs.

My hunting buddy has a system for killing hogs in a trap. Using the FMJ rounds he buys at Wally World, he approaches the trap cautiously. He stands back far enough so the hogs stare at him, not close enough for them to start running around. He lines his scope on a hog's head, making sure he's looking thru the trap wire. He aims one inch above a line between their eyes at mid forehead. At impact, the hogs are cleanly killed, the bullet causing both eyes to be popped out as if on stems. That little bullet must be doing some serious brain damage on those hogs.

DF

If I ever get into a situation where I'm head-shooting hogs facing me at a few feet, I'll keep that in mind!

In the meantime, with expanding bullets I've found the .22 Magnum to be more reliable on animals of 8-10 pounds and up than the .17 HMR. This isn't because I don't like the .17 HMR; in fact I probably shoot more Hummers at various wild animals than any other rimfire round these days. And the 20-grain hollow-point does penetrate noticeably better on such animals than the 17-grain plastic-point.

But if I'm going to shoot a bunch of 8+ pound animals as they come, not when held in pens, I'll take the .22 Magnum over the .17 HMR any day.

I'll second that motion, John. I was one of those who mostly abandoned 22 Mag when the 17 HMR came along, but I've since gone full circle back to 22 Mag for a lot of small predator shooting. That's because we now have better ammo and, in some cases, better rifles to choose from.

My Savage model 93 BRJ, for example, will consistently shoot MOA groups at 100 yards absent a lot of wind. I don't believe I ever owned a 22 Mag back in the day that could duplicate that.

Outdoorsman74: There is NOTHING that the 22 WMR can do that the 17 HMR can not do BETTER!
I bought, used and Hunted with my first 22 Magnum back in 1965 and have used them extensively right up until the 17 HMR came out.
I have both Rifles and pistols in 22 WMR caliber -they seldom come out of my gun vaults anymore.
Yes - switch!
I am also seeing increasing amounts of 17 HMR ammo on store shelves of recent - I don't know why.
Best of luck to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have found the 30 g V-Max to be a killa dilla in the .22 mag. More accurate in my rifle than the 40 g offerings, too.

How often do you folk clean your 17 hmr's???? I had a Marlin, and it shot fine, but trying to clean that little bitty tube was the pits.. I sold it and came across a CZ .22 mag,and have enjoyed the heck out of it.. Bought a bunch of ammo before the crunch.. But the praise of the 17 keeps me thinking I should add one to the safe.. I just cannot put a dirty rifle back in my safe.. I don't clean every time I shoot, but usually on Sunday, I clean all the guns I have fired that week....

WyoCoyoteHunter,

My .17 HMR starts to lose accuracy after around 200 rounds. I generally just push a few patches of Montana X-Treme through it on a jag and the job's done.

Thanks, that would be simple enough..

My best results: Rem Premier 33 gr. AccuTip-V.

Some of it depends on the barrel, of course. My .17 HMR is a CZ and they have very smooth bores.