John I believe my AI Hornet was only running 3100 fps, very mild. I sold that rifle many years ago and put it out of my mind then when the new wave of .17 Hornet interest came around I was surprised to see the reported velocities. I just never pushed mine hard, but apparently I was leaving a lot on the table.
The bullets that shot best for me were the 25 gr Rem HP and the 20 gr with red tip, V max I assume. I killed quite a few coyotes with it as well, some spectacular throat shots and instant kills but some terrible disasters too. Death-by-a-thousand-cuts type kills. Maybe if I had pushed it harder the results would have been different? At any rate, I had a Sako Vixen .222 magnum barrel set back and rechambered to .221 Fireball so the Hornet became less critical to my success.
In the back of my mind I always wondered if the .17 Fireball would have been the one. The thing I needed when I built the .17 Hornet was a QUIET round for calling coyotes in settled areas. It not only worked on the neighbor issue, it worked on coyotes that were gunshy when they heard my 22-250 blasting away. I was calling and killing multiples like never before, seemed to not alarm the coyotes at all. It just makes a pop, kind of like a noise you'd hear on a farm every day. Chain clattering, truck door slamming, tractor backfiring, etc. But it wasn't the best round for killing coyotes in the heat of a fast calling session. Shots had to be just right for quick kills, and I'm not that cool calm and collected.
Do you think from my description above I would have gained anything with a .17 Fireball over the .17 Hornet for what I did?
