Tom, have fun in Texas!!
I've been shooting 17tn's for quite a long time. 17 Hornet, 17 Bee and 17 Remington,
Sorry to say I've had no experience with the Fireball, The Bee and Hornet have been very good on fox and cats. Fringe hits as usual make you get out the needle and thread.
I've had mixed results with the 17 Remington with 25 grain Hornady HP, V Max and Remington Hp's as far as being easy on soft critters. My experience on fox as almost exclusively been Kit fox so big difference between them and grey's or red's.
Nice thing is that USUALLY if you keep them in the ribs on fox and cats they are pretty eason on fur but you know as well as I do that broadside shots are always nice, they aren't the rule.
In my opinion you might just be on the right track with the slower .224's with tougher bullets. Are you finding that they are not as effective as you would like, too destructive, poor trajectory?
On the other hand, everyone should have several centerfire 17'ns.
More good info! Thanks guys.
And in answer to your question on slower .224s yes, Im very happy with the results ( which makes no sense with me trying new to me stuff like the .17 Rem...but Im a rifle whore....) Anyway, Ive found a well constructed bullet going out the muzzle at the magic number of 2600fps or even a touch less is the ticket. Most of my predator hunting is at night, and the longest shot I can remember taking was maybe 150 yards, so trajectory really isn't a factor . The concept is effective and easy on the fur. Best results so far are with 60 grain NBTs and 55 gr. Speer Gold dots. Also had good luck with basic Hornady 50 and 55 Gr. Soft points at those speeds. Had one coyote take a gold dot smack in the chest last year and he took off..I was wondering WTF? when he decided to crumple up about forty yards away...Otherwise I dont think Ive had any critters go for than a few feet.. Fur damage minimal at worst, and in many cases I had to search for the entrance and exits...not readily apparent.
