Niche is a farm rifle. Will drop raccoons or other late night visitors to the barn or granery way better than a .22 lr, and for that use ammo cost is no big deal. You don't want a larger centerfire in a building. My Grandpa's farm gun was a .22 special, it may have been even perfecter.....more killing power than the lr but often staying in a critter so you didn't have a repair to a granery wall or floor. WMR is a little more likely to exit. We used to store cattle pellets and rolled oats with mollases in wooden graneries. It's an exciting night when the dog starts barking and the raccoon hunt is on!
17 HMR=No Exits or ricochets.
