Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints what caliber for fox???

My 1st choice is the 17 rem with 25 grain Hornady HP, but don,t forget about the 221 fireball or the 22 hornet with 40 grain V maxs Russ

Just using the 20 gr factory load that I bought to get brass. Amazingly accurate. Just less than 1/2" for 3 shots.

[quote=blanket]My 1st choice is the 17 rem with 25 grain Hornady HP, but don,t forget about the 221 fireball or the 22 hornet with 40 grain V maxs Russ [/quot

The Hornet for me has been fairly easy on them with 40gr B-tips .......The 221 Fireball with the same has been worse! Gimme a 22 Mag w/33 V-maxes or a 17 Fireball with 20's.......................


X-VERMINATOR

I have shot at least 50 fox in my days using a .222 Remington caliber rifle. I also killed several with a .22mag up close within 25 yards with head shots.

Now last fall I shot two of those Fox in the chest at 45 yards with a new Savage 17-HMR and 20 grain bullet. It knocked them down but only for a few minutes and they got up and trotted off to the woods. So no more .17-HMR for FOX!!!

Instead I will continue to use either the .223 or the .204-Ruger caliber. They both have plenty of power and knock down capability. The .17-HMR is for ground squirrel or tree rats period.

Lots of very experienced people think that the 17 Fireball is what Remington ought to have done in the first place rather than develop that touchy bore fouler 17 Rem.

I use a Hornet on fox, and have never felt either under- or over-gunned. I don't collect fur, but if I did the ones I've taken with a 223 would have been ruined. Not so with the Hornet. For some reason, the fox have never cooperated when I was carrying my Fireball carbine.

We had a problem with them out at my grandparents place and they were killing all the phesants and chickens. All I had to use was my 204 Ruger or 22-250. Dont use either one unless you run them really slow! I shot all but one with my 204 and factory hornady ammo with 40gr Vmaxs. Everyone of them was destroyed. I would have liked to been able to sell them to the taxidermist but all had holes at least softball size in them on entrance and exit. Same with 22-250. Something small and fast or bigger and slow.

Easy to make a reduced load for the 22-250. Look in thhe Speer Manual. Will have to take special care with your zero. There is a 6" difference in drop at 100" between my regular load, and my reduced load. Regular load is 55 gr VMax at 3700, reduced is 50 gr TNT at just over 2000. I have 55 gr sighted 2" high at 100, so TNT is 4" below point of aim. Reduced load is very quiet.

If I am where there is a slim chance of calling a coyote. I run a 17Javelina with a 20gr Berger or Nagle. I run the same with a 25gr Berger or Nagle match if I am in coyote territory focusen on foxes. I also shoot a tac20 with 35Berger If the odds of a coyote are higher than a fox. I have put a lot of the 40gr Nosler B-tip from my Tac20 into groundhogs. They seem to be well behaved compared to the v-max and Blitz.

I have red ragged foxes with a 22mag and all but cut them in half with a 221 Fireball. I have had 20V-max splash from a 17Ackley Hornet and open a 6inch hole.

GW is spot on. Shooten at a 10-12pound animal that is more fur than meat, at night, comeing to a call, steady moven, turning one into a red rag is gonna happen. Most of my blows up where from poor shot placement, either by just [bleep] up or not judgeing the angle correct more than bullet failure.

If I was building a gun for reds 17Ackley Hornet and a 20gr Match style bullet. Buying on over the counter 17Fireball either a 20 or 25gr match bullet. 20s spooled up and the 25s throttled down a bit.

i have both a .17 rem and a .222...

for fox, the .17 is the answer...

the .222 isn't bad either...

the .22-250 and the like are great coyote busters, or long range chuck guns.... a bit much for fox...

243 is way too big, 223 ok, 22 mag ok but maybe a tad bit low on the power scale for those little nervous jumpy skittish critters who may be hard to get a good shot on.

17 Ackley Hornet is hard to beat for a fox round. I load mine down to 3000fps with a 25gr Hornady HP. Pinhole in and no exit. Almost all of my shots are less than 100 yards here. Ruger 77/22 Hornet rebarrled with a pacnor.

If you're going to go wildcat, don't rule out the .19 Calhoon, www.jamescalhoon.com basically a .19 Hornet. Use the 28 gr bullets. A little more wind resistant than the .17 AH (I have one too).

I have an Encore with an MGM barrel in 17 Mach IV (equivalent of the Fireball). Fouling is minimal, 50+ round range trips showed no drop-off in accuracy. In fact, it begins to shoot better after a half dozen or so down the barrel. What fouling I do get is powder or carbon and little to no copper fouling. I use 20gr V-Maxes or Berger 20 gr bullets and it seems to like Benchmark, H-322 and Reloder 7. Half-inch five shot groups at 100 yards are common. I don't do much fur hunting and haven't had a chance to use it in the field yet. A friend who used to shot the same caliber shot a couple raccoons with his and got no exit with the V-Max.

I shot a couple with Velocitors a few years ago out of my Anschutz 54. One flopped around a little and died, the other one took 2 shots to dispatch but didn't make it 20 yards.

221 fireball with 53gr Barnes x stay away from shoulder or hip shots.

I've done a fair amount of fox hunting over the past 30 years and after shooting them with .22 mag., 22 hornet,.223 and 17 HMR I've come to the conclusion that the best fox caliber is the 12 gauge shotgun choked extra full and loaded with 3" copper plated lead #4's.

17 Rem if you want to save the fur. faster than the 17 fireball and don't foul any worse than any other caliber

I use a 221 Fireball, loaded with 20 grains of Vhit. N130 over a Nosler 40g BT. Very accurate and good out to 250 yards.
Jerry, (UK)

Of the options I presently own, I'd go with the .22 Hornet. It I could pick up a rifle specifically for fox, I'm thinking it might be one of the .17 Fireball persuasion.

I use the shotgun quite a bit, used to be all I used when I started calling. Especially with Greys, they don't stand still long when coming to that Grey Fox Pup in distress. If I was worried about how many I was bringing home I would probably use a shotgun in my area where it isn't very open. I like shooting them with the 17AH though, have to justify the rifle build.