I'm working on permission on a new hunting property, and the owner would like groundhogs removed.

I'm happy to help...although the property is in an area where groundhogs may only be hunted with rimfires of 22 caliber or less.

I had a 17hmr years ago and traded it away.

I'm looking to buy another, but I keep getting this nagging feeling in the back of my head that the 17 WSM would be fun.

I'd like to be able to get 100 yard kills on groundhogs (I'm in PA, so these aren't ground squirrels or the like...they'll be 10-15 lbs in some cases). Being able to produce the body for confirmation of the kill is helpful for showing the owner that ground hogs have died.

I like the concept of a 17 for less potential for ricochet....and 17HMR seems here to stay with ammo around relatively readily. 17 WSM....welllllll....not so sure on that one?

I'm open to input here....what are your thoughts?

I always used .22 LR Hollow Points. Worked great at the chucks at 100+ yds. Had to hold over on some shots though. Cheaper than the .17's!

Hip

I've consistently been underwhelmed by anything I've tried with 22LR.

I could possibly be talked into a 22WMR, but at that point I think the 17HMR is my preference.

I like everything about the 17WSM except what seems to me to be a high likelihood that ammo will dry up. It seems to be somewhay dried up at the moment already.

Never had a problem killing a groundhog at 100 yards with CCI SV/ just shot one today that thought he was going to make it across my field in back of my house/ range finder said 117 yards/ one in the head and he flipped his tail in the air for surrender

I would pick up a Savage 22 magnum and get the best scope you can afford

.17 Hmr, does a great job on groundhogs, .17 WSM wound be great also, but I’d be worried about ammo as well.

When young I killed a bunch of them with a .22lr and hollow points. I usually kept shots to 100 yards max (preferably less) and don't recall any getting away if I made a good hit. I wouldn't have any hesitation of using a .17 HMR to 150 or so.

WMR, probably. Zero to 100 yds.

But if the field of "operation" can be ranged consider .22lr with subsonic segmented HPs. We use the 710 fps version on rats at night and the terminal effect is impressive.

I killed several this week with a .17 HMR. If going with a .17 HMR, I recommend the 20 gr XTP bullets. They stay together like the bigger XTPs and provide better penetration. I've tried the 17 gr VMAX and they good for quick kills on smaller game but have had runners with them on groundhogs. Out to 100 yards, there is no holdover. I usually sight in at 50 yards.

That was my intent.... when I had my 17 before I was planning to use 20gr XTP's for groundhogs. Do you find shoulder hits with those to be quickly/immediately lethal?

I also recall my rifle back then shot the 20gr XTP's the best of any ammo option. I had a Savage 93 sporter version....the one I'm going to get from a friend this time around is also a 93, but a heavy barreled version. It seems most of the Savage 93's I've read about are good shooters and have a preference for that bullet/load.

Is that some sort of local regulation?

I have been sniping at Groundhogs off and on for 45 + years now. I started with 22:R HP Mini Mags and worked my way up to centerfires.

IMHO ,the only surefire placement formula for DRT Groundhogs with a 22LR , 22 Mag or 17HMR is HEADSHOTS. Of the three rounds, the 17HMR makes that the easiest to do in a good rifle.

And such placement makes bullet selection a moot point except for which load is most accurate in your rifle.

If I were getting a new 17HMR right now ,I would either get a CZ 457 American Walnut or a CZ 457 Varmint. If weight were an issue and/or I was going to run suppressed , I would get the 20" 457 synthetic. It is just over 5lbs and accurate as hell. Reliable and well made, too.

Yes. Southeastern Pennsylvania. The county in which the property is located is within PA's "Special Regulations" counties. More populated areas....deer regs are muzzleloader/shotgun/straight wall rounds (very recently added the straight walls) only.

Ground hogs may only be hunted with rimfires of 22 caliber or smaller.


Otherwise, I have a Model 70 Heavy Varmint in 223 I got from the Classifieds here that would be doing the job.

I grabbed a Tikka T1X a while back in .22lr that I’ve been pretty tickled with, that said, I’ve shot a lot of groundhogs in years past and the lr would not be my first rimfire choice.
Brother in law has a Ruger Hawkeye wood/stainless 17WSM. That’d be my fist pick. They’re spendy, but the Savage Bmag sucks. I’d lay in a couple cases of ammo when I found some.
When I was a kid, several whistlepigs met their fate to a Marlin .22Mag and CCI 40 grain hollow points. I’d happily shoot them with the Tikka version and an updated ammo choice.

17 HMR because of the flat trajectory, fragile bullets, and minimal ricochet potential.

'Chucks are about the maximum weight that I feel comfortable with the 17 HMR, but it handles wind better than the .22 Magnum at 100 yards.

Does the land owner want you to take the 'chucks with you or can you just shove them into their burrows to achieve the circle of life thing?

.22 mag. or .17HMR will both keep them from getting down their holes with solid chest shots out to 100 -125 yards. Beyond that with either requires head shots. I've killed thousands of the things with rimfires including .22LR, .22 mag., 5mm Remington Mag. and 17 HMR. The 5mm was the best chuck gun by a good margin.

Haven't got as far as what to do with the carcasses yet. That'll be up to them, although I suspect the standard "recycling" approach will be what they want done.

Drop the carcass back into the hole it came from.

Young of the year chucks are good eating. If you like liver woodchuck liver is the best.

if you are close to a tree line you can toss the carcass and it will probably be gone in a day or two.

Yes. Headshots with a 22LR. One may need to dope range and wind slightly, but a good 22 with ammo it likes will do the job.

The .17 HMR certainly is not a .223 and will not anchor them every time other than head shot. The rifle I'm using this week is a Savage 93R17 BVSS (heavy barrel). It seems to prefer the 20 grainers over the 17 grainers. I also have a Tikka T1X in .17HMR which is a better rifle in every regard over the Savage 93R17. The Savage magazine setup is poorly designed and needs some tweaking to feed 100%.

The 17HMR should be just the ticket. The 22LR doesn't have the range or performance of the HMR. The 22WMR is a great short range choice, but doesn't have the accuracy of the 17HMR. For me the 17WSM wouldn't be an option due to ammo availability in my area.

This right here. I've been shooting groundhogs since 1962 when I slapped one in the face with my BB gun as he stared at me from his burrow. Scared my 9-year old butt into panicked flight as he came snarling out of the hole. Not long after that I was turned loose with "real guns" and the world was no longer a safe place for Marmota monax. One lesson I've learned from shooting thousands of them with everything from .22 RF's to sky-splitting .22 CF's is body hits with rimfires of any type are sketchy as hell. Groundhogs are tough SOB's and can absorb a lot of lead and then make it back underground where they'll die a slow death. That's not fair to any animal, varmint or not. Head shots are the rule, and if that can't be achieved I hold my fire.

My personal limit is 50 yards for such work, under less than ideal rifle resting circumstances. With a rest of some sort and time to assess range and holdover (assuming I've done my homework regarding my equipment) that's extended to around 100 yards, and that goes for anything with "rimfire" in its name. The .17's are wicked snazzy but they still aren't high powered rifles, for instant body hit kills way out there, and are handicapped by wind-induced inaccuracy the same or worse than their larger-bored brethren. The physical laws of the universe can't be controverted, and Bre'r Groundhog remains as tough today as he was 60 years ago.

Nowadays my 'hog shooting is mostly at "targets of opportunity". I don't go afield seeking them out anymore (but I'm getting the itch again - too many varmint rifles in my collection are gathering dust), so the only ones that fall under my .22's at the moment are the ones that regularly venture into the backyard/garden. I have distances pegged out to 100 yards from the back porch and have the trajectory of my load firmly memorized to allow precise hits. Averaging four or five a year for a bunch of years now, and every single one a single shot to the noggin. Current gun of choice for defense of the backyard: BRNO #2, stoked with SK Pistol Match - a standard velocity load. Eley Tenex works very well too, but I'm too cheap to expend nearly $.50/shot on an old groundhog!

17 Ackley Hornet has been my favorite woodchuck rifle for over a decade. They simply fall over as you watch in the scope. 200 yards and under with a 20gr Vmax I have never had one take another step. 17 Hornady Hornet would be the same round in a factory offering.

I don't have any experience with the 17HMR but it seems like it would be close to the Hornet and what you are looking for in a rimfire.

I've shot a lot of woodchucks with rimfire rifles and my experience is that with solid chest hits and expanding bullets the magnum rimfires will keep them topside the vast majority of the time out to 100 yards and a little more. I'd shoot a couple hundred of them every summer back in the 70's and 80's with the 5mm Remington Magnum Rimfire and.22 WMR and still shoot a few every summer with the .22 mag.. I haven't killed near as many with the .17 HMR as I only had one for a couple years but I did kill a few dozen and it too would suck the life right out of them inside 100 yards. Some of you either have the wrong ammo, defective rifles, are not hitting vitals as often as you think or your woodchucks are a lot bigger and tougher than the ones around here.

Key words there are "majority of the time".

"Vast majority". And it's not as if head shots are a 100% sure thing either. A little puff of breeze, a little miscalculation on your wind hold and on a side presentation you've just put one through it's snout, quite possibly taking it's front teeth. Such a shot and that chuck is down it's hole to suffer.

I just bought my son a Bergara BMR carbon barrel in 22LR... It is an amazingly, accurate rifle. With the carbon fiber barrel it's light for easy carry.

The other evening, he took a ground hog at 121 yd and 198 yd.... I'm fairly certain there was some luck on the 2nd shot but since the gun does bugholes groups at 50 yds, I know it's good.

I'm think a 17 HMR might be your best call. You should be able to sight in at 100 and go shoot.

In my youth before the advent of the 17HMR, I started out with a Marlin 25 and a 4X cope and 22lr hollow points. I was not impressed. I then bought a Contender Carbine in .223 and littered the ground with groundhog carcasses. I would love to spend some evenings back in PA testing out the 17 HMR. From what I have seen on Youtube they do not lack in the killing department even with chest shots.

Got a call on Wednesday of a old farm house and barn that was over ran by groundhogs/ they found this out when the cleared 20 + years of brush and trees around it/ he said I could come shoot them if I used a 22LR as he didn't want bullets ricocheting/ told him a 22LR is ricocheting round/ finally talked him into a 223 with 50gr sierra blitz bullets and blue dot loaded to 22 Horent velocity/ i seen sierra blitz blow up on a blade of grass/ he sure did have a infestation with grounds hogs they were like rats in a dump/ there no doubt I could of killed them all with a 22LR but could guarantee no ricochets

Do you turn scope turrents on the 22 Horent on investigations of groundhogs?

I have a Savage MKII TR w 6-18X.
Thought about trying it out for some close ones.
But no backstops at current hot spot.

So will continue to use the .22-250
The 53gr Norma bullets just frag when they hit.
Safer.

But damn loud. LOL

Have a 9422M that needs a scope. Still proly too "skippy".
Liked running it irons years ago along creekbanks.

Savage heavy barrel 17hmr with 20gr does pretty well.

In this situation, 17 HMR would top of my list due to low ricochet hazard, and good ammo availability.

We don't have that many here. But I had a family of them target my garden. I killed 4 with 22 subsonics. Shot them all in the head and they all died instantly.

I had a Ruger American hvy bbl 17 HMR. It was very accurate but it looses power pretty fast.
My buddy had a CZ too. We would fill up beer cans with water and shoot at them at 175 yards.
The bullets would only go thru the front of the can and wouldn’t expand at all.

My set is: Savage 93 22mag 100 yard death stick with Hornady V-max 30gr. Rem 510 22 lr win power point ammo closer shots, near buildings, for inside of barns or near live stock any subsonic ammo that shoots well for you. I use Remington brand which works well when applied correctly. Ruger single six 22 mag cylinder. For close shots that pop up from time to time. My closest shot has been at 2 yards. I always try to stalk closer no matter what I am carrying. It adds a hunting aspect to my shooting.

I misspent a great portion of my younger days killing woodchucks. My experience mirrors most here who seem to have done it a great deal: .22 lr requires headshots at any range and with any bullets, for surefire DRT. When I got a .22 magnum I was in hog heaven. I could be a lot less precise. Shooting the original 40 grain Winchester HP's any good hit, chest or above, anchored them. The two furthest I killed in those days with my .22 WMR Anschutz were 142 and 147 yards with chest shots. I have no experience shooting them with .17 HMR.

I felt the same when I graduated from the .22 LR to the magnum rimfires as a teenager {I got a 5mm mag. first and a .22 WMR shortly after}. They both proved a big step up in effectiveness over the .22 LR. I found the .22 mag. with Win. 40 gr. HP's was a solid killer out to 125 yards with chest shots and the 5mm added another 35-40 yards to that. I killed a bunch at longer ranges with both but found much past 125 with the WMR and 160 with the 5mm the percentage that would stay topside with chest hits started to diminish pretty rapidly.

Around the house here lately I have been using my Savage/Anschutz Model 54M with 30gr. Hornady V-Max and Sako P94S "Finnfire" w/ CCI HP's.

No issues with either one.

Haven't seen many chucks the last couple of years due to more coyotes in the area.

StarchedCover

https://imgur.io/a/p8nHIPO

Just got a CZ 457 American in .22 mag. Maybe pop a chuck tomorrow !

Well chit, looks like the new ones are all 11mm and nobody has any 11mm rings around me.
Hmm, slapped a BKL mount on, works but is too high. I can at least shoot it tomorrow.

Ordered Burris Signature .22 rings.
Got stuck dog sitting today so never left the house.

Cheap Savage 93 is working well this evening. Both a little over 100 yards. Cci 17 gr and a Burris 4.5-14

I used to shoot a Marlin 783 in 22 Win mag (7-round mag) for short range, quiet varminting.

It worked very well out to 125+ yards, and anchored the chuck with head or a body shots (head shots were the goal). My longest 22 maggie one-shot kill was just shy of 150 yards. The Marlin 783's accuracy was about 1.25 - 1.50" at 100 yards with Winchester 40 grain HP rounds - which was accurate enough for head shooting a chuck at any practical hunting range of the cartridge.
I was very happy with that set up for woodchucks.

It was a fun and useful rifle. It wore a Weaver El Paso 4x scope on it (reticle had two horizontal wires across it (3 or 6 moa apart ?). Zeroed at 100 yards on the top wire intersection, the bottom intersection was dead on for 150 yards. A perfect set up for me. It was quiet, and humanely deadly. I do not recall EVER hearng a ricochet with that Marlin 783 22 magnum and Winchester 40 grain HP ammo.

I have shot several chucks with a 22 LR, but it rarely anchored them. 50 yards was the maximum distance I determined was my 22 LR range limit on chucks, and only head shots. My rifle was a very accurate Win 69a bolt action, with a 24" barrel, sporting a 4x scope, but I soon realized I needed a rifle with more power if I wanted to get those chucks further away. Enter my Marlin 783 22 magnum. It was a decision I never regretted.

I have a Ruger in 17WSM. It's a chuck-killer for sure. Love everything about it but ammo seems to be the issue right now.