I really like walking around my son's property with a small-game/varmint rifle. I've carried .22LRs, .223s, .243s, .22 LRs, .22 WMR, and .17 HMR over the years, but my favorite, so far has been the .17 HMR.
Why? Well, now that you ask (or maybe you didn't, but are humoring me):
1. I can carry a fair amount of ammo in my pocket, either in bulk or in the box;
2. It does great damage to medium varmints, with little noise and almost no recoil;
3. Sighted-in 3/4" high at 100 yards, the trajectory is quite flat with zero holdover to 140 yards;
4. Noise is quite low, compared to small centerfire rounds, so little or no ear protection is necessary for shooting a few shots in the field. At worst, foam plugs will take care noise if plinking is desired.
5. My .17 HMR barrel gives me better accuracy than the .22WMR that I own. (I think the difference is due to the cartridge more than the barrel's accuracy.)
My .17 HMR is a CZ 452, that has two barrels, a .22 WMR and a .17HMR, but since getting the .17, I haven't used the WMR barrel (would sell it cheap, along with several boxes of ammo).
I also have a few .223s and carry them sometimes, but don't plink with them much and don't carry lots of ammo around with me, compared to the smaller/lighter .17HMRs.
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History: My buddy and I started varmint hunting as practice for deer hunting, so used our .30-06 rifles, mostly for woodchucks and crows. Coyotes weren't around back in the late 1950's, but we shot a couple of foxes. Later, we used .22-250s that were accurate, but we lost the ability to "bounce" a round into the chucks if we were unsure of the distance. Chucks are very scarce around here, probably due to the many varmint hunters and to a great degree...coyotes.
JP
Why? Well, now that you ask (or maybe you didn't, but are humoring me):
1. I can carry a fair amount of ammo in my pocket, either in bulk or in the box;
2. It does great damage to medium varmints, with little noise and almost no recoil;
3. Sighted-in 3/4" high at 100 yards, the trajectory is quite flat with zero holdover to 140 yards;
4. Noise is quite low, compared to small centerfire rounds, so little or no ear protection is necessary for shooting a few shots in the field. At worst, foam plugs will take care noise if plinking is desired.
5. My .17 HMR barrel gives me better accuracy than the .22WMR that I own. (I think the difference is due to the cartridge more than the barrel's accuracy.)
My .17 HMR is a CZ 452, that has two barrels, a .22 WMR and a .17HMR, but since getting the .17, I haven't used the WMR barrel (would sell it cheap, along with several boxes of ammo).
I also have a few .223s and carry them sometimes, but don't plink with them much and don't carry lots of ammo around with me, compared to the smaller/lighter .17HMRs.
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History: My buddy and I started varmint hunting as practice for deer hunting, so used our .30-06 rifles, mostly for woodchucks and crows. Coyotes weren't around back in the late 1950's, but we shot a couple of foxes. Later, we used .22-250s that were accurate, but we lost the ability to "bounce" a round into the chucks if we were unsure of the distance. Chucks are very scarce around here, probably due to the many varmint hunters and to a great degree...coyotes.
JP