Why do I need a .17?

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I agree with picher although I'll push the range on an invasive animal if needed.

Picher, I feel like the difference in accuracy has to be the ammo, since my experience mirrors yours, in that 2 identical rifles (I have 2 examples of this myself) the 17 will outshoot the mag. Do you think it's the ammo quality or something else?

I got my .22 WMR to shoot some ammo at about 1.5 MOA at 100 yards, but it would still throw flyers more often than the .17 HMR.

Ammo quality seems to be a factor, though some brands don't shoot as well in my rifle as others. The CCI A17s seem to be the worst in my rifle. You made a good point on the invasive animals and if the distance is pretty uniform, or you use a rangefinder, it's easy to adjust for long shots. I'd probably do the same.
 
My 17 HMR is a CZ 455, I also have 22lr and .22 Mag barrels for the same action. The 17 is my favorite barrel, it's like shooting a micro centerfire, nice for varmints or range fun on days I didn't want to spend time loading for one of my centerfires. The 17 barrel is the most accurate, especially at 100 yds and out, the LR is next, and the Mag is 3rd.

I'm sure you have plenty of other rifle options and don't really need a 17, but if fun is a good enough reason to get a new rifle, they certainly are that.
 
Being old and sometime difficult it's not necessary to justify by shooting gear. Up on my wall is the first three shot group from my
big box Savage 93R17. This is the plain jane model with piny wood stock. This group is less than half inch at 50yard. We had an informal RF match where the little low end rifle did very well. I can't comment on the 22 Magnum as I never had one. If critters were getting blown up might be worth experimenting with FMJ rounds from CCI. Being a varmint rife exactly how are those expanding bullets supposed to work? Savage took good care of me on the B-Mag. Fiddling with the rifle got tiresome. Traded the rifle off.
 
The CZ I have was bought used as a .22 WMR. I was never crazy about the cartridge and wasn't impressed with it's killing power when I shot a young eastern coyote at about 30 yards. It took a couple more shots to finish it, when the first one should have done it sooner.

I've killed a few large gray squirrels at the bird feeder lately with the .17HMR and it seems to work well, but not a whole lot quicker kills than a good .22LR HP. I'm not ready to call the .17 just an okay killer, but hope to kill a bigger varmint before getting too excited.

JP
 
I do a lot of woodchuck hunting and now squirrel hunting and everything ive read about them taking squirrel heads clean off and blowing bodies apart turned me away. The wind blowing them around a lot also turned me off as well as the price of the ammo! sheesh!
 
The 17hmr was designed as a small varmint killer, not a small edible game getter and the wind blows it around less than it's bigger rimfire brothers. If you are after small game to eat stick with the 22lr and use more windage.
 
Gotta add this comment. I've killed dozens of squirrels with 17HMR and 17Mach2. I always try for head shots and usually succeed. But, occasionally I'll hit too far back and blow up the shoulder. Even if I hit behind the shoulder I'm still left with most of the meat; the two hind legs and the back. It is simply not true to claim that the 17HMR or Mach2 "destroys the meat". If the squirrel is looking right at you and you shoot him in the chest or a Texas heart shot when he's going the other way, you'll have a mess on your hands. But the vast majority of the time you'll have a dead squirrel and most of the best meat. You'll have fewer crawl-offs too.
 
First, let me congratulate you on being that good of a shot. I wish I could still do that well.

Let me add this: If you had shot them with a lowly 22 rimfire you would have had more meat in those too far back shots. Just sayin'. If you prefer the 17 HMR for squirrel hunting that's great and I have no argument with what you use. I certainly do although not for squirrels as it's too far and snakey to go to find any of the little critters.
 
I have found that my CZ 17HMR is better past 75yds than 10/22 all day long. For the annual ground squirrel hunting, the 17 is indispensable. For longe distance, 204 ruger!
 
I was curious as to what you .17 guys were using them for.
It sounds like light varmint/pest/target gun.
I bought mine during the last ammo shortage. .22 rimfire had disapearred off the shelves and I got caught with my pants down. 17 HMR was fully stocked so I bought a Savage and was able to plink away again.

As soon as .22's came back I sold it off. All the potential accuracy and distance advantage of a 17 rimfire means nothing to me if the slightest breeze throws it off. I reasoned that reloading 223 rem was a much better option for the ranges people say they shoot their 17's at.

My original point, it was handy when all the hoarders swallowed up the other rimfire ammo.
 
Prairie dogs...I’ve taken them out to 300yds on calm evenings with the 17hmr. I use 3 different 17’s, the hmr, wsm and hornet. Love all three.
 
Ammo quality seems to be a factor, though some brands don't shoot as well in my rifle as others. The CCI A17s seem to be the worst in my rifle.

In general .17 HMR ammo seems to be more consistent than .22 WM

Funny how different rifles prefer different loads though. I have a CZ-455 with a heavy barrel and it shoots everything pretty well, but for certain prefers the CCI A17. The CCI 17 gr. TNT runs a close second and the 20 gr. Game Point is not far behind it. Everything else I have tried opens groups up to a Full MOA (100 yds.) or more. The A17's will shoot 1/2 MOA and that's plenty good enough for my purposes. I have a .22 barrel for the rifle as well but have never mounted or shot it. The factory target that came with the rifle suggests it would be pretty accurate. With 'target' ammo (Eley) I would expect it to shoot OK.

I am surprised to hear of folks shooting Coyotes with the .17 HMR though. Our Coyotes run on the large size and while I am sure the 17 would kill them (proper shot placement) I'm not sure you would ever find them. I've had Raccoons crawl off 30-40 yds. with good solid hits. I would think a Coyote shot similarly would cover several hundred yards if not more, but I haven't tried it.

Mine is pure death on Crows, Rabbits, Squirrels and the occasional Fox. Bobcat shouldn't be a problem (they are not hard to kill). Raccoons seem to be about the upper end of Varmints I feel the 17 should be used for. But I have noticed a distinct difference in performance when shots a 75 yds. and in vs. 100 yds and out. Most of my shots are right a 100 yds. but have had some at 50 yds. it acts quite differently there (seems to hit much harder).

All in all...it is a handy rifle to have around the ranch for small varmints, it is accurate. But I just can't bring myself to praise it. It DOES do one thing exceptionally well, it is LOUD for what it is.
 

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Nothing. I have not found much use for a .17 . Its loud and everything I've shot with mine tore up too much meat! Squirrels, rabbits, etc. , it will darn near cut them in half! However, it is a great crow killer! I brought my ruger m77/17 to the last gun show, I couldn't hardly give it away. I kept it to dispatch varmints.

well if ya are willing to give it away I could find a home for it :)

I love my lil 17 rimfires - both hmr and hm2 for varminting in suburbia they work well enough for me and I don't worry as much on ricochet or pass throughs I don't believe I would select one as my only nor would I rid myself of my 22lr's but if you have a need and some other basics are covered they are good to have!
 
Ive found raccoons to be considerably tougher than most. I've seen them take unbelievable amounts of 22lr when treed and full of adrenaline. Coyotes on the other hand ive not found to be very tough. Very smart, very nervous, but little will to live. Reminds me of a goat. A sniffle or a cut and a goat just gives up. But like I said our coyote run plentiful but not terribly big.
 
I resisted the 17 hmr until last summer. My local Rural King had On sale the Savage 93 with heavy barrel and Accutrigger for $258.00. I've owned some very accurate Savages in the past, so I thought what the heck. I mounted a Nikon 4 x 12 on it, bought some ammo and headed to the range. Once zeroed I settled in at the 100 yard range to see what all the hubbub was about. My first 10 shot group would fit onto my thumbnail. You couldn't peel the smile off my face. I noticed some clay pigeons stuck in the burm next to my target. No one was shooting the poor abandoned things so I moved my point of aim a little. That little bullet was going fast enough at 100 yards that it passed straight through without breaking the pigeon. The smile lasted two days, btw. I hope to be going after some varmints next weekend and can't hardly wait to see the terminal performance they offer. If anybody told me my 22 Hornet or 223 would be staying home I'd have laughed.
All I know is that little 17 made me feel like a young boy with his first 22. I'm in my 50's, so it's been a while since I've felt like that. Is that enough reason Armoured Farmer:)
 
All the potential accuracy and distance advantage of a 17 rimfire means nothing to me if the slightest breeze throws it off. I reasoned that reloading 223 rem was a much better option for the ranges people say they shoot their 17's at.
The 17HMR actually drifts less than the 22LR or 22 mag.
Ammo is more expensive than common 22LR but not more than premium 22 ammo that would be closer to the same accuracy level.
 
The 17HMR actually drifts less than the 22LR or 22 mag.
Ammo is more expensive than common 22LR but not more than premium 22 ammo that would be closer to the same accuracy level.
I know. I don't shoot too far with 22lr or mag. 50 yards max so drift is more or less moot for me. I guess I meant if I was trying to reach past 50 yards I personally would skip the 17hmr and go 223 rem. Apples and oranges I know. But I couldn't see the 17hmr fill any void for me so I sold it. To each thier own, variety is the spice of life etc etc.
 
I don't find the 17HMR to be very noisy. It seems that the .22 WMR is noisier, but never shot both at the same outing, since barrels would have to be swapped. Seems that the .17 is more prone to deviation or destruction when shooting at crows in our blueberry field. The stalks are tougher than hay and seem to cause the light .17 cal bullets blow up or greatly deviate from their intended path. The good thing is that they seem to be less prone to ricochet than .22 WMR.
 
Since nobody has mentioned it yet, I'll bring it up. The pasture we were shooting PDs on is only a few acres, and a center fire will put down every dog for quite a while. The owner of the pasture shoots at them all the time with a 22lr, so the 17HMR doesn't even spook them. We were able to kill 70 of them in a couple of hours and I don't think they realized we were even shooting at them. I had three young ones standing in a line watching us. I picked off all three, one at a time, and didn't spook the others.
 
Larry....Good point. I have killed 100s dogs with 17HMR and they don't pay much attention to the sound. Of course we are shooting on wide open vast prairies which absorbs the sound and disperses it. Much like dust in the wind. I've killed lots of groups in the same manner, picking them off one at a time. Different story in the squirrel woods where the HMR makes a memorable "whack". and sends the surviving squirrels into hiding__usually, but not always.
 
I really like the .17 HMR for small varmints. It anchors them much better than .22 LR HP rounds, and also ricochets less when shooting in more populated areas. It is much quieter than my .223, also a bonus in areas near houses. It is very effective out past 100 yards, I literally saw blood through my scope when my son nailed a ground squirrel at a lasered 178 yards with the Hornady 17 gr V-Max. I also was pleasantly surprised when I got two with one shot at 40 yards. I wasn't sure the 17 gr A17 tipped bullet would penetrate sufficiently for a double, but it dropped both where they stood. My Savage 93R17 TR isn't the most accurate, but we plan on pillar bedding the action to see if it can be improved.
 
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaactually I got into the 17 game late... a while back now but ten years back or so a buds wife went a bit nutty... he was stayin with me and a local radio station was talking about a gun buy back with either 100 gift cards to a local food storeor tennis shoe gift cards... I planned on turning junk into meat fromthe food cards- I had three absolute tent stake wall hangers not worth but maybe 30.00 for the one top break pistol maybe... In line I hear do ya want the acme click or dicks sporting goods cards :) I went right to Dicks and traded the 300 in cards for a savage thumbhole stocked HB 9317 17 hmr with a 3x9 scope for 299 and tax...turns out I love that gun n laugh everytime I think about it :D
 
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I don't own one, but sighted a brand new 17 HMR in for a new shooter once. Scary accurate. I think it was a Savage. That was fun!
 
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