17 hmr / 22

[magyarman 0]

I have all three calibres, in fact I also have the .17M2 (shorter version of the .17HMR)

 

i use the .22lr for anything I want to eat or need to shoot with a silencer (for more chance of shooting as well as noise disturbance reasons)

I shot a rabbit at 115 yds with a subsonic .22 once, but at that range you are really putting faith in your own ballistics knowledge. I was zeroed at 70yds and was aiming 6" above the bunny's head! it took so long to get there you can almost see the bullet!

It has a rainbow trajectory and in my opinion too limited a bullet choice in subsonic but is very versatile. the 40gr solid lead bullets will ricochet off wet grass if you dont watch what you are doing.

you can buy high velocity rounds that will go supersonic and reduce your drop at distance but your useable range is still maxing out at 75-100yds and you have lost the element of silence. I use a Pes overbarrel and the only audible part is the firing pin and bullet strike with most subs.

 

The .17HMR is great and packs enough punch to take out foxes with well placed rounds. not cheap if you shoot a lot but with a inch drop at 200yds when zeroed at 100 it makes a great crow rifle. practice and play around with round choice and you could easily be taking things out past that range but wind plays havoc with the little 17gn rounds.

The balistic (read "plastic") tipped rounds are very frangible and will kill most things even if slightly off target. The hollow point jacketed round is even better for foxes IMO with massive wound tract from such a small round, but for that reason head shots are your only option for long range rabbits if you plan on eating any of it.

 

the .22WMR is very popular in the US as it is cheap and packs a punch on ground game that they have between rabbit and fox size. we dont really have gofer and groundhog type vermin so in my opinion it is a bit redundant. it is noisy as hell. noiser than the .17HMR even when moderated. it has a limited range of BETWEEN 100-150yds as it drops like a stone after that even with 30gr bullets vs 40gr.

the bullet choice is not one I would consider choosing this calibre for foxes and you wont get sanction from the FAC unit to use it for foxes as you primary reason.

I dont use it as I prefer the faster, flatter, quieter, cheaper, more powerful .17HMR for anything past 75 yds with the exception of the .17m2.

 

very cheap compared to .17HMR and still very flat and powerful with frangible bullets. good for rabbits and crows up to 150-200yds max. less damage to the meat than the HMR but very accurate.

If I could get it with a 25-30gr round it would be perfect and would probably replace my .22lr (nah, would still keep it!)

 

 

IMO if you have a decent air rifle already you have a 50yd silenced round and can shoot crows/pigeons in trees and rabbits on the ground.

get a .17HMR and you can shoot all those things you can see but cant get close to.

Not sure where you're coming from re the 22 WMR not being a good foxing round - the round (not calibre) is absolutely awesome, the bullet goes in and the fox comes out, especially the 30 gr V Max's I have never had anything but instant kills and It's often my gun of choice when I need it to be quieter than my centrefires as it does moderate well, not silent obviously, but still pretty quiet - ditto sanction from the Police???