Originally Posted By: Luke BaxterOriginally Posted By: getfoxyHeres my story. I called in a red to 35yards (roughly) I shot him with the 20g gamepoint right in the chest. He was facing me. Very little blood and no recovery. I say no for the 17hmr.
Do you wonder if it had to do with the bullet hitting bone? Those game point bullets seem to be pretty explosive in my experience. The .17 HMR seems to do best on soft tissue, but once a bone is introduced, it seems to lack the penetration you would expect.
I shot two jack rabbits standing next to each other some time ago. One was slightly obscured by a small bush and the other was fully within view. I shot the one within full view first about mid-torso and he dropped instantly and was DRT. Then I set my sights on the other that was slightly hidden by the bush and shot him in the upper shoulder. The jack then started screaming and flopping all around. When I came up on him, I noticed that his front shoulder was broken, but the TNT bullet I shot him with never penetrated beyond the bone. So I ended up having to finish him off up close. I wonder if that is where the .17 HMR's weakness lies?
I would say you probably hit the void between the bones if anything. My experience on groundhogs, which tend to be tougher than fox, is that the 20gr. Gamepoints penetrate too deep on fleshy gut shots and require a bone like a skull or shoulder blade to initiate expansion. The 17gr. polymer tips seem to splash on bone, but blow out nice in fleshy areas. I use the 20's and shoot for heads and shoulders on everything. I used my 17HMR exclusively while trapping this year and there was no pelt damage on any of my takes and most were head shot. These animals included coons, red fox, skunk, possums, and a groundhog. The possums were the only ones that didn't drop DRT. I did shoot some of these animals free range at a distance while on my way to the traps. Distances were point blank to 80yds.