Originally Posted By: greengt88I failed to mention I have a ,223 also....I have fired 5rds through it since owning. I have looked at a .204 and agree that its too much for fox. I shot 1 on 1st day of small game this year with my .17hmr...it dropped in its tracks, but it was barely a 10yd shot. I was very pleased with the performance. I just want something to fill the void between. also I have a potential buyer for the .223 so will eventually go with a .204 in the future (what I wanted when I got .223)...like I said I have no plans to reload as I don't shoot for a hobby, so a few boxes once its zeroed is all I need for hunting. my only concern with the hornet is ammo availability, but the .17rem scares me alittle with so many ammo choices and stories of bad factory loads and its better suited for a reloader....so idk what to do....don't want to sell .223 for .17h and then not have any ammo...fig. I will need atleast 50rds to sight in and another 50+ to hunt with for remainder of season.
Here is my two cents: I LOVE the 17rem. I too was alittle hesitant to buy one. But after a lot of research and talking with guys that use it I took the plunge. I had Scott at Specialized Dynamics build me a AR in 17rem. We pushed the envelope a bit, I hunt a lot of thick brush, so I needed a shorter barrel. All of my research showed most guys using 22in barrels which was too long. But after a lot of talk with Scott we decided to go with an 18 in barrel. I was a bit nervous about the accuracy with such a short barrel, but those fears are LONG gone!!! I have used my 17 to take fox, bobcat and coyote with a lot of success. First weekend that I had the gun I took this fox:
IMG_0308 by
SnowmanMo56, on Flickr
Then I went out the next weekend and got this bobcat:
IMG_2452 by
SnowmanMo56, on Flickr
I do not know what kind of issues people were having with ammunition as I have had ZERO ammunition issues with the 17rem. Granted, I would like to have a few more choices, but the Remington factory ammunition with the Hornady 25 grain hp's do great and don't tear up my fur. Since getting my 17 I have only had one fox that got tore up and that was a cross chest shot on a running fox where I clipped it in the left front and it grazed across to the right shoulder. Killed the fox but tore open the front of the chest. Since getting the rifle I added a 45 deg offset mount and a Burris FastFire2 dot sight for the up close work. I got this fox at about 20 yards with the dot, then got a second on the stand at 125 with my scope about 60 seconds later:
IMG_2677 by
SnowmanMo56, on Flickr
I have had two foxes that I could not recover, they took the hit and crawled under some rocks, but most drop right where I hit them.
As for the 204, it is a great cartridge but I would not say that they are fur friendly at all. I think you could make them fur friendly, if you handload. Using a 25gr hollowpoint at 4200 fps will replicate the performance of the 17rem, but again that is handloading. So if you are looking for off the shelf, go with the 17rem.