17 HMR for hunting

B

buddy

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looking at the 17 hmr for hunting woodchucks,fox,coon,and hunting coyotes in the woods. what do you guys think good or bad?
 
Personal opinion is that the 17hmr is to light for coyotes but would be perfect for your other usages inside 150yrds. If coyotes are going to be on the list then step up to a 17 Hornady hornet.
 
17HMR is perfect for Woodchucks, Racoons, and other small varmints. A little light for coyotes, unless you are shooting them at close range in the head. JMHO.
 
I love my HMR for little varmints, fun plinking gun. Not something I would grab for coyotes to many better choices as others have said. I like mine for shooting crows and the occasional muskrat on my dam.
 
I tried the 17HMR for fox hunting at night with NV on a 10-22 magnum. It works great for animals around that size that are easy to kill. Fox and raccoons are not difficult to kill. I did not have godo luck with that round on woodchucks. They always died but they always made it back to their den first. I would go back in a week or two and see where another one dragged the dead body outside the hole and moved on in. It's a great crow round too...not to loud and reaches out there 150 yards or so. I eventually abandoned it and went back to the 22 magnum. Calling fox at night around here is a close range game and the 17HMR didn't always drop the fox in his tracks. It did always kill them, but a fox can be an incredibly hard animal to recover at night so I wanted them all DRT.
 
If you use the 17 HMR for Fox and Bobcats shoot the 20 grain TNT bullet. Sorry I don't remember what brand they are loaded in.

A while back I seen a video on the Penetration of different 17 HMR bullets and the TNT did the best.This was tested in ballistic Gell.
 

We (hunting buddies and I) have used the .17 HMR quite a lot, with very good success on groundhogs, with shots slightly over 100 yards and under. We mainly head shoot since the rifle / cartridge is so accurate. Out of the numerous groundhogs we shot, we only lost one that managed to get into the den, and that was due to a poor placed body shot. All others were DRT where they stood. Some were even standing on the mound at the den and still didn't make it into the den. We use CCI 20 gr. Game Points.

MSINC, were you body-shooting the fox resulting in lesser than desired kills? I have not used the HMR on fox, but have been wondering if it might work OK. I suspect head shots would be in order with them too. Tell us more about the HMR on fox if you don't mind. Also, what's your experience with the .22 mag and fox, and again, do you head shoot or body?

As was previously mentioned, the HMR is a great crow round.
 
For several years, I carried a Ruger 17HMR as my farm/truck/ATV gun. I shot a variety of critters with it, including about a dozen or so coyotes. EVERY single one of them was a one shot kill. The longest shot was about 125 yards, and most shots were in the 75-100 yard range. Now, I think there are far better choices for coyotes than the 17HMR, but it will work and work better than a lot of folks give it credit for. I will also say this, when I shoot a varmint around the farm, the last thing on my mind is "bullet performance". I'm just wanting to put a bullet in that critter and could care less if it dies on the spot or runs off and dies. As a matter of fact, I would prefer it run off and die in a hole, as that means I don't have to dispose of it myself. That may sound cruel, but when you are protecting your property, you don't give much thought to how humanely you dispatch a varmint that's trying to get your calves or chickens.
 
Are there better choices than the HMR for coyotes? Sure there are! But if you have houses inside 300 yards do you really want to shoot a .223 or 22 250? Thats what the 17HMR was made for! And yes it will kill yotes!
 
Originally Posted By: 6mm06
We (hunting buddies and I) have used the .17 HMR quite a lot, with very good success on groundhogs, with shots slightly over 100 yards and under. We mainly head shoot since the rifle / cartridge is so accurate. Out of the numerous groundhogs we shot, we only lost one that managed to get into the den, and that was due to a poor placed body shot. All others were DRT where they stood. Some were even standing on the mound at the den and still didn't make it into the den. We use CCI 20 gr. Game Points.

MSINC, were you body-shooting the fox resulting in lesser than desired kills? I have not used the HMR on fox, but have been wondering if it might work OK. I suspect head shots would be in order with them too. Tell us more about the HMR on fox if you don't mind. Also, what's your experience with the .22 mag and fox, and again, do you head shoot or body?

As was previously mentioned, the HMR is a great crow round.



For fox I was always calling at night and using 3rd gen NV. Because they were running right in {mostly grays} usually really fast it is a less than ideal shooting situation for taking a head shot. That kind of shooting is center mass, it always kills them and no, head shots on fox are definitely not necessary. A fox is like a raccoon, they are not difficult to kill.
I am sure there are a lot of internet predator hunters that will profess "I always only ever shoot 'em in the head," but remember...that is very easy to say. I use a monopod type shooting stick so I can constantly pivot the rifle around and scan. I go to a small field or clearing and just back up to the woods at the edge and stand up to shoot.
When I said I went back to the 22 magnum for fox it is because of the heavier bullets that drop the fox in his tracks. It's the old velocity vs. energy argument. The massive shock of high velocity can result in am impressive kill but it requires an accurate hit. In this shooting situation I would rather have the leeway and insurance of a guaranteed kill from a heavier bullet. Don't get me wrong, the 17HMR always killed them, but we had several that resulted in a half hour to 45 minute blood trail. Several times I had to go back the next morning and find the fox. I was always amazed to find them usually laying within feet of where I had looked the previous night. A dead fox flat on the ground can be a very difficult thing to find at night.
In my area many of the places I get to hunt are right in somebody's back yard and the fox {or unknown predator} is being hunted because he is a problem. Often the landowner is not a hunter and this is their last resort for a fox killing chickens. They don't really want me there and may not like hunters, but have no choice. I don't want that type person going out the next morning and finding a dead unrecovered fox.
As far as the 17 and groundhogs...I could claim all head shots on that one too and if I was convincing enough it wouldn't be too far a leap to believe that every last one was a brain shot and they all dropped right there. My family has several horse and cattle farms and shooting ground hogs is a necessary evil. I like to hunt them too but don't have time to sit all day and wait for a perfect shot and for sure I don't care about trying to impress anyone with stories of the perfect shot {on a ground hog???}...we just need them gone because of the danger to livestock, so it's center mass on them too. So let me add/amend my statement regarding the 17HMR and woodchuck/groundhogs: For center mass hits a very high percentage of wc's and gh's made it back to the den.
As far as using the 17HMR for coyotes, everything is relative. Sure, you can use the little 17HMR for deer if you always only ever score a hit right between the eyes and you can drive your car with your feet if you want to...but that don't make it a good idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The 17HMR is a great little round, but it's not suitable for coyotes IMHO. The dogs get to meet my 6.8 SPCII, or 5.56 AR15. As for crow unfortunately my state requires the use of a shotgun. It's treated as a migratory bird. The new 30 and 33 grain .22WMR VMax rounds have breathed new life into my .22 WMR rifles. I would still use the ARs for coyote rather than the .22 WMRs even though I think at close range the .22 would drop a coyote with a well placed shot.
 
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