17 HMR or 22 WMR

If I had to chose one ..... I'd chose the .22 mag. But I'm glad I have both!

One point about .22 mag accuracy. You'll look for quite a while to find a rifle accurate with the ultraspeed loads.

You won't look very far if you try 40-50 gr. loadings for accuracy.

I view the .22 mag as more of a work horse. The .17's are very good on small critters at longer distances.

Three 44s
 
Had stainless Savage HMR...Loved It!

Had a blued Savage HMR...Loved It!

Had a Remington 597 HMR...Loved It!

Sent the 597 back to Remington for a .22 Mag conversion. It should be here any day now. Hope I Love It!
 
For ground squirrels / Sage Rats the 17 HMR is great. My longest Kill with the 17HMR was a little over 300 YDS with a range finder to check yardage, NO I did not hit it with the first shot it took about 4 or 5 shots to walk it in and it was just dumb luck the I got a kill.

The wind will effect your shots a bit more than if you were shooting the 22 Mag.

I shoot sage rats here in Oregon and use both 17 HMR and the 22 Mag. When the wind gets up and I am using the 17 HMR I get to where the wind is blowing down range or in my face.

I just got 2000 rounds of Winchester Supreme 17 HMR with the 17 Gr. V-Max bullet for $10.97 a box. I am now ready to do some killing.


The 17 is a neat cartridge.

So I vote for the 17 HMR for small stuff (sage rats, pasture poodles, P-dogs, rabbits, the 22 mag for bigger stuff like stray dogs, yotes, fox, ETC.((with in there usable range))

They are both great cartridges.







DAB
 
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Originally Posted By: TakemI wasn't sure so I ended up buying both. I prefer the 17. Its more accurate and a lot flatter shooting.

I had both, but sold the 22 Mag. I do like the 17, but, no denying it, the 22 Mag has more horse power.
 
I read somewhere that T aurus is coming out with a 5mm in their Tracker series. Don`t know when you wil see it though.
 
I have both. I prefer the 17 hmr. It's flatter and more accurate. Depends on the gun though. I'm sure there's some 22 mags that are more accurate than the one I have. Actually going to sell the 22 mag since it sits on the rack and I have no intentions of using it for hunting again. For small varmints like you said the hmr would be my gun.
 
I carry a Ruger 77/17 now. But I have had .22 mags at different times in my life and loved them for hunting groundhogs. Like many have said the accuracy with the .17 HMR is great but the main reason I carry it is to decrease the chance for ricochets it the areas I hunt. I use the .17 to control muskrats, coons, on the wetlands around the farm. And when taking crows out of the trees a .17 HMR only weights 17 grains where a .22 is around 40 grains so when falling back to the ground there is less mass and weight. My thought is taking the right gun out for what your after is part of the fun and justifies buying new things. The only problem is sometimes your out with one and a different type of critter will walk out. Then you wish you were carrying something a little bigger.
 
I like the .17 for accuracy out to 100 yards and a bit further, but I also have a Marlin .22 mag and it is very accurate too. But with either gun I have decided to stay away from shooting coyote, bobcat, fox unless it's a head shot. I have had too many bobcats, when hit in the shoulder area run off even though there's a good blood trail. Sure you can track them down, but that's not the most humane thing imo. I have shot a coyote and had him run off like nothing happened. I can tell you that when I've used my 30-06 that not one coyote has gone further than straight to the ground. Now the 30-06 is too much gun if you want to save the pelt, but my opinion is that the .17 and .22 mag are too light to humanely shoot bigger predaters, and I stress humanely because as we all know .22's have probably killed just about every animal out there.
 
It's the 17 HMR for me! And I disagree that you can't kill a coyote with it. That said, you won't drop it on the spot like you would with a bigger cal short of getting a head shot. But so what if it runs a few yards. A dead coyote is a dead coyote!
 
I agree with kel = I like both but if your hunting anything bigger than a groundhog,you need to go up to at least .223 in order to hunt coyote (my primary prey) using a rifle too small for the job is not humane or ethical IMHO because it greatly increases the chance of a cat or yote spin and run = bleeding out slowly. Personaly I hunt coyotes with a model 700 in .223 for day hunting and an AR with an Acog and red led for night hunting (legal in my state)
 
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