.17 HMR for varmints?
- Thread starter M700
- Start date
The .17 HMR is great for squirrels, head shots on chucks under 100 yards, but nothing larger. There may be some that disagree but if I'm going to shoot a larger animal or a further distance, I choose another rifle. I bought mine as a walk around varminter used for quick off hand shots when walking treelines or fence rows. Quite a few chucks have been shot in the head under 100 yds. and a few over 100 yds. but I try to limit this because of the chance of wounding the animal. A hunter owes the animal enough respect to kill it humanely; even varmints. A coyote has too much mass for a humane kill, in my opinion.
Chino69
Chino69
Over in uk i use my 17 hmr Anschutz 1517 for shooting rabbits on good days i head shoot them at up to 130-150 yds.this is to save the meat,delicous in a casserole).
tried the CCI-TNT ammo but it was too erratic; HORNADY ammo was good but not consistant.I now use REMINGTON 17 grn v-max this will put 10 shots regular into 3/4 inch & 100 yds.
I shot a few foxes with this great little round but only close range-60-70 yds it does drop em but do"nt reccomend it just for foxes.
scope choice; dont put a cheap blanket on a new bed.
any way whatever you choose i bet you will have fun
keep us posted.
sorry merry xmas to all in the wide world of shooting from the uk.:thumb:
tried the CCI-TNT ammo but it was too erratic; HORNADY ammo was good but not consistant.I now use REMINGTON 17 grn v-max this will put 10 shots regular into 3/4 inch & 100 yds.
I shot a few foxes with this great little round but only close range-60-70 yds it does drop em but do"nt reccomend it just for foxes.
scope choice; dont put a cheap blanket on a new bed.
any way whatever you choose i bet you will have fun
keep us posted.
sorry merry xmas to all in the wide world of shooting from the uk.:thumb:
Maybe someone who has one can chime in here, but if I had it to do over again, I'd go with a .17 HM2 instead of the HMR. Close enough to the same ballistics, but less noise. With the HMR, you'll still need ear protection, but I'm guessing that you could easily get away without it with the HM2. I'd go for an Anschutz 1702.
BTW, I put a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14 on my HMR and I've been very happy with it. Alex Roy at EuroOptics is the best place to buy them. Great guy to do business with.
robert
BTW, I put a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14 on my HMR and I've been very happy with it. Alex Roy at EuroOptics is the best place to buy them. Great guy to do business with.
robert
Ive used an HMR in the patch for about three years and they make a real good short range P-dog gun. Some places that I shoot`s got buildings, pumpjacks, and other oil field stuff around,and lots of P-dogs) and the sound of a 22lr bullet zipping through air from a ricochet makes me nervous. Even with the not often zip you get from a 17 it`s only a 6gr piece of jacket and not a 40gr chunck of lead so I don`t take the ol 10\22 out much when I shoot those places. The real bummer is the cost of ammo, 12 bucks a box don`t make it a good plinkin gun but for hunting small game in thight places it`s hard to beat
patchhound
patchhound
Its a great round for PD's and chucks as long as shots are 100yds or less . As far as a gun the CZ's are the best shooting for the money and any good optic that you choose will be fine, i like something in a 4x16 power . You can read a lot of info about guns and ammo on www.rimfirecentral.com, they have more info on the 17HMR and 17Mach2 than you will want to read, but there is some real good info .
I love my little .17 Hummer, I use it for a walk around gun much the same as others have commented. I use it only for ground squirrels. I haven't purchased ammo in a long time since when I first purchased my Marlin several years back there was an ammo shortage and when I found good deals I would buy it. CCI, Remington and Hornady use to sell for about $8.75 a box. Wow have they gone up! I noticed there is a 20gr Hornady now, has anyone tried this?
I think I paid about $345 for mine with a very nice laminated stock in "salt&pepper". I scoped it with a Weaver Grand Slam, very nice scope. I have never attempted to shoot anything over the size of a squirrel with the hummer.
Have a great Christmas, shcal.
I think I paid about $345 for mine with a very nice laminated stock in "salt&pepper". I scoped it with a Weaver Grand Slam, very nice scope. I have never attempted to shoot anything over the size of a squirrel with the hummer.
Have a great Christmas, shcal.
gunamonth said:
I hope that's not true. I think I'll have to get one this summer just to do my part.
One of the guys over on saubier.com was trying to get Hornady to sell 25,000 of the 17 gr. V-Maxes. They mulled it over for a few days only to say that there production was committed for some time. Apparently Eley bought a bunch. So, I'm hopeful that both the HMR and the HM2 will survive.
This summer I was in Wyoming and we were de-fluffing jackrabbits and an occasional feral cat.In 2hrs of shooting, 1 in low light and 1 in total darkness with spotlights, we shot 105 rabbits, 3 cats.All were with Anschutz in 17hmr and 17hm2. The 17hmr shot and killed humanely even on our farthest shot 200yds.The 17m2 on the other hand proved to me to be useless beyond 75yds.Some took 2 or 3 shots with a 17m2 to die.Here in central oregon my girlfriends dad uses my 17hmr with great efect on rockchucks to 150yds.My savage 22mag will woop my 17 on a windy day though.In my opinion light bullets are its only draw back.On sage rats,smaller than pd's)a 17 is murder to 150-200yds.Very few rats or chucks make it to the hole.Many coyotes have fallen to it but I dont recamend it.
Simons,bsa,leupold,Burris are all good scopes for a 17.On a walk around varminter a 3x9 is quite enough.
Anschutz in my experence with them like Hornady V-MAX's.Let the gun pick the ammo.An article i was reading showed only tip seperation or no expantion at 225yds and beyond.So tuff critters not a good idea.
In my opinion a 17hmr is good to 150-200.
Simons,bsa,leupold,Burris are all good scopes for a 17.On a walk around varminter a 3x9 is quite enough.
Anschutz in my experence with them like Hornady V-MAX's.Let the gun pick the ammo.An article i was reading showed only tip seperation or no expantion at 225yds and beyond.So tuff critters not a good idea.
In my opinion a 17hmr is good to 150-200.
I am glad to hear that so many of you guys are using the hummer for dog hunting. The crew that I shoot with every year started shooting the 17HMR about 4 years ago. At first I was hesitant, because it limited us to close in shots.. After shooting it for several years, we have found that the PD's stay up much longer due to the low noise, even with four of us shooting from the same rig.
When we shoot the big center fires, the dogs in a 300 yard radius stay down. With the Hummer, dogs will still come up within 15 yards. You can stay in the same area for a very lomg time if all shooters are shooting Hummers.
We clean our Hummers once a night when we return to the motel. Our center fires must be cleaned in the field if we are on a hot town.
The very best thing is being able to buy high quality ammo, that is light easy to carry around.
I shoot a Annie, big mistake, those blood thirsty red-necks that I hunt with shoot Volquartsen automatics. They can kill 4 dogs to my one.
When we shoot the big center fires, the dogs in a 300 yard radius stay down. With the Hummer, dogs will still come up within 15 yards. You can stay in the same area for a very lomg time if all shooters are shooting Hummers.
We clean our Hummers once a night when we return to the motel. Our center fires must be cleaned in the field if we are on a hot town.
The very best thing is being able to buy high quality ammo, that is light easy to carry around.
I shoot a Annie, big mistake, those blood thirsty red-necks that I hunt with shoot Volquartsen automatics. They can kill 4 dogs to my one.
Forum Boss
Administrator
If you want improved accuracy with the little 17-cal rimfires, try the Nielson concentricity checker. We've tested it, and were able to identify Eley 17 mach 2 ammo will run-out of +.004 or greater.,Some of the rounds were +.009 runout!). Culling the high run-out rounds reduced our average group size, probably by 30% and allowed some spectacular results at 100 yards,groups in the 4s). Here are two groups shot in sequence, same rifle, same conditions, at 100 yards. Bottom group is .001 Runout Eley, top group is .006+ runout Eley.
Interestingly, we also noted that, in most cases, the extreme spread for run-out sorted ammo was significantly lower than for un-sorted ammo. Five-shot ES was 40-45 fps for .001 sorted ammo vs. 80-90 fps for unsorted ammo.
Interestingly, we also noted that, in most cases, the extreme spread for run-out sorted ammo was significantly lower than for un-sorted ammo. Five-shot ES was 40-45 fps for .001 sorted ammo vs. 80-90 fps for unsorted ammo.
chuckw2 said:
I was surprised to find out that it doesn't take all that long to heat up the barrel on an HMR. Last year just driving from one set up to the next and shooting what was out of the window, I got my brother's heavy-barrelled Anschutz pretty hot. It was something like 50 rounds in 15 minutes or thereabouts. It gave me quite a surprise when I grabbed hold of the barrel putting it up.
I'll take my 1717 over a Volquartsen any day, but it would be nice to have a larger magazine.
robert
I have a Savage HMR and shoot the 20 gr CCI HP and it is awesome. Recently on a varmint hunt here in Texas a small feral hog approx 40 lbs came to a call, a head shot at 25 yards put this small pig down quickly and cleanly. I would not take this shot without the CCI HP as this round really penetrates better than any of the other HMR ammo that i have tried, it consistently shoots through coyotes.
Forum Boss
Administrator
Interesting report. We have a 17 Mach 2 project in the works, and we have suggested to the ammo-makers that it would be great if the 20gr CCI HP was available in that round... don't hold your breath though.
jb77 said:
Like you, I have a Savage 93 in 17 HMR, and these rifles truely are awesome! I got mine on sale for only $199 two years ago, and put a Sightron 4-16x on it. ,scope cost almost double the rifle!)
I've had no problem taking rockchucks at shorter ranges with the standard 17 grain VMAX. But I have kept my shooting to under 80 yards. Here is a photo of my rifle with a chuck I nailed just outside his burrow. As you can see, he only moved about a foot, and did not make it into his hole, despite the fact that he was right next to it.
The .17 HMR is about the ideal squir round. It really rips them up like crazy.
It works well on crows too.
Lance in Orygun
I have a savage 93r17. I didnt think that I would ever own a savage, but man I have to say I love this rifle. We live in the middle of prairie dog central and I have lots of close shots. The learning curve for the prairie dogs is much bigger than it is with the bigger centerfires. I get about 3/4" groups with it. I was just going for cheap on this particular gun. I topped it with a simmons 3x9. Talk about a cheap piece of junk,,,but it shoots as well as many of my rifle combos that cost many times the money. It has me wondering if being so anal about my shooting is worth all the money I have been throwing at it. Maybe I just got lucky.
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.