How much terminal energy???

[chuckw2]

How much terminal energy does a .17 HMR have at 300 yards?

How much terminal energy does it take to kill a prairie dog?


Which brand of ammo and what bullet weight have you guys had the most success with killing prairie dogs?

 

[rstreich]

Chuck, I can't provide the numbers, but I've taken prairie dogs out to 250+ yards with a .17 HMR. However, unless they are small pups, I only take head shots as it just doesn't have enough energy to give a quick clean kill on a mature dog.

 

[Forum Boss]

Chuck,

VarmintAl has a very comprehensive page on the 17HMR, and he includes some good graphs and charts:

http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

At 300 yards, 2550 fps MV, Ballistic calculations show:

43 ft/lbs. energy
-35.72" drop
1070 fps
0.57 time of flight

By comparison, a 40gr, 22LR at 100 yards would have about 69 ft/lbs of energy,assumes 0.1 BC and 1050 fps MV).

Al doesn't comment on this, but based on our experience with the same 17gr Hornady bullets, the stated BC may be a little high so you'd have to adjust those numbers down a bit.

 

[patchhound]

Hi Chuck, I think 300yrds is pushing it a bit little too far for that 17gr bullet and the HMR, unless you score a good hit you`ll watch um grag to the hole... even at 100yrds a low "gut" shot will sometimes be nonlethal. I have more fun popin them with the 6br and save the 17hmr ammo for the close ones. If you do want to take a poke at some longer shots the best I`ve found is the Remington V-max

The "dogs" are starting to come out already after that cold spell we had here in WY. I might take the 17 out this weekend and snipe a few.

 

[chuckw2]

PatchHound,

I might be shooting in Western Wyoming this spring. One of my shooting partners is calling a ranch where he hunts big game to see if we can shoot dogs there.

When is the earliest time to go, will it be hot in May??


Chuck

 

[patchhound]

If I was going to travel a very long way to blast p-dogs I`de do it in June. May is a very unpredictible month here, it`s hard to say what the weather will be this year but most the time it`s snows through early May. Roads are just starting to dry out making some spots hard to get to. Late May is OK but after June the new arrivals are out of there holes making lots more targets That time of year it`s normaly about 80 degrees which is prety mild, like they say "if you don`t like the weather-wait five minutes"...You`ll either be dodge`in snow storms in May or thunderstorms in the summer but the critters will still be there. The real bad storms don`t usualy hit till mid July and it`s HOT in August. It`s all part of the fun of it, none of the weather`s ever stoped me from doin it!!!

If you have to plan ahead awhile to make the trip June should be your best bet, if not, watch the weather forcast and plan around it.

good shootin, patchhound.

 

[chuckw2]

Thanks for the information Patch.


Chuck

 

[CAT977]

I shot a ground hog at 316yds and found the bullet by its hole, tip was gone but the rest of it was intact, never penitrated, have kill them at 212yds

 

[tuck2]

Since getting the 17 HMR and 17 HM2 rifles I have shot a bit over 2000 prairie dogs with the 17 Gr V-Max bullet. The 17 Gr bullet fired from a 17 HM2 has about 100 ft/lb of energy at 80 yards and when fired from a 17 HMR has about 100 ft/lb of energy at 150 yards. I limit my shots to those distances to get clean kills when shooting them at any angle. I have shot some prairie dogs past 150 yards with the 17 HMR rifle when the bullet will go into the length of the body. At 180 yards the bullet will pencel thru both ribs on the few that I have inspected at that range. At longer distances most of the p dogs have gotten back into their holes unless I got a lucky head shot. Now I use a center fire 17 Fireball and 204 Ruger varmint rifles for shots over 150 yards. The 17 rimfire rifles are fine prairie dog rifles but like any round they should be limited to where one can make clean kills.

 

[HotRod9mm]

I almost always shoot p.dogs with my CZ 452 16" American 22lr suppressed. I have taken several at 120yrds on a calm day but keep most inside of 100yrds. The really cool part about suppressed is if you have 2-3 on the mound, as they stand there looking at each other wondering why the other one just exploded. I will however be trying my CZ Varmint in 17HM2 suppressed in a month on a friends private land to see how they react to the sonic crack.......

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