17hmr or 22lr for training rifle

.22 LR of course... the idea is cheap shooting... if you go with HMR you might as well get yourself set up for reloading and just shoot your .223.
 
photog_shooter said:
I have a couple long range rigs, a Rem 700 .223 and a Rem 700/Cadex 300win. I'm considering a rimfire training rig (also a heck of a lot cheaper for those full day outings) but I'm not sure what cal to get. I've got a ton of 22lr ammo but I can easily get some 17hmr. Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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My thoughts:

.22LR about 10c a shot for good ammo.

.17HMR about 30-35c a shot.

.22 good to about 100yds, maybe a bit more. Drop and wind reading skills almost trivial.

.17HMR good to 200 on paper, maybe 250-300 if your lucky and can hear a subtle "plink" if you hit a gong. Drop and wind reading a little more like the big boys.

I love my .17, but it does hurt to pay 16-18$ for a box.

GGG
 
Shooting a 22lr at 100 yards would be like shooting a 308 at 300 yards the farther you go with a 22 it translates into farther distance with a 308.

EDIT: Hmr these days is $20+ a box for that price you can shoot some very high quality 22lr ammo. Heck of a lot more options for 22lr ammo as well.
 
Kudu said:
The 17hmr makes the 22lr look very old and tired, get a decent 17hmr and you will never look back....
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I hardly shoot my hmr anymore. Costs way to much to shoot. 99% of the gophers I shot this year were with a 22lr. For the cost of hmr I can load 6x45 and get at least double the performance. 62gr Barnes bullets at 3300fps or 70gr at 3000fps.
 
hoytcanon said:
.22 LR of course... the idea is cheap shooting... if you go with HMR you might as well get yourself set up for reloading and just shoot your .223.
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^Sadly, this is true. I still love 17HMR, but at the price of the stuff...it's only used if a longer range gopher is involved. Plinkng/target-shooting with a 17HMR? No thanks! I was at Cabela's on the weekend and if memory serves, it was $24+ a box. That translates to about $0.57 a shot here in Ontario. HMR is fun, but NOT .223 fun..and I can load .223 for about that much.

Kudu said:
The 17hmr makes the 22lr look very old and tired, get a decent 17hmr and you will never look back....
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^I get the sentiment, but have to disagree. I own several 22s, a 17M2 and a 17HMR. The 17s are lasers and easy to shoot well, the 22s shoot nearly as well for a fraction of the ammo price. If I spent the same amount on my 22 ammo as I do on my 17s, I'm confident the 50-75 yard results might look pretty close. I think for the OP~22 IS the right answer.
 
If .17 hmr cost 30-55 cents a round, there are a few center fire rounds you can buy for that price or better (223, 7.62x39, 7.62x54, 9mm, 308 if uts a good deal). And you can reload(using cast bullets) for alot of center fire rifles for cheaper then that. And if you use pull down projectiles again it get cheaper.

i shoot plinking rounds in my 303's instead of rim fire lots of time just a bit more umph. I can reload a round that is 125gr, 1200 fps for about 16 cent a round since i get free lead. Full power loads 2400fps and pull down projectiles i can do it for 35cents around.
 
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.22LR is the easy choice. Shooting at 100 meters requires significant wind reading skills. .22LR ammo is plagued with flyers though. You need decent target ammo or it will be an exercise in frustration seeing those shotgun patterns that are not your fault or the gun's fault. I would suggest SK Standard + as a minimum quality. For top quality it starts top get expensive too. Eley Tenex is about 50 cents a shot!
 


This target was first in the Rimfire Central CZ/BRNO challenge for factory barrels at 100 yards.
Then I added a picture of my rifle and it was determined that with a tuner I should be in the modified class shooting against Lilja and Shilen barrels.
Didn't make a tinkers-dam-difference as it was first in that class too.

 
grauhanen said:
The way this is phrased makes it sound like there's nothing much needed with regard to wind reading with .22LR at 100 yards. Surely that's not what is meant, is it?
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I shoot gophers out to 125 yards with a .22LR and on windy days I can tell you that reading the wind is far from trivial. No wind flags of course when gopher shooting. In fact when the wind really picks up, I limit myself to about 70 yards. Too hard on ammo...
 
Gunneegoogoo said:
My thoughts:

.22LR about 10c a shot for good ammo.

.17HMR about 30-35c a shot.

.22 good to about 100yds, maybe a bit more. Drop and wind reading skills almost trivial.

.17HMR good to 200 on paper, maybe 250-300 if your lucky and can hear a subtle "plink" if you hit a gong. Drop and wind reading a little more like the big boys.

I love my .17, but it does hurt to pay 16-18$ for a box.

GGG
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22lr eley match ammo at LGS Is 20 bucks for 50 rounds...

On a side note for the people saying a 223 is better because of ammo price is almost on par... Maybe if you reload... Match 223 is $1.75 a round roughly...



Personally if I want a "training" rifle... It should be a dead on accurate rifle... No cheeping out with ammo and getting 2 moa or worse out of a training bolt gun...

Dead on accuracy requires good ammo... Not to mention, if I want to train... I want to practice adjusting for drop and wind...

IE Why I went with 22lr Over the 17HMR ...

My rim fire trainer is going to cost more then a lot of my center fire hunting rifles... A rim fire CZ runs more then a budget hunting center fire rifle......
 
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horseman2 said:


This target was first in the Rimfire Central CZ/BRNO challenge for factory barrels at 100 yards.
Then I added a picture of my rifle and it was determined that with a tuner I should be in the modified class shooting against Lilja and Shilen barrels.
Didn't make a tinkers-dam-difference as it was first in that class too.

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Pretty impressive shooting Horseman 2!
 
Canadiankeeper said:
On a side note for the people saying a 223 is better because of ammo price is almost on par... Maybe if you reload... Match 223 is $1.75 a round...
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Above I said for the cost of running a 17 HMR trainer with the number of rounds that you "should" be putting through a trainer, the OP could set himself up to reload for his .223... for the current price of HMR ammo I can actually load my .223's for LESS cost.
 
hoytcanon said:
Above I said for the cost of running a 17 HMR trainer with the number of rounds that you "should" be putting through a trainer, the OP could set himself up to reload for his .223... for the current price of HMR ammo I can actually load my .223's for LESS cost.
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Sadly reloading is something that will never happen for me. I live next to Santa (I'll put in a good word for ya!) in a fly-in only community. As a result, I can get all the needed supplies save for the powder itself. Technically I can get powder shipped up as dangerous goods on the planes, but then it would end up just being cheaper to buy factory rounds. I guess I could always load up dummy rounds... :rolleyes:
 
photog_shooter said:
Sadly reloading is something that will never happen for me. I live next to Santa (I'll put in a good word for ya!) in a fly-in only community. As a result, I can get all the needed supplies save for the powder itself. Technically I can get powder shipped up as dangerous goods on the planes, but then it would end up just being cheaper to buy factory rounds. I guess I could always load up dummy rounds... :rolleyes:
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No ice road, or barge in summer???
 
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