17 hmr or 22 mag

[oldspice]

Ok I know its been talked about and i have re-read lots of threads but I am still left wondering which to pick up.

Firstly:
-cost of ammo doesn't matter much to me.
-mainly used for gophers and plinking (not being used for coyotes etc)


I know the 17 is succecptible to the wind, but is a 22 mag that much better in the wind?

which has a better kill/splat on gophers? I thought the hmr would, but then I read some guys have gophers running back down the hole after being shot.

I know a 17 is accurate to about 200 yards, what about a 22 mag? How far out is a 17 and 22mag lethal on gophers?

a 17 is flat shooting to about 150 yards, but what about a 22 mag?

I don't want this to turn into a useless thread with ppl just wirting "get a 17 hmr... screw a 22" etc.. please let me know what you know about each caliber so I can make a good buy.

Thanks

 

[stubblejumper]

Contrary to what some people believe, the 17HMR drifts less in the wind than the 22mag.As far as accuracy is concerned, the 17HMR usually does a little better.

I may be biased as to the accuracy of the 17HMR after shooting the .170" five shot, fifty yard group below with my Cooper LVT yesterday, and the .200" five shot, fifty yard group the day before. The average group with this load has been under .300".

 

[wcat]

I don't own a 22mag, but two of my buddies do. Nether of them can achieve the accuracy of my 17HMR, one of them also bought a 17HMR and his 22mag doesn't see much use since.
I had a Savage 93R17 and a CZ 452 American in 17HMR that could do 1/2 in. at 50y. Now I own only 1 17HMR, it's a CZ 452 Varmint and it can do 3/8 on a good day. I couldn't get better than 1 in. at 50y with my buddies 22 Mags, they have a Savage and a Marlin, one sporter weight, the other is a bull bbl.
Maybe someone here can/will tell me I'm wrong, but in AVERAGE, 22 mag rifles can't hold groups with the same rifle in 17HMR or even same rifle in 22lr. Maybe it's the case design, but I could be wrong.
When hit correctly, I never had a ground hog that didn't died right there, using 17gr V-Max.

ps: About the 452 American I had that shoots 1/2 in. groups, I saw it on the EE board not long ago.

 

[oldspice]

thanks for the reply's..

would like to hear someone chime in about the kill power of the 17 hmr vs 22mag on gophers.

 

[stubblejumper]

ps: About the 452 American I had that shoots 1/2 in. groups, I saw it on the EE board not long ago.

It has a new owner as of last week. The CZ is a fine rifle, but I only want one 17HMR, and my Cooper is scary accurate.