.17 HMR vs .22 Mag for gophers

22 mag or 17hmr

I've shot both. 22 mag no question in my opinion is the better round. It just whacks gophers better. Period. With authority! Like Eagleeye said " tragectory is easy to compensate for."

And these guys that think that a 22 mag can't take coyotes or think ya need something in a centerfire, should've seen a deer that I saw taken with a 22mag pistol. One shot and it was all over but the bleedin'.

22 mags have a lot more power than people give it credit for. Lots of new ammo too. Hornady just came out with a new 22 mag with a Vmax on top, CCI has some good ####e, those TNT are awesome.

22 mag baby....

And remember, you are in alberta, you are probably going to go coyote hunting. Just keep in mind, hit the coyote while its standing, running coyotes with a rimfire even though its a mag is hard.

Another point too, is your 10/22 can make further shots than 75yrds, I know this only because when I was shoot gophers last year with my brother. He was shootin to about 200 and I was spotting him with my scope... He made a couple misses, so what the hay, I flung some lead out there and voila, HIT.
Took me a couple tries but hey I was shootin bulk 22 which are cheap.

Bernie
 
I shot a dozen gophers with the 17HMR and was as unimpressed with the terminal performance as I was impressed with the accuracy. Mostly bang flops, some of these had even less damage than a 22lr so I am thinking the 17gr is expending most of its energy in the target. Head shots out to 100 yards very doable, 14x scope helps too. Need to do more research, Finding lots of places within 10 miles of my place, which is great.
 
I like the .17HMR over the .22lr. My buddy and I were out all day and shot about 400 gophers. He has the 10/22 and I have hmr. Side by side my shots were devastating compared to his. Most of my hits would leave them gutless and instant death, the 22 would just make a small hole and they would sometimes go back down. Also he had to dope is elevation and windage more than me. I could shoot at 150-175yds comfortably and he stuck to 75-100yds. And he is just as good of a shooter as me. So even thought the .17hmr is very pricey to shoot, I think its way more fun, better hits, better tradjectory. Plus at that price you take more time aiming and not just spray like with a 10/22
 
Just use a pellet gun
bleh2.gif
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-Tyler
 
Just went out gopher hunting today. I don't have a 17hmr but I have shot my buddies 17s lots in the fields before. I brought with me a marlin semi 17mach2 and a 22mag with tnt shells. From experience, the 22mag opens them up better then the 17hmr past 100 yards. Those TNT shells are like small bombs.
The 17mach2 for me was an obvious choice since I am not impressed with the 22lr (because of alot of riccochets) and I already have a 22 mag. The mach2 is an excellent replacement of the 22lr. We shot around 30 gophers with the 17mach2 and none of them made it back to their holes since they were field dressed by the 17gr bullet. :eek:
I am very surprised that here in alberta it isn't very popular. Today was windy and I tested my group size before we went gopher hunting. The 17mach2 with 10 shots grouped 1.5 inches at 100 yards. Without wind I have shot 0.5 inch groups at 100 yards before. I know the ammo is expensive but the price will go down once the demand/supply goes up.
 
I have .22mag in both a scoped rifle and as part of a Savage .22mag/20g combo and I really like the calibre for gophers, rabbits, etc. I don't have experience with the .17hmr, so can't comment on a comparison, buit I have been extremely happy with the .22mag.
 
I am sort of surprised by the mach2 lack of market share too, but only sort of. Lots of guys have trouble using anything more pricy than bulk pack, federal even though they are not very good for killing gophers quickly. So the 7$ a box for the m2 is out of the question.

Hate to say it but 30 gophers is a pleasant walk with buddies. When the real killing starts a guy with a bolt gun will be going through 500-1000 rounds in a day a guy with a semi 1000+. On high volume field 22lr rules the roost though I do use the slightly more pricy cci minimags since I feel they kill better than the bulk stuff I have tried.

That takes us to the other side of the coin on those low volume fields where there is enough to be fun but not enough that you need a bank load. Guys use the hmr and pay the price because the peformance difference is worth the price difference.
 
I have been looking into purchasing a small calibre rifle for groundhogs around my place. I am stuck between the .17HMR and a .22 WMR. Anyone with any experience on the .17HMR would be greatly appreciated. I am mainly concerned with the size of the report. How does this compare to that of a .22 Magnum?
 
decided i might as well start reloading and buy a centerfire to go with a nice .22

going with a cz varmint kevlar in .204 ruger
Click to expand...

Man...AWSOME choice!!
I shoot a Ruger heavy barrel .204 and the visual results are stellar. Factory ammo zipping out at 4200+ FPS, low recoil so you can watch the nuclear explosion through the scope :evil:
I reload my .204s and am at about $7/20 vs the $17.99/20 in the store. Heck, my loads are only churning out at about 3500fps (according to the loading manual) But I'm sure thats fast enough to blow up dirt pigs spectacularly.
You will NOT be disapointed. :D
:sniper:
 
I was at Cambodian Tire the other day and their .22 mag ammo is costing the same as what I am paying for my .17 Hornady ammo... I had the .17 out the other day around Regina, with a heavy south cross wind. If you lead a few inches at ranges greater than 100 meters there is no problems at all. The .17 easily reached out past 100m and then some even in a heavy wind. I got to say that I wouldnt trade my .17 for anything.
 
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