.22 mag or .17hmr?

Polar Man

Polar Man

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I really like rimfires, and at the moment I only have an old markin model 60 that shoots ok, but I really want a tack driver with a bit more reach and punch. I am leaning toward magnum because where I am it can be a bit windy, but I hear a lot of things about the accuracy of the .17 hmr.

For the .17 I like the look of the remington 597 semi auto, its got a free floating heavy barrel, or the NEF sporter single shot, which is pretty cheap, under 200.

For the magnums, if I grabbed the marlin 925m bolt action, I could have both for what I would pay for the remington.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
 
Hang on to your hat, this can potentially get heated.

You're looking at flatter (and faster) trajectory versus a beefier terminal punch, for starters. Prive per cartridge may also be an issue, as well as ammo availability, but those are really tier-two concerns (ok, maybe availability is a tier-1 concern, but most places with .22 WMR now have the .17 HMR, truth be told).

Time to sit back and watch the posts stream in...
 
I've got the NEF Sporter single shot .17HMR, is a great gopher gun, is more fun than you can imagine. Shots up to 150yds are a gimme on gophers. It took out a badger in a single shot at 120 yards too, which surprised me.

It is crazy fun just for punching paper too. I print out all sorts of targets off the net and my son and I will shoot for hours. If you can see it, you can hit it. With the heavy barrel on the NEF single shot, a bipod is basically manditory. If you'll be field shooting at gophers or something, get a long one so you can shoot sitting as opposed to prone and not have the grass in your way as bad. I shot a few close gophers freehand, but it is really too heavy to shoot freehand. I only have a 3-9x40 on mine, would buy more power if I was to do it again. Simply because it has the ability to shoot very far, but with only 9 power, I just can't see the gophers very well out past 150.

My one complaint is the trigger. Very heavy. May eventually get it redone, but I've found the gun is way more accurate than I am already. I love the single shot, break action. Safe and with the price of .17 ammo, you are taking your time with each shot.

Overall, it is a very solid feeling gun and would do it again. In fact, I may buy another one for my son when he gets a little bigger and wants to take some farther shots than he is cabable of now. For the price, you can't go wrong.
 
You mentioned wind. Then I'd say neither, they both suck in the wind. I had an HMR and currently have a WMR, and I find that I'd MUCH rather be shooting my 22 Hornet given that the price is about the same (if you reload).

Both HMR and WMR make gophers pop, but not as much as a centerfire. The WMR seems to pack more punch if it's the splatter factor you're after. The HMR has a flatter trajectory, although once the wind kicks up it's not the drop that screws you.

Generally, the HMR seems to be the more accurate of the two, and that's primarily due to the higher-quality ammo available. Once you start shooting the Remington AccuTip loads for the WMR, it's capable of astonishing accuracy as well. CCI also has a premium VMAX load coming for the WMR.

Both are entertaining, and neither really offer anything over the other until you start splitting hairs. But both are expensive, and for the money I personally find I'd much rather reload a small centerfire. It's just a whole 'nuther league
 
Some .17 HMR pack "explosive" punch, if you count the varminter rounds.

By the way, prosper's right about the wind - if it's a-blowing, then both the .17 HMR and the .22 WMR will begin to be pushed aside.
 
Well, the .22-250 is the king of the varminters, but the whole set-up may set you back some. That having been said, there are some beautiful .22-250 rigs on the E & E forums these days...

A .223 is cheaper, and with 77-grain rounds, worth a look.
 
This spring in a moment of weakness, the gunshop I frequent had what appeared to be a brand new CZ452 in 17 HMR. Now the owner knows my weakness and told me it was used with less than 200 rounds through it.
Ok says I, how much? I am a born again impulse buyer, so I guess that explains it. "$400 no tax, includeing rings and bases and I'll throw in a couple of boxes of different weight ammo to see what it likes". Well you know what is said about a fool and his money. To make a long story short, I ended up buying a mixed brick of the heaviest bullets available as well and $500+ lighter left eagerly for the bench at home to mount the scope, then the range.
To say the least, I was very pleasantly surprised with the accuracy. It had a problem shooting high and to the right when it warmed up a bit, so home again to free float the bbl in the channel and glass bed the action as well as lighten the trigger pull. Worked just fine next time out. The CZ452 in 17 HMR, unlike its sister in 22WMR, isn't fussy at all about what it shoots. They all go into nice tight groups out past 100yds with the lighter bullets shooting higher of course, but bullets of the same weight shooting to the same point of aim without scope changes between different brands. Very unusual, very impressive. Can't say the same about the 22WMR.
A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to test the two rifles together on gophers at varying ranges right out to 150yds. Prosper, you're dead on about wind haveing similar effects on both bullets, although very slightly less on the 22WMR.
The terminal performance on the gophers was a whole different story though. Especially at ranges over 50yds. Unless they were hit in the head with the 17HMR, they usually ran away, even though solidly hit in the chest area. On several of the animals that were inspected, the bullets failed to expand and both the entrance hole and the exit hole were almost invisible. So we switched over to Speer TNTs. They were a lot better but still didn't have the same catastrophic effect that the 22WMR had with Speer TNT rounds.
Overall I really like them both and would hate to have to choose which one to sell, but when hunting rabbits at ranges at and over 100yds, I would definitely use the 22WMR.
bearhunter
 
Like Bearhunter, I have CZ 452 's in both 17HMR and 22WMR (also have one in 22LR!) these are great rifles with a lot of accuracy built in. The HMR is just as BH stated, less fussy and quite the tackdriver. However, I also noted that the WMR is more potent out past 75 yards or so. I would not get rid of either rifle, but the 17 is a real fun rifle in calm conditions and on smaller varmints. If I'm really serious about 150-225 yard varmints, I take my 22 K-Hornet, or the 222. Out farther, the Swift Rules!!! Regards, Eagleye.
 
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What are you planning to hunt with the rifle? .17 has been used for seals, might not be best for hares or ptarmigans. I'm pretty sure that they have been used for neck shooting spring geese. It would seem that .17 has a better reputation for accuracy than .22 magnum, although the .22 magnum ammuntion seems to be improving.
 
Choices

My 22 mag is one of the new Rem model 5's. Quite a nice gun and reasonably accurate out to 100 yards on paper and gophers. My 17 is a CZ and the only reason I bought it was it was a steal, that said, I have shot it for 2 years now and its very accurate. Love taking magpies out of trees at ranges in excess of a 100 yards. The 20 grain bullets that are available from CCI are very lethal on larger targets and usually rip gophers in half. 22 mag ammo can be had at WalMart for less than $8.00 a box of 50. Now its Win dyna point which in alot of guys guns doesn't group all that well on paper, but it works well enough on vermin in my new rifle. 17 cal on the other hand are now very expensive at $145.00 for a brick of 500 rounds, if you can find them. Seems to me that Stevens have a real reasonalbly priced 17 on the market this year, clip fed bolt that I believe is well under $200.00, I would not buy an auto loader in 17 as 597 Rems can be hit and miss in the quality dept? FS
 
I too have noticed that the 17HMR ammo is sneaking up in price. Its a great round though and I guess still relatively cheap to shoot. About 15 buck inc tax around here for rounds. I have CZ452 varmit and it is a shooter.
 
I have the CZ452 in varmint in the 17HMR and was going to sell it until I took it out to the gopher patch it ws awesome. Shots out to 150-200 yards was not a problem( no wind this day) and my 22WMR was only good out to about 125 yards. The 22WMR is defianatly more explosive on the little varmnints though.
 
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