22 wmr. 17 hmr

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Leavenworth

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This topic probably has been beaten to death but inquiring minds want to know

Are the 22 WMR. and the 17 HMR. basically Varmint hunting rounds or are they used for target shooting ?

As far as a hunting round for us here in B.C. would they be mainly used for rabbits ? As would not the two of the mentioned blow a grouse to oblivion ?

Leavenworth
 
It is really going to depend on what you consider "Target Shooting". Bottles full of water, or various other reactive targets are still targets...

But the ammo makers are not really working on building the most Match Accurate ammo for either caliber, the same way as the .22 Short, and .22 LR have been developed. Even good Short ammo is harder to find now, after the Olympic shooting disciplines have all went to .22 LR.

Having personally made lots of mess out of grouse and rabbits with a badly placed .22LR bullet, I'd be willing to suggest that either caliber is liable to be kinda overkill for those.

If you want to shoot for accuracy, get a decent rifle in .22 LR.
 
There is really no argument for a 22WMR or even 17HMR. Why? The options you have with 22lr are so vast. Look up youtube. Either .223 or 22lr. I know many people will argue all day long but the videos I found on youtube does not suggest otherwise. And when looking at the price for 22WMR, nope thank you
 
Grantmac said:
If by target you mean any sort of competition then no.

If just for fun then it's up to you.
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You can get a CZ 455 with 22lr and 17 hmr barrels. It's my dual purpose gun, super friggin accurate in both calibers. 24 clicks up when I use the 22lr and that's it. It really likes the cb short subsonic at 740 fps ishh If I remember well, I always do head shots on squirrels from 20-60 feet. I use the hmr for ground hogs up to 220 tards with no holdover, ok the pictures are not as bloody as it used to be with my 22-250 but ammo cost is way less when you shoot them in bulk. The wood on the Canadian edition is fantastic.
 
If you need it dead federal 50 grain 22 wmr is my go to for smaller critters, .17 is a target round to me, of course .223 is more deadly but at triple the cost.
 
From my experience shooting both, I would consider them NOT being serious target rounds ( over kill ) as for paper punching but great for reactive targets. Why spend all that extras cash on ammo when the 22 lr would do the job. Just my 2 cents.
 
The only thing I've noticed from my limited experience with 22 WMR at the range (about 100 rounds) is that it make the same hole as 22LR, but costs 4x as much.
 
I only had experience with 17HMR and the very first Savage 93R17 that I bought 17 years ago was the most fun/accurate one of them all (sold it) 10 years ago - back then a pack of 25 rounds set me by $15 bucks. Never hunted with it though but am sure under 100 yards it will take out Wiley
 
Leavenworth said:
This topic probably has been beaten to death but inquiring minds want to know

Are the 22 WMR. and the 17 HMR. basically Varmint hunting rounds or are they used for target shooting ?
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The magnum rimfire rounds such as 17HMR and 22WMR are not very good for target shooting for the simple reason is that ammo quality varies too much. Unlike .22LR, there is no magnum rimfire made in match quality. That's a major shortcoming with regard to target shooting. For comparison, a box of 17HMR or 22WMR costs about the same as a box of good .22LR match ammo.

For small game hunting, the .22LR is quite effective. There aren't any rabbits or grouse in Canada that are too big or tough for it. For shooting gophers and in similar situations, there might be a greater role for a round like the 17HMR that drops less over short to longer range.
 
Grouse :head shots.
Rabbits:body shots.
Varmint: well thats for you to determine .
I know guys who shoot coyotes in areas just outside of Metro Vancouver who use both.
Ammo availability is the quest.
Buy it when you find it and it is going to be expensive with regular inflation and toss in justin and his fuzzy economics and it is silly $$.
Rob
 
While our 10/200 Metre Rimfire has a class for 17 HMR, the 22 WMR has never made an appearance.
At 200 metres, the 17 holes are almost impossible to see.
When the 17's showed up at our competition, they never won and were grouped with the 22 Hunting Rifles.
Then one good lot of ammo won the championships so now they are in a class by themselves. Now he is out of that ammo . . .
For targets in competition, the 22 long rifle with Match ammo is hard to beat.
 
Thank You for all the replies and again the detailed ones are great ! It’s always amazing to me to see how the firearms community and hunting community step up to help out the not so knowledgeable !
Leavenworth
 
Not used for any real target shooting events that I know of like PRS or silhouette... I bought a 17hmr 10-12 or more years ago when they were all the hype... shot about 2x boxes of ammo and sold it, it felt like a waste of time. I already had a few .22s and I learned I could reload .223 for just as cheap and far more projectile selection. And NO you don't need very much to reload, I started with a $50 used Lee loader, a rubber mallet, some dippers and my once shot brass...
 
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The .17 HMR is an excellent round. I have shot hundreds and hundreds of gophers, and many grouse in the forest with mine. Headshots on grouse, anywhere on the gophers…. Shoot heads off or aim low and send them flying. They are just so dang expensive to feed now. Vmax to blow them up, TNT to cut them in half. My CZ452 Varmint is in the no sell pile.
 
you want to do target, go with 22lr.
you want to hunt small, go with 223 rem.
you are bored either of above and have some cash to spare (occasionally it's me), go with 17hmr.
I don't even know why 22wmr exists.
 
My take..

22LR-small game capable, best option for target shooting due to the widest variety of ammo, and as a rule, the best selection of guns to wring the most accuracy out of it

22WMR-louder, more power/more capable/more expensive. Better option for groundhog-sized animals than 17HMR, considered a decent coyote option if inside of 100 yards. Not inherently accurate compared to the other two, but hits with the most authority compared to 22LR/17HMR

17HMR-different report than 22WMR, but nearly as loud and about the same cost. (don't know the actual DBs, talking anecdotally) Flatter shooting=easier to hit targets further out if there isn't much wind. Bullets blown easily off course if wind is a factor, even at relatively short distances. Fewer ammo options than 22WMR, most people are impressed with how accurate it is.

I think 17HMR and 22WMR are both very cool, but sort of niche calibers unless you have a very specific reason to own one. Ammo prices sometimes rival centerfire options like .223, but lack the effective range/stopping power it has. Some people dismiss them for that reason, but calibers like 17HMR absolutely shine of targets like gophers out west. Again, until the wind really blows-up. I hunted groundhogs in Ontario here with 17HMR for a couple of years before trying 22WMR. 22WMR drops them with authority out to about 125 yards, every time. 17HMR wasn't nearly as effective. Leads me to believe the reports about it being a decent option for close range coyotes.

So..

For target shooting/small game, I don't think anyone here would dispute 22LR as being the best choice. If I had to have 1 rimfire to cover a wider variety of hunting duties, it would be 22WMR all day long. I do consider the magnum rimfires to be hunting calibers, 22LR for target/fun...and lots of gophers. :)
 
I no longer have a 22 mag or hmr. We shoot thousands of rounds at gophers and use mostly 22 lr. I also reload 22 hornet for less than 17 hmr. For gophers, rabbits and grouse the LR is plenty. IMHO get a good 22 and have fun.
 
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