New varmit rifle
- Thread starter Bluegrave
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The .17 Hornet will kill a coyote, but if you are going to be a serious coyote shooter, it is not a serious coyote cartridge... the .204 is a serious coyote cartridge... I personally prefer .223 in thicker brush country and .22/250 and .243 out in the open... and sometimes, whatever I happen to be carrying.
I would agree here.
Depending on which will be your priority, gophers or coyotes.
Do you already own a 17 HMR?? If not consider that as your main gopher gun and then a 204 or 22-250 for the long range gophers as well as general coyote duty.
YUP ! Far better Range out of a 204 over the Hornet ! RJ
I was going to say both, but I think that would be a poor choice. I would suggest the hornet AND a 22-250, but I don't live in P dog country. It would be nice to have something to launch heavier than a 39gr bullet, and the .17
The 204 is my choice for a coyote rifle. It does everything I can ask of it out to 500yds. If I'm going out for a gopher shoot I will take a bunch of different calibers including a 17HMR. I have a reduced load for my 204 using 30gr Bergers and H4895 that has a POI right on at 100yds instead of my usual 2"high zero. Quite a bit quieter and still a lot of fun in the gopher patch. In truth I mostly use the reduced load for fox and problem beavers in the spring. I even worked up a reduced load for one of my 223s using 30gr Bergers that I'm hoping will see some gopher patch action very soon.
In my experience there is no gopher/coyote crossover gun. There are many calibers that will do both, but there is always a trade off with it either being too much for gophers (debatable 
), or not enough for coyotes.
I have a .17Hornet and I can't think of a better gopher getter! You can shoot it all day long and not get fatigued, it's cheap to reload for (700 rounds per pound of gunpowder!), and in my 527 at least, it is ridiculously accurate! I've shot a coyote with it, it died....I have since purchased a .223 and most recently a .220Swift! <----------- If you want to stay in the .17-.22cal range and you want some of the best coyote medicine get that! You could get a .22-250 if you want but......well....I'll skip
I have no personal experience with the .204 but it is a stellar round for sure and seems to be decently fur friendly loaded right. The big question is what are you going to be out shooting more often? Gophers or coyotes?
), or not enough for coyotes.I have a .17Hornet and I can't think of a better gopher getter! You can shoot it all day long and not get fatigued, it's cheap to reload for (700 rounds per pound of gunpowder!), and in my 527 at least, it is ridiculously accurate! I've shot a coyote with it, it died....I have since purchased a .223 and most recently a .220Swift! <----------- If you want to stay in the .17-.22cal range and you want some of the best coyote medicine get that! You could get a .22-250 if you want but......well....I'll skip
I have no personal experience with the .204 but it is a stellar round for sure and seems to be decently fur friendly loaded right. The big question is what are you going to be out shooting more often? Gophers or coyotes?
I just recently acquired a new Savage 25 LTWT Varminter in 17 Hornet. I expect I will do some coyote hunting with it, but likely will use it more on groundhogs. However, I expect that in general I'll be using it more at the range and for long range plinking at friends' places than for serious high frequency varminting.
I don't think there's any doubt that the .204 would be a superior cartridge for coyotes; the bullets are heavier. Here are the factors that I considered when choosing the 17 over the 204:
- barrel life will be significantly longer than for the 204
- cost to reload and report (that is how loud it is) will be less
- I have a sentimental affinity with that tiny little hornet case; I had a 22H years ago and always loved it. It's just so darn cute.
- I expect that 17 cal bullets and hornet brass will always be available (the 17H AI goes back a long, long ways), where I could see the .204 fading into oblivion in the future as a possibility; it's a terrific cartridge, but a lot of terrific cartridges have faded away over the years
Downsides to the 17H:
- it's not a true long range cartridge; this is not a deal breaker for me as I'm not a big fan of the notion of shooting at living creatures much beyond 300 yards in general, whether they're little or big critters.
- I expect loading those tiny little bullets into brass will present it's own challenges
- I'll have to limit my coyote shooting to headshots at over 100yds or so, based on other peoples' experience. No problem, I wouldn't try to take a coyote over 200yds with this little cartridge and the accuracy is certainly there for reliable headshots (or clean misses) out to that distance.
So I'd encourage you to try to be clinical about how you'll most typically use your new varminter and make your decision based on that; in either case you'll end up with a sweet shootin' rifle. Good luck.
I don't think there's any doubt that the .204 would be a superior cartridge for coyotes; the bullets are heavier. Here are the factors that I considered when choosing the 17 over the 204:
- barrel life will be significantly longer than for the 204
- cost to reload and report (that is how loud it is) will be less
- I have a sentimental affinity with that tiny little hornet case; I had a 22H years ago and always loved it. It's just so darn cute.
- I expect that 17 cal bullets and hornet brass will always be available (the 17H AI goes back a long, long ways), where I could see the .204 fading into oblivion in the future as a possibility; it's a terrific cartridge, but a lot of terrific cartridges have faded away over the years
Downsides to the 17H:
- it's not a true long range cartridge; this is not a deal breaker for me as I'm not a big fan of the notion of shooting at living creatures much beyond 300 yards in general, whether they're little or big critters.
- I expect loading those tiny little bullets into brass will present it's own challenges
- I'll have to limit my coyote shooting to headshots at over 100yds or so, based on other peoples' experience. No problem, I wouldn't try to take a coyote over 200yds with this little cartridge and the accuracy is certainly there for reliable headshots (or clean misses) out to that distance.
So I'd encourage you to try to be clinical about how you'll most typically use your new varminter and make your decision based on that; in either case you'll end up with a sweet shootin' rifle. Good luck.
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Do your reload?
Can you get components if you do?
I have 204 Ruger on the shelf at work - haven't been able to source 17 Hornet in over 2 years.
My point being, before you jump on a caliber make sure you can "feed it".
Both of these are "less mainstream" - there is more than a few guys on this forum with 6.5 Creedmoor "paper weights" because at the moment they are having a hard time sourcing brass or factory loads.
A 22-250 or 223 maybe isn't what the cool kids shoot, but you can get ammo for them "everywhere".
Can you get components if you do?
I have 204 Ruger on the shelf at work - haven't been able to source 17 Hornet in over 2 years.
My point being, before you jump on a caliber make sure you can "feed it".
Both of these are "less mainstream" - there is more than a few guys on this forum with 6.5 Creedmoor "paper weights" because at the moment they are having a hard time sourcing brass or factory loads.
A 22-250 or 223 maybe isn't what the cool kids shoot, but you can get ammo for them "everywhere".
I can walk into the local stores and purchase brass, bullets and loaded 17hornet ammunition at pretty much all of them.
Seriously I have had no problem whatsoever obtaining all the Creedmoor brass I want / need, search the 'web.
I do totally agree regarding the 223, mine have put tons of gophers away in the Summers and lots of Coyote fur to the buyers over the years..
The only issue that I have with the 17 Hornet, is the same issue that I have with the Creedmoor, and that is absence of high quality factory brass. But it appears that most of the issues with the earlier 17 Hornet brass have been addressed.
.204 with out a doubt. Factory 32 grs at over 4200 fps is jaw dropping in a gopher patch and handloaded 35 gr Bergers are the perfect balance of speed, energy and fur preservation for coyotes. If you are shooting real high volumes of gophers...bring a 22 LR for close work and the .204 when you need to see some red mist and body parts flying 8 feet in the air.
That being said I really would like a 17 hornet as well.
That being said I really would like a 17 hornet as well.
Where do you live? How much/how many shots do you plan to shoot. We shoot close to 7000 rd in 1 week. I can not afford to do that with many cartridges. I used 22lr for most and a 22 hornet for S&G. I still think that here, in the open farm land a 243 is the answer to coyotes. Of the 2 you listed the 204 has more energy so the coyote kills will be cleaner. JMHO
