Not Great performance with 17 HHM

J

JasonYuke

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I know a fluke here and there happens but have shot a wack og ground hogs on the farm this season, i went with what shot best in my gun which is the CCI 17gr i think the vmax bullet load.

todays ground hog was the poorest performer so far. Bigger hog at 70 yards straight on was not standing, smacked him right under the chin in the chest, bugger started to dragging himself off, it took 3 more finishers..

Been having issues with teh 17 getting really good clean kills this year, and not sure why?

in the past i have not had this issue

just food for thought !
 
Another member also from bantario was having the same issues with them. He has since moved to a 22 mag and no more issues.
Also you would get more responses in the rimfire section I would think
 
I am presuming you are referring to the 17 HMR? I use mine religiously and other than compensating for wind drift...I have had no issues. Last weekend had a field full of little carcasses opened wide from the bullet. Many were dead and they did not know it. Mind you, I'm referring to the rodent known as a gopher.

If you want a quick kill, since the groundhog is a larger rodent, you may want to go into a larger rifle such as a 17 Fireball, a 204 Ruger or a 223 with 40 grain bullets. A 22 magnum is good too. The 223 has cheaper ammo (relative to centerfire ammo).
 
Try the 20gr Hornady XTP, it's a more traditional jacketed hollow point and may offer better penetration and performance on bigger ground hogs.
 
I had lots of gophers get down the hole too, so I switched it out for a 22 mag.

Even a 22 with stingers was working better for me than my 17hmr?
 
I was just out this sunday shooting gophers with the .17 hmr. buddy had the same and was having no problems killin those little suckers with 1 shot. in fact 3 diiferent times i gotten 2 kills with one bullet. at the end of the day we even tried a few at 150 yards and got a couple. and that was with the .17 grain bullets by hornaday
 
I've had the same experience, with gophers. Other than at close-ish ranges, the terminal ballistics of the HMR is ho-hum. Even a 22WMR is noticeably better, and the 22 Hornet (which can be fired for approximately the same price, if you reload) is in a whole 'nuther league. I therefore sold my HMR a few years back
 
Pop said:
Try the 20gr Hornady XTP, it's a more traditional jacketed hollow point and may offer better penetration and performance on bigger ground hogs.
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X 2 .......I shoot a marlin xt 17, it seems to like the 20gr jhp the best, and in my experiance this is also the round the varmints like least. although if the hogs are super tough you could always switch out to the .338 Lapua.:D
 
I am not sure if they changed something in the ammo would doubt it?

if it would have been a poor shots i could understand, but as soon as you break the 75-100 y mark it seens to fall off pretty drastic.

yes, 222, 223, and my 220 swift are heading to the range for a sight in.

I liked the 17 hmr just because of lack of noise and on smaller yet safe farm country, but i did not realize the lack of performance with a little distance.

at 20 yards you put a hole through them , at 100 well its been discussed
 
Never had a problem with the 17 hmr, killed a lot of bigger rodents than groundhogs as well.
I have yet to need a follow up shot with the hmr but for the bigger rodents i use the speer tnt hollow points, i find them to be much more devastating than the v max bullets.
 
Its sure a lot more accurate for me at 100 yards than is 22LR. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to shoot it at anything but paper so far.
 
JasonYuke said:
I liked the 17 hmr just because of lack of noise and on smaller yet safe farm country, but i did not realize the lack of performance with a little distance.

at 20 yards you put a hole through them , at 100 well its been discussed
Click to expand...

Is it that much better with respect to noise and safety than a .22 Win Mag? The latter has much more energy and momentum, and the difference in trajectory at most normal ranges shouldn't be a factor.
 
I use a .17 HM2 on gophers with excellent performance. I much prefer the little cartridge for rim fire shooting. For greater distances on larger varmints I prefer a small center fire.
 
crazydave said:
Never had a problem with the 17 hmr, killed a lot of bigger rodents than groundhogs as well.
I have yet to need a follow up shot with the hmr but for the bigger rodents i use the speer tnt hollow points, i find them to be much more devastating than the v max bullets.
Click to expand...

I have found that the tnt hp work amazing on gophers. It opens then up real good like. The vmax I will no longer buy after using the tnt.
 
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