.17hmr making it's mark

[kip270]

Popped out this evening for a stroll with the .17hmr.

Went up the farm on Sunday with the .22rim/.17hmr and the .270 for a zeroing session, and after a few hours i was happy with all three rifle's.

The .22 spot on at 50yards, the .17hmr spot on at 100yards and the .270 at 100yards. Hopefully going stalking for Fallow Bucks on thur/fri (will let you know how i get on).

So today was the .17hmr's turn to show what she can do. After stalking along a few hedgerows, i didn't see any rabbits at all!! Very strange.

It was getting late , so i headed back to the farm having not seen any Varmints at all??? I was walking down the lane to the farm when i stopped and scanned a field that has not long been cut for silage, then i spotted two bunnies, at roughly 250 yards, so i thought i'll close the gap and see how we can do. I headed up to the hedgerow so i could make a decent stalk, the bunnies were in sight all the time, and took no real notice of me at all. Then i stopped got out my rangefinder and pinged the first one, 101 yards, so the shot was on. I got out my polecat bi-pod and attached it to my rifle, led down and settled on the bunny, but the grass was a bit longer than i thought and i could only see the top of the rabbits back. I settled the cross-hairs and the squeeked with my lips, the bunny sat up to see what was going on, BIG MISTAKE, i was on aim in a split second and squeezed off my shot, "Thwack" a bunny in the bag, then i could see another one sat up looking to see what was going on, i settled on the second "Thwack" bunny number two in the bag, then to my surprise another bunny was sat out as well?? I settled the cross-hairs on it and squeezed off my third shot "Thwack" a third bunny in the bag, i was well chuffed with the .17hmr.

Heading up to pick them up i came to the first one, 101 yards, the second was 103 yards and the third was 105 yards, and all taken in less than a minute.

I was well chuffed, 3 bunnies for 3 shots

 

Just proves how effective the .17hmr is, and by having a silencer on makes all the difference.

 

 

(sorry no pics, forgot my cam and my mobile was at home!!!!!)

[6mmBR]

The .17 HMR is a deadly little round , good luck with your stalking later in the week.

Cheers

Dave

[Guest 308Panther]

I was very impressed with my .17 HMR.

So far I have managed to drop Squirrels from 30 to 120 yrds

Blackbirds from 80 to 120 yrds...A few feral cats and a coon..

Squirrels shot at 70 yrds are hit hard enough to do horizontal cartwheels off the deadfall.

and need to be headshot as they just turn into a gooie mess...it really opens them up.

and even at 120 yrds it still knocked the one off 8 ft off the deadfall.

Blackbirds hit at 100 yrds can get cut in half.

 

308Panther

[6mmBR]

Is this politically correct .308P

*I was very impressed with my .17 HMR.

So far I have managed to drop Squirrels from 30 to 120 yrds

Blackbirds from 80 to 120 yrds...A few feral cats and a coon.."

How many ft/lbs do you need for one of them

Sorry I couldn't resist the double meaning

Dave

[Guest varmartin]

I had a giggle , but i think it was a `Raccoon`, not a tycoon or a baracoon or indeed a cacoon.

[Guest 308Panther]

Yes,it was indeed a Raacoon.

You need a very special license to shoot the other kind of Coon..

and then I was told its best to wait till they get in so there was no

question....I understand the head is very thick skulled so its best

for a chest shot.... .45acp is supposed to be very good at droppin

these...I am not sure of the amount of ft/lbs needed but I understand

bein hit from a .45acp is the equivalent of bein hit by a cement truck.

Thank God I dont live in the war zone anymore....

That was a target rich enviroment....

 

Besides....bullets arent prejudiced

so it would be pc...

 

308Panther

[6mmBR]

Yes,it was indeed a Raacoon.

You need a very special license to shoot the other kind of Coon..

and then I was told its best to wait till they get in so there was no

question....I understand the head is very thick skulled so its best

for a chest shot.... .45acp is supposed to be very good at droppin

these...I am not sure of the amount of ft/lbs needed but I understand

bein hit from a .45acp is the equivalent of bein hit by a cement truck.

Thank God I dont live in the war zone anymore....

That was a target rich enviroment....

 

Besides....bullets arent prejudiced

so it would be pc...

 

308Panther

A very witty reply

In the UK we had the .455 Webley service revolver very similar to the .45ACP power wise they used to call that round the W*g Stopper

Cheers

Dave.

[Guest 308Panther]

In the UK we had the .455 Webley service revolver very similar to the .45ACP power wise they used to call that round the W*g Stopper

Dave.

 

Many years ago I had a chance to "buy" one...The guy was willing to trade it to the bike shop for some repairs...and I would have bought it and what ever the price was,the money was to go to the guys service bill.It was considered a private transaction so no background checks or registration would have been required. The reason I didnt purchase the weapon was it did not have the original cylinder installed in it....and the timing of the cylinder was way out of wack, and the chamber of each round was off by more then 3/4 ths to the barrel.....I dont remember the differance of the serial number of the frame to the serial number of the cylinder...but it was a very wide range.The only reason I would have bought it would have been as curio rather than a historical piece or a shooter.The Webley Service Revolver has quite a bit of history to it....and is a rather unique piece.And I think the Canadian Royal Mounted Police carried these as well?

Ammo was the least of my concerns,as I think there is some factory stuff left,and it was easy to modify brass for it...what the casings needed I have long forgot. Modifying the cylinder to accept .45 acp and half moon clips seems to ring a bell tho.

 

But since alot of work was required to straighten this one out...if it were even possible since it was so far off...I passed on it. Still...If a better one were to come my way...who knows...I may snag it up.

 

308Panther

[Andrew]

Nasty talk.

 

Back to the 17HMR. Here in the States the bloom is slowly coming off of the HMR's rose. It got hyped too hard and too fast as a "Varmint" cartridge and shooters are learning that it isn't. I have been shooting the HMR since it first hit the shelves and have found it lacking past ranges where just about any beefy rim fire round would kill cleanly. On ground squirrels down on the Baja Mexico border it was deadly but when the game got larger and the distances farther, it began to fall short. On my return to Montana I attempted to shoot prairiedogs with it but past 100 yards, it just left them crabbing around. The 22WMR loaded with the hot Federal and CCI 30 grain loads (clocking an honest 2300+ ft/sec) is the superior killer. At 90 yards a 17HMR will dump a cotton tail rabbit but the 30 grain WMR round will cut it in half.

 

My experiences are shared by a number of shooters I know here in varmint country. We all like the 17HMR for it's accuracy. (I have three of them, myself) But the WMR is proving itself the better killer.

 

But hell. It's all Moot: With the price of 22 WMR ammo hitting all time highs it is actually cheaper for me to load 22 Hornet so both of the rimfire mags are seeing limited use these days! ~Andrew

[6mmBR]

I've just switched from the HMR to a .221 Fireball. Its early days yet, but is certainly no more noisy than the HMR with a mod on and accuracy is one par but I'm still working up a load.

Cheers

Dave

[Andrew]

Dave: I think you'll come to like that .221 FB. Years back I had the Remington XP-100 in both fireball and 7mm BR. The Fireball was the best of the two for pure shooting fun, though the BR was hell on New Mexico Jackrabbits at 200 yards. Oddly, both seemed equally accurate from a handgun but that 7mm bullet carried farther. ~Andrew

[6mmBR]

Cheers Andrew, I picked up a Rem 700 LVSF in place of my HMR.

The HMR was fine when you could get a tidy batch of ammo or get any at all as supplies have a tendancy to dry up. I got fed up of being beholden to the quality control of massed produced ammo.

I wish you could of bought primed HMR cases and reloaded them yourself.

I know the fireball is quite a bit more powerful than the HMR but trajectories are similar and at least I can control the quality of my ammo, unlike the HMR and once you have the brass your not really going to be stuck for ammo.

Cheers

Dave

[Andrew]

Dave: (choke! ) The trajectories are similar?? Dear Boy! You need to some over here for a reloading lesson! With a 40 grain Speer (bc .140 @ 3K) launched at 3300 ft/sec the drop at 200 yards is a mere 3.9" when you have a 100 yard zero! and it arrives at 200 with 375 ft/lbs energy! (compared to the 17's 68 ft/lbs. and a 9" drop) The 17HMR doesn't even get Honorable Mention when compared to the .221FB! Find some Hodgdon's "Lil Gun" powder. High velocity, low pressure.

 

Have fun! ~Andrew

[6mmBR]

I've got Lil gun, sadly already tried 40 grain V max and 40 grain Bergers this rifle sadly doesn't like them.

Moved on to 52 Sierras and Bergers which are doing a more sedate 2600fps but accuracy is much better.

I know you can obtain high velocities with this cartridge, but that was not my out set with this cartridge. If I want mega velocities I have my .22-250 Ackley doing 4030fps

I want the Fireball as a HMR replacement that I can load down a wee bit to keep it quiet with a moderator so I can use it on a few noise sensitive farms and with my night vision scope, basically doing the job of my old HMR but with more dependable and accurate ammo.

If you care to run a 52 Sierra @ 2600fps through a ballistic calculator you will find it has around a 6" drop as the HMR had a 9" at 200yds. The trajectories are similar enough out to 200yds to make no difference for my hold overs using my night vision as most shots are in the 80-120 yard bracket. My use of the rifle is hence totally different, I have to agree that it is a flat cartridge if thats what you want it to be, but in this case it is not.

Dave

[Andrew]

Too bad. What I was getting at with the "HV. LP" comment was that you get practical velocities with low pressures... not implying that the cartridge was a hi vel round.

 

I have had spotty luck with Remington rifles of any grade so I couldn't help you there. Maybe you should try a different bullet? I tried a few "high grade" 40 grain bullets through my 218 Bee and got mediocre accuracy. Switched to plain-jane Sierra 40 grain HP's and got half minute. Rifles are endearingly (maddeningly) funny in their preferences. Both my and my son's CZ Hornet love the Hornady 35 grain V-Max. They also love the 33 grain V-Max. Both shoot identically sized groups with either. In a cost cutting move I tried Winchester 46 grain HP from my CZ. At 2800+ they shoot about 5/8 to 3/4 MOA which is about twice the size of the Hornady bullets but still, very acceptable for 200 yard prairiedogs. I loaded 10 test rounds for my son and he got 1.5 MOA from his CZ! While I suspect he may have unconsciously jaundiced the test by his absolute faith in the V-Max and his unwillingness to switch the "zero" on his scope, there was no denying that the round shot much worse from his CZ than mine; two rifles that have behaved identically with every load since they were purchased! You just never know...

 

Good luck with the FB! ~Andrew

 

PS: For you folks at the more distant end of the food chain. US bullet prices just took another huge hike this week. The 35 grain V-Max I was paying $11/100 US for last summer are now up to $18/100. Stock up.

[6mmBR]

PS: For you folks at the more distant end of the food chain. US bullet prices just took another huge hike this week. The 35 grain V-Max I was paying $11/100 US for last summer are now up to $18/100. Stock up.

Cheers, I'll try some Noslers when I get to the Midland Game Fair.

Bullet prices are sneaking up here in the UK as well, as you say its time to squirel some away.

Also due to US military contracts Federal primers are like rocking horse sh*t.

Cheers

Dave

[6mmBR]

Yes,it was indeed a Raacoon.

You need a very special license to shoot the other kind of Coon..

and then I was told its best to wait till they get in so there was no

question....I understand the head is very thick skulled so its best

for a chest shot.... .45acp is supposed to be very good at droppin

these...I am not sure of the amount of ft/lbs needed but I understand

bein hit from a .45acp is the equivalent of bein hit by a cement truck.

Thank God I dont live in the war zone anymore....

That was a target rich enviroment....

 

Besides....bullets arent prejudiced

so it would be pc...

 

308Panther

Seems according to this email you have problems with them in the USA, 308P

 

>> Subject: Police Dogs

>>

>> "CHIEF WARREN RILEY OF THE NEW ORLEANS

>> POLICE DEPARTMENT, ANNOUNCED THIS MORNING THAT ALL

>> GERMAN SHEPHERD POLICE DOGS WILL BE REPLACED BY COON

>> DOGS, DUE TO THE FACT THE CITY IS NOT HAVING ANY

>> PROBLEMS WITH GERMANS".

>>

Cheers

Dave

[Guest 308Panther]

Yup...

 

and a few other varmints as well.

Down there the carjackings got so bad....I am not kidding....The State of Luisianna

enacted a law that gives the car owner a bit more "victims rights".

They can now legally shoot to kill if their car is being carjacked.

 

Everytime I inform my boss I need off for the Spring and Fall turkey seasons,I get the same

answer..."You dont need to go up North to shoot Turkeys,.....We have a whole city full."

But he signs my time off slip anyway.

 

Got this bugger Sunday night,..... 17 HMR CZ 452A one and done.

That is the entrance hole by the left ear.

The more I shoot it the more impressed with it I get.

That thing has dropped quite a few critters in the couple years

I have had it now.....

The only times I ve needed to take a second shot were the times

I missed on the first shot.

If I were to feel the need to "upgrade" to a better varmint caliber

I would most likely go for a 25-06.....

the fireballs,.204 do nothing for me...and with the versatility of the

22-250 that would be my second choice for an upgrade caliber.

 

308Panther

 

 

 

[Guest varmartin]

Looks like my mates ferret :D

 

Martin

[Guest 308Panther]

Looks like my mates ferret

 

Martin

 

Well....If he asks...It was delicious.

 

 

308Panther

[Guest varmartin]

On a skewer with paprika and lemon grass....yummm

 

Martin

[Guest 308Panther]

Nothing quite that fancy ........These are very greasy so its more like

drowning in BBQ sauce...Get it while its hot!!!

 

308Panther