.17 HMR vs .22 WMR

samthe man

Well lads im thinking about a new rimfire this year. Have a .22 WMR but I am just wondering about the .17 HMR as a rabbit/fox round or should I stick with the tried, tested and trusted .22 WMR. Its a calibre I really enjoy shooting, but if the .17 is a better round, why not move on?? Just some critera : Accuracy, Range and Price compared with the 22 WMR. Will welcome all advise, espically from those who have used both rounds or have made the switch. P.S no sales pitchs please:)

garv123

a mod will do a better job on the hmr from what i gather from all the lads on here giving their opinions
the hmr has less bullet drop.
helpful chart to show it.


i dont no can you but i have never seen vmax bullets for the 22wmr.

ive used the wmr a lot and i really like it though. ive never fired a hmr.
ammo for the hmr is also a few euros more.16 - 20 quid for a v-max box is what people seem to pay
still its frowned upon to shoot foxes with both out past 100 yards ish.

meathstevie

.17 hmr is probably a little bit more sensitive to wind drift.

declan1980

meathstevie wrote: »

.17 hmr is probably a little bit more sensitive to wind drift.

actually no it isnt. if you compare the federal 17gr v-max hmr round to any of their 22wmr rounds you'll see that the 17hmr has far less wind drift than any of their 22wmr loads

bunny shooter

garv123 wrote: »

a mod will do a better job on the hmr from what i gather from all the lads on here giving their opinions.

Doubt it, higher velocities on 17 therefore louder, even with moddy

garv123 wrote: »

i dont no can you but i have never seen vmax bullets for the 22wmr.

Remmington do a 33 grain vmax for magnum. Very fast & flat

garv123 wrote: »

still its frowned upon to shoot foxes with both out past 100 yards ish.

If you can kill them cleanly 99% of the time then how can they frown upon it? The thing is can you kill foxes cleanly past 100 yards with it? if you can who cares who frowns upon it?

meathstevie wrote: »

.17 hmr is probably a little bit more sensitive to wind drift.

In the real world, not on paper, it is way more sensitive to wind than 22 WMR

garv123

bunny shooter wrote: »

Doubt it, higher velocities on 17 therefore louder, even with moddy



Remmington do a 33 grain vmax for magnum. Very fast & flat



If you can kill them cleanly 99% of the time then how can they frown upon it? The thing is can you kill foxes cleanly past 100 yards with it? if you can who cares who frowns upon it?



In the real world, not on paper, it is way more sensitive to wind than 22 WMR

Going from what the majority on here say, the .22magnum is no good with a mod on it. people on here have said they tried it and taken it off because it was no good. this isnt a complaint about the hmr


i know that and ive seen foxes killed out past that range that dropped on the spot. i think the .22mag is a great round and does work well on foxes, other people just have serious problems with rim fires for foxes.

samthe man

Well lads, Ive reopened a can of worms here I think. Seems the that both rounds are neck and neck at the minute. keep the posts coming. the .17 HMR is faster, and speed kills as the saying goes!! Intresting about the mod/ silancer as I would be looking for one on the new rifle.

declan1980

bunny shooter wrote: »

In the real world, not on paper, it is way more sensitive to wind than 22 WMR

in the real world my old cz 452 varmint 17hmr matched the "on paper" ballistics to 0.5 of an inch.
i never had the opportunity to compare it to a .22wmr, but chances are that if my rifle proved the ballistic calculator right, then a .22wmr would too;)

samthe man

good man declan, thanks what im talking bout, real world ballitics. Are you happy with your .17 HMR. is it as go as all the magizines and salemen say it is? Hate to sound suspisous,but its my cash and advise is free.want as much as I can get

declan1980

samthe man wrote: »

good man declan, thanks what im talking bout, real world ballitics. Are you happy with your .17 HMR. is it as go as all the magizines and salemen say it is? Hate to sound suspisous,but its my cash and advise is free.want as much as I can get

i was very happy with it. i had a simmons pro-hunter 6-24x44 scope with moa turrets and a sak mod on it. i put in the factory data into jbm and the rifle consistently shot 0.75 moa groups with elevation and windage within 0.5 moa of the calculated drop chart. combined with a range finder and a caldwell wind wizard i rarely missed a bunny
i have since traded it in against a tikka .223.
i was very sorry to let it go, as it was a serious rabbit rifle. i took rabbits and crows out to 200 yards, and foxes out to 135 with head shots, and 90 yards with body shots.
i only traded it because i couldn't afford to put in an alarm as the tikka would have been the fourth gun in the house.
i actually miss it:(

zlezlius

17 HMR CZ 452 Varmint foxes, one shot at about 50 yard, the other 100 yard. Bouth shot within 5 minutes in the same field after a single shot on each. I think proper placed 17 HMr shot will do the job up to 150 yards-no bother. I was doing a lot of research at the time before I got my first rifle in HMR. It is definately in the lead within rimfires.

Glensman

No way is it worth the hassle of swapping.
I can't access it from work, but if you google 'Chuck hawks 17hmr V 22 mag' you'll get a good article.

He basically sums up by saying the WMR is slightly better but there's very little in it...

WMR ammo is normally a fair bit cheaper, if you buy WMR ammo at the price of HMR ammo then it will match it in accuracy. A lot of people aren't comparing like with like when they say the WMR is not as accurate, they are often using superior HMR ammo...

tfox

I agree with Glensman, they are so close balistically that its not worth the paperwork and loss you'll make trading in your WMR for it to be worthwhile, unless your just looking for an excuse to get a new rifle

I'm a HMR guy through and through. 17gr VMax, €15 a box, foxes out to 150, corvids out to 200 and beyond !! But youll do all that with a WMR too :rolleyes:

Only real difference in my opinion between the 2 is that you can get heavier rounds for the WMR.

kildare.17hmr

Glensman wrote: »

No way is it worth the hassle of swapping.
I can't access it from work, but if you google 'Chuck hawks 17hmr V 22 mag' you'll get a good article.

He basically sums up by saying the WMR is slightly better but there's very little in it...

WMR ammo is normally a fair bit cheaper, if you buy WMR ammo at the price of HMR ammo then it will match it in accuracy. A lot of people aren't comparing like with like when they say the WMR is not as accurate, they are often using superior HMR ammo...

He actually sums it up by saying the WMR is the one to go for if most of your shooting is below 100 yards and the HMR if most is past 100 yards.

Never had a problem shooting foxes with my hmr, started using the 20gr horndy lately for foxes and they hit a fair bit harder than the 17gr. i cant afford a 2nd rifle at the moment and shoot alot of rabbits as well as foxes so the hmr suits me fine for now, if it was mainly foxes i was going for id trade up to a 223. love my hmr tho and hope to ba able to keep it when ever i can afford another rifle. i have shot foxes passed 150 with mine and not had a problem and the last one was 180 passes last weekend with a 20gr and he dropped on the spot. shot rabbits at 200 yards and a crow at 280 passes last week too, my furthest kill shot with it i think so far

Spunk84

Have to get me some of those 20g for my yoke kildare,sounds like their going well. Just get down to McCarthys when your women is not there:D is the problem LOL

bunny shooter

garv123 wrote: »

Going from what the majority on here say, the .22magnum is no good with a mod on it. people on here have said they tried it and taken it off because it was no good. this isnt a complaint about the hmr..............

Mods on either 17 hmr or 22 wmr and they are still noisy. The supersonic crack of both bullets is still there. If noise is a consideration get a 22lr with subs

tfox

bunny shooter wrote: »

Mods on either 17 hmr or 22 wmr and they are still noisy. The supersonic crack of both bullets is still there. If noise is a consideration get a 22lr with subs

Ah yeah ya never get rid of the crack but I dont think thay seem to notice it as much as the bang. I know when I got a mod for my HMR I managed a lot more follow up shots at the rabbits sitting next to the one I had just first

samthe man

Thanks to all who gave advice both for and against the .17 HMR. But i went and bought a CZ thumbhole .17 HMR. Lovly bit of kit. Got her zeroed in on monday and went out and pluged a few bunnies.Nearist was about 50/60 yars and the long shot was about 143 paces. Im very impressed with how flat it is.
Special thanks to Sean Hardings of Stakelums Rod and Gun in Thurles for letting me buy this fine instrument;).
' This is my rifle, there are many like it, but this one is mine''