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17hmr or 22wmr


pistolgrip
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Been toying with the idea of getting my fac for years but have only enough funds for one rifle, so which to opt for I've shot .22lr and 223 and can see their own advantages, but to muddy the water recently shoot a 17hmr and loved it, my problem is I've been told for my type of shooting rabbit, fox, hare etc that a .22wmr would be better and finding that Hornady now do a 30g vmax wmr round I'm leaning towards the .22wmr, I'm hessident to make a commitment to one calibre or the other never having shot a .22wmr before, has anyone shot or is shooting the two calibres, got any advice on which to choose, you know ammo cost, max range, wind disturbance, wound damage, report, that sort of thing cheers.

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Jusr renewed my FAC in North Wales and officer here said .17hmr or any other rimfire is a big no go for foxes. ( didn't argue the point too much as planning on .223 later on) but might be worth calling your local force and checking is they are happy with .22wmr for fox. There is also the 17 winchester super magnum which is a rimfire but half way between a 17hmr and a 17 hornet, but not yet available here.

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Between .17HMR and .22WMR right now I would struggle to choose.

.17HMR would normally get my vote but no one can ignore the fact that there seems to be a few problems with the quality of ammo and its doing damage.
.22WMR may be where I would lean to right now as it’s not so fashionable and will hit Charles harder; how ever someone once said to me they can be a bit like the .22lr with a tendency to ricochets!

Try both if you can and choose based on your findings and knowledge of the ground you plan to use it over!
Maybe see if there’s anyone in your area with the cals you could invite over to go round your land and advise there thoughts being familiar with the calibres.

 

ATB

 

Matt

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Here's my experience of the .22WMR, being an ex owner. I bought mine when Ruger first brought out their rifle for the round, long before the advent of the .17HMR, and I loved it. I fired 40grn soft nosed semi-jacketed hollow points through it and when it hit anything it stayed hit, terminally so. I used it for many years but after buying the .22lr it gathered dust, and when the HMR came along sales and especially resale value of the WMR slumped dramatically.

More of a soft boom than the high pitched crack of the HMR, both will have quarry running for cover even with a mod', but the .17 grn HMR will still be supersonic long after the 40 or 30 grainer WMR has gone subsonic.

Having shot a mates HMR I have to say downrange results are impressive, but would I swap my .22lr for either? Personally, no.

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You don't say what you plan to shoot, I think this would very much influence what I bought.

 

For example, if it was rabbits mainly at typical rabbit distances and included some lambing I wouldn't look any further than a .22 LR. If its fox predominately then you need a fox gun rather than a rimfire.

 

The .17hmr is a mess at the minute IMHO, due to the poor ammo situation, Ive had more rubbish than good stuff in the last 12 months :(

Edited by Alan Maughan
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There lies my main problem, while out I come across rabbit and fox normaly the fox would be dug the minds willing but the bodys weak nowerdays, I tend to shy away from buying a .22lr because of the tendancy to ricochet and was all up for a .22 hornet until I saw the ammo cost, I've seen the damage a 223 makes to a rabbit and as I want to eat it after not drink it thats out of the question, so it comes down to hmr or wmr for the running cost more than anything, the.22lr is very underestimated and if a manufacturer came up with a balistic tipped round then job done, there has been some very interesting comments made here I for one would not hessitate at head shooting a fox sub 100yrds with either 17hmr or 22wmr I know other people have different opinions of which I respect. In the real world I need to get my hands on a .22wmr and try for myself.

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Been toying with the idea of getting my fac for years but have only enough funds for one rifle, so which to opt for I've shot .22lr and 223 and can see their own advantages, but to muddy the water recently shoot a 17hmr and loved it, my problem is I've been told for my type of shooting rabbit, fox, hare etc that a .22wmr would be better and finding that Hornady now do a 30g vmax wmr round I'm leaning towards the .22wmr, I'm hessident to make a commitment to one calibre or the other never having shot a .22wmr before, has anyone shot or is shooting the two calibres, got any advice on which to choose, you know ammo cost, max range, wind disturbance, wound damage, report, that sort of thing cheers.

how long do you expect to only be able to afford one rifle ??

apply for 2 calibre's get the one you want 1st then you have 5 years to get the other you don't have to fill both slots asap

 

colin

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Rimfires aint foxing guns, they are guns that ae handy for foxes under niche conditions. Under these niche conditions .22 LR with subs will do the job. You don't buy .22 Hornet to feed it factory ammo its one to handload for better performance and cost saving to the level of hmr ammo.

 

Wouldn't have another HMR or buy a Mag after owning the .22 Hornet it does all that and so much more like being capable of fox a lot further out, .22lr does all below the hornet ( I shoot about even numbers of rabbit with hornet and .22 LR, but also go out foxing with the hornet over the .243 if it aint too windy I only need be within 200 yards which is a heck of a long way on the lamp in the real world ). Range is more about shooter ability not the gun .22 lr, .17 hmr are pretty much alike on 100 yards as regards wind drift and mags are worse

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I have 22lr and 22WMR.

My 22lr gets most use because it's mainly Rabbits and Squirrels. My FLO will not give rimfire as Foxing rifle but I have AOLQ which my FEO says covers it. Sometimes I set out a bait Rabbit at 80-100yds and whack a Fox with the WMR.

There's one cover where I usually use my WMR because there's a barrel feeder in the middle of it and it's then 125yds to each end of the cover so I can rest my rifle on the barrel and cover the whole plot without moving.

My WMR is not moderated but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. A few weeks ago I was stood on that cover ambushing Rabbits under a red-filter lamp. I turned the lamp on and three bunnies were sat together at 90yds. I dropped all three of them, one after the other, and none of them bolted.

I use Remington 33grn V-Max zeroed at 100yds as the most accurate round and take Rabbits out to 150yds. If there's no wind then 200yds is ok because, with a V-Max round, if it hits then it's down. At that distance it is 18" holdover whereas HMR would be 8"-9"

If you want to eat the Rabbits then it has to be a head shot because the fragmentation is too great on a heart/lung shot.

 

At my last renewal I was going to change my WMR for HMR but then I saw all the problems some people were having with the ammo so I stuck with WMR.

HMR is a necked down WMR cartridge BTW and it seems that the stress induced in the necking down process causes the neck to split.

 

Having said all that, I think there's good reason why HMR is more popular than WMR but I would also say, if Fox is a regular problem then .22lr followed by Hornet is the way to go.

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If you have to just get the one and from the two you mention, having had and used both and as impressed as I am with the HMR for rabbit, I'd say the WMR. Use the 30gr for rabbit and something like the RWS 40 or, preferably - dependent upon the most accurate - the Federal 50, for Fox. You will have about an extra 1" drift from the LR and the HMR in a 10mph cross wind at 100 yards. If you hit a brick wall as regards this for fox - you shouldn't if you specify 'short range' - and/or you know that you're going to get into a mentoring situation - again, you shouldn't for rimfire but who knows now-a-days - then get a Hornet and have done with it.

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I would go WMR all day long . Imho its a cracking little round . Have dispatched a lot of foxes out 100 yrds in perfect conditions. And hares out to 150 yrds . Once you have taken the time to learn the characteristics of this little round you will understand . I had a reflex mod on mine and i can say without doubt it was a true "tack driver "

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Jusr renewed my FAC in North Wales and officer here said .17hmr or any other rimfire is a big no go for foxes. ( didn't argue the point too much as planning on .223 later on) but might be worth calling your local force and checking is they are happy with .22wmr for fox. There is also the 17 winchester super magnum which is a rimfire but half way between a 17hmr and a 17 hornet, but not yet available here.

 

Comments as above are more than a little unfortunate, but apparently quite widespread.

 

Perhaps the regions should read the new Home Office Guide which makes it very clear than both HMR and WMR are suitable for fox, as is .22lr in the right situation.

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All food for thought and a friend has told me he'll load for me if I decide to go for the .22 hornet, but sorry to pick your brains again, whats the 17 hornet like, nobody I know has had the chance to shoot one. Me old mukker told me to stop pussyfooting around and buy a 270 but he's mad as a mongoose.

 

 

I haven't shot the .17 but most report a lot more carcass damage and not the better one of the two for foxes. The handloaded .22 Hornet has about as much Ommph as a bunny can take.

 

Some ballistic facts using a 45 grn sierra hornet bullet at 2900 fps in my gun

 

point and shoot on a bunnies head to 160 when using a 130 zero

Around half the windage of a HMR at 100 yards (massively less further out)

2 MOA correction @ 200 yards 5.56 MOA 10 mph FV wind

More energy at 200 than the HMR has at its muzzle

With a T12 Scout its quieter than my HMR was with a SAK

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.270 may be a little bit big for rabbits :)

 

I have a .17 hmr which I love and have had very good results with. I tend to avoid shooting foxes with it tending to use my .243, though I have shot a few within sensible ranges.

 

I have had ammo issues with one bullet heading being sent slightly up the barrel, fortunately I checked after what I thought was a misfire so was able to get the bullet out with a cleaning rod.

 

A friend of mine as a 17 hornet and has had some great results. As long as you head shoot the rabbits they are still good to eat, though this is often true with the .17 hmr as well.

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