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dazza
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I was thinking of applying for a rifle for fox control. After speaking to PSNI firearms they said they would only accept either the 22 hornet or the 17 rem. What would you guys recommend for a first foxing rifle?

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I was thinking of applying for a rifle for fox control. After speaking to PSNI firearms they said they would only accept either the 22 hornet or the 17 rem. What would you guys recommend for a first foxing rifle?

 

hornet

 

the .17 is a fast little round, but i would imagine (as have never fired or used this round in the field) that it will suffer from simply causing surface wounds like the .204 can. As it uses a very light projectile.

 

.222 or .223 would be far better choices. They give you an extra 100 yards effective range over the hornet (180ish yards max) and would be more inherantly accurate (not to say the hornet is inaccurate as it isnt, its just harder to get to shoot straight) ammo/reloading components are typically expensive as they are harder to come by, and its a fidley load to reload (should you ever get the chance)

 

Having said this i love the round and with a pinch of lilgun, rem brass/primers, and a 35grain vmax, its the buisness. It also moderates very nicely.

 

Never the less the practical choice keeping it smallish is .222 or .223, bigger than that, .243 .22-250.

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I was thinking of applying for a rifle for fox control. After speaking to PSNI firearms they said they would only accept either the 22 hornet or the 17 rem. What would you guys recommend for a first foxing rifle?

 

hornet

 

the .17 is a fast little round, but i would imagine (as have never fired or used this round in the field) that it will suffer from simply causing surface wounds like the .204 can. As it uses a very light projectile.

 

.222 or .223 would be far better choices. They give you an extra 100 yards effective range over the hornet (180ish yards max) and would be more inherantly accurate (not to say the hornet is inaccurate as it isnt, its just harder to get to shoot straight) ammo/reloading components are typically expensive as they are harder to come by, and its a fidley load to reload (should you ever get the chance)

 

Having said this i love the round and with a pinch of lilgun, rem brass/primers, and a 35grain vmax, its the buisness. It also moderates very nicely.

 

Never the less the practical choice keeping it smallish is .222 or .223, bigger than that, .243 .22-250.

 

Dunganick

 

Did you not read the post "only accept .17 or .22 hornet"

 

Dazza

 

Hornet is teh way I would go mate I reckon thats accounted for more foxes than a .17 and like Dunganick says it can and will shoot really well and personally I think it's beeter for when the breeze is up a bit.

 

Leon

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I would also advise against the .17Rem as it is very suseptabel to any wind. As someone else has said something in the area of .222 or .223 would be ideal and I am surpised that they are prepared to give you a .17Rem with it's 4000 fps but not a .222. Are you sure they are not suggesting a .17HMR or a Hornet, if so then go Hornet but you will need to keep the distances down and ensure carefull placement.

 

You might wish to talk to BASC Firearms dept about this if you are a member, they will support you all the way if you have a fair case. A police internal report some time ago suggested that .243 was the ideal fox caliber.

 

A

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Hopefully this will go to the Remington ballistics page, there's a section near the bottom of that page where you can compare three seperate calibres including .17REM and .22 Hornet.

 

Not sure who else makes .17REM ammo so I don't have any other links.

 

If I were getting one of those two calibres, based purely on the Remington information I'd get the .17REM.

 

I shot Conors .17REM, he's compared it to .223 side by side, they're actually louder than .223. It's a sharper noise, best way I can describe it.

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Dunganick

 

Did you not read the post "only accept .17 or .22 hornet"

 

I did, im just saying that i would be tempted to put up a fight and try and get the .222 as its a far more suitable round.

 

If its been cleared for 17 rem i would imagine it will be cleared for .222, afterall we are talking about pretty much the same thing. Just one with a smaller/lighter projectile going alot faster.

 

Having said which, N/ireland is renound for being a pain to get what you want, so there might be other laws in play we dont know about.

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In the email they sent me they said they would grant me either 17REM or 22 hornet

for the land I shoot the 22LR on.

 

have a word with the BASC, makes little sense.

 

Both the .222 and 17hmr use balistic tips (so equally dangerous or rather not with ricochets) They will most likely go similar distances overall, as the .17 has more velocity but less mass, where as its hte opposite for the .222.

 

They are really very similar, just that the .222 will do a proper job, and correct me if im wrong but is it not deer legal in ireland? or is it just scotland?

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I always enjoy reading anti 17 Rem advice which is clearly written by people who've never seen one, but read something about it in the early 1970's, or sometime, they think!!!!!

I've shot hundreds of foxes with 17 Remington chambered rifles and have never had a bullet blow up on the surface. Barrel quality is important- stay away from the Remington BDL.

Bullet choice is also important- the 25 grain factory bullets are too hard, Bergers are the way to go.

If you think wind drift is a problem with a 17 Rem, compare it to a 22 Hornet or a 222.

I'd have the 17 Rem any day.

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I always enjoy reading anti 17 Rem advice which is clearly written by people who've never seen one, but read something about it in the early 1970's, or sometime, they think!!!!!

I've shot hundreds of foxes with 17 Remington chambered rifles and have never had a bullet blow up on the surface. Barrel quality is important- stay away from the Remington BDL.

Bullet choice is also important- the 25 grain factory bullets are too hard, Bergers are the way to go.

If you think wind drift is a problem with a 17 Rem, compare it to a 22 Hornet or a 222.

I'd have the 17 Rem any day.

I would agree with you there i have seen the 17rem in action and it is a seriously hard hitting round some of the foxes i have seen getting hit with look like they were hit by a bolt of lightning never seen a fox do a whole lot after the impact of the bullet.My only gripe with the 17rem is the price of the ammo nearly €40 a box where i am :yes: for that price you could have a 220swift which in my opinion is the ultimate fox round.But the 223 offers more than enough power and ammo is half the price :/

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Did you not read the post "only accept .17 or .22 hornet"

If the land has been passed for .17Remington then it will surely be passed for .223Rem.

G.M. ;)

 

Northern Ireland Graham, they're not allowed .223's AFAIK cos of the fellas in ;)'s

Oh; didn’t see that bit (daft short sighted old g..) The answer is simple. Go for the .22 hornet. Lovely little round if you can reload……..ooops. sorry , can’t do that either can you?:P??

Go for the .222Rem then, much more accurate than the hornet and even better than the .223Rem up to 225yds.

The .17Rem is a very temperamental calibre that will need to be looked after (cleaned on a very regular basis) to get the best results.

The .222 will give the best results under the circumstances and is as near the performance of the .223 over 200yds as to be as near as damn it.

G.M.

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Choices :P:D Well a friend of mine has a .17rem, and i was impressed, when i went for the .17hmr he said why didn't i go for the .17rem, simply because i had heard so much bad press.

 

The .17rem is a very good foxing/vermin round, but check out the ammo availability before you make your choice ;);) No good getting a rifle if you can't get the ammo :(

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You can reload in Northern Ireland, but, as yet, not in southern Ireland.

Military calibers have beed getting licenced in southern Ireland for the past 3 to 4 years, but all about to change in the new firearms amendment act coming in a year or 2, then all military calibers will be only licenced threw the commissionar. ;)

Reloading will be introduced aswell in the new bill, but their will be a list of ristrictions as long as a giants arm. :P Then, by the time you have fished with all that, it would be much cheaper to buy factory ammo, at the end of the day. ;)

 

Frank.

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Because not only can they not buy military calibres in Ireland, they can’t reload either. ;)

G.M.

 

Almost complete rubbish. I suspect you are recycling misinformation you have picked up on the web. I'm sorry, but it gives me the impression of not being up to your usual standard of postings.

 

I think you can reload in Northern Ireland

 

So do I

 

as yet, not in southern Ireland.

 

Care to quote chapter & verse on that? I.e the Statute, or the case where someone was successfully prosecuted for reloading? Someone who was reloading being stopped by being prosecuted for someting else doesn't count.

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