Simple Question

[olderthandirt]

Can a 17hmr be used for squirrel with any meet left, I know what happens if you hit them with a 22 mag so if you were hunting squirrels for sport and gonna eat what you shot would you use a 17hmr for head shots, knowing that an inch off means a miss or you take out the front 1/2?
Opinions please

[Luvs2Play]

While I have no answer for your question, just a theory, I would think that the 17 is not going to hit enough resistance in a tree rat to make use of it's expansion capabilities. I could be wrong, and I usually am, but I just don't see it doing much more than punching a little hole in the meat.

[dvmcmr]

While I have no answer for your question, just a theory, I would think that the 17 is not going to hit enough resistance in a tree rat to make use of it's expansion capabilities. I could be wrong, and I usually am, but I just don't see it doing much more than punching a little hole in the meat.

I agree.

[Luvs2Play]

I agree.

About my theory, or that I am wrong?

[dvmcmr]

Your theory my friend, your theory.

I already know your wrong. LMAO!

[olderthandirt]

Any more theory's? I think just the opposite, the little 17 is so fast that it would explode ruining most of the meat?

[1shot1k]

Any more theory's? I think just the opposite, the little 17 is so fast that it would explode ruining most of the meat?


You may be right OTD....hard for me to say with any sure fire answer. Any tissue or animal can be a funny
thing. I know there are a million so called answers or experts as to velocity vs mass vs bullet vs etc.....:black_eyed:


I was hit in early 70's before coming home with high powered rounds...didnt know till dust had settled..
just thought was burned or some debri/shrapnel etc....then in that damn TX bar in 76, hit near same area
with stray rounds from the owner being shot, and by then about 300 lbs....and was knocked 10 feet up
under a pool table.....38 wadcttrs...

I know the importance of ballistic theory and testing etc...but bullets and soft tissue can be strange things...
and especially with the velocity of a .17....one shot on a squirrel, clean hole...next shot same area etc...
clean dern thing for you and half cook it....ha ha ha


Now, if I "ever" get a few dollars...(probably be from my life insurance ! ) I been wanting real bad to
build me a sniper rig...17 HMR (vs a 22 or 22 mag ) and use those Hornady "special" bullets etc...just
to try them out...course with regular rounds, I think you would be generally OK especially with head shots
for sure more time than not....and I for one, would prefer the flat line of the 17 anyway....


Now, as for squirrels...our country survived thanks to them....I am glad for anybody that likes them...more for
you cause I dont like em and wont eat em...(unless in survival maybe )...and as for head shots....I dont
know...all I do know is my good old Dad was a Georgia raised tobacco sharecropper plow boy that become
a prominent Baptist Minister....he was lucky to have anything to eat growing up, from squirrels to one of his
favorites , "he always said he could eat a chittlin a mile long, boiled or fried..."....ha ha

But I remember him saying more than once that he loved to "take the skulls after boiling and suck everything
out ".....(my goodness, hard for me to even type that)....LOL So, I am sure head shots probably wasnt his
big thing..? I also know a .410 was his favorite.....

So, anyway....I'd just get a 17 to have anyway, as is better hold past 100 than a 22...and as I said the new
Hornady rounds will do "anything" to a critter a 22 40g will anyway....if you already have a 17....well, try
it...


regards,


1shot1k

[olderthandirt]

Nope don't have a 17hmr and not sure I need one. Anything over 100yds that the 22 mag might not put down the 22-250 will. And I can go up from there ;) I'm looking for something to use to make squirrel hunting challenging and if I'm lucky enough to see and get a shot it HAS to be a head shot.

I'm using this logic and it could be completely wrong, a 17hmr is a fast small bullet the same as a 22-250. When I hit a chuck with my 22-250 there's not much left, same shot placement with a 22 mag and it might have crawled to it's hole.

So would a 17hmr do the same to a squirrel? I know a 22 will work but which one is a tack driver at 100 yds? This isn't for competition, just fun and maybe a little meat in the pot.