17 HMR vs .22 Mag

I bought a 17HMR because I could never find 22Mag. My Marlin XT17 17HMR is super accurate, my most accurate rifle I own inside 100 yards and it was a cheap sub $200 rifle. All the ammo you buy is of very high quality and quite accurate. If you want to kill small game it's very effective. Issue will be if you want to kill the game and keep the meat. Shoot a squirrel or rabbit with my 17 and it explodes them like someone set off a firecracker inside the animal. I've never shot game with my 22mag (It is a pistol) so I don't know how it performs on small game but I don't believe it has that explosive effect from what I've read? Not sure. I can buy 17hmr all day every day from just about any store I walk in to that sells ammo. 22mag is still very scarce around here.

17HMR is very effective critter control. 17HMR is not a very effective hunting round IMHO unless you can get head shots because of how much it gamages meat. Round and rifle is accurate enough for that but I need a rest or shooting stick to shoot something that small. In the right conditions it's accurate enough I can headshot game as small as squirrels pretty effectively. Love my 17HMR. Really glad yall talked me into one.

I can't find .22 mag anywhere except online.

My recommendation is to go with a .22lr and .17hmr. .22 mag is hard to find now and both of the other 2 do everything you need on small game. Combo gun like CZ455 or Sako Quad is a good option. Super easy to change barrels.

For everyone saying the 17 blows up meat. They make 20grain ammo for it that wont do this

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have to look into this. Most of my shooting has been with the A17 because of availability.

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Yes its called (big game) ammo or something. 20grain, and wont blow a squirrel to pieces, just a nice hole thru and thru

I doubt that. Standard velocity .22lr fricks them up pretty good.

Downshift,
I agree with you if we're talking hollow point 22LR. I've never had that experience with the solid round nose 22LR. If you read my post, this 20 grain ammo is FMJ. It is a thin jacket and the bullet is moving a lot faster that the 22LR, but I'm going to hold out hope that it will lessen the damage. This gun just screams to be hunted. It shoots like a laser and has to be a squirrel killing machine. I watched a Youtube video of a guy shooting squirrels with one and he wasn't tearing them up. He never mentions his ammo, but I have to believe it was the FMJ stuff. I saw another video of the 17 gr ballistic tip hitting a rabbit and it definitely wasn't that.

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doubt that. Standard velocity .22lr fricks them up pretty good.

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All i can tell you is try it. Because the 20 grain hmr ammo will shoot a hole through and through... wont explode like the ballist tips

I have several .22 mag rifles,and 1 .17HMR. I have a CZ model 512 semi auto,and a CZ model 452-2e bolt action .17 HMR. The .17 is THE most perfect for accuracy rifle that I have ever shot,but the model 512 is really close to it.
Ammo is cheaper and more available for the .17 right now,but .22mag ammo is becoming more available all the time. I don't really have trouble getting it anymore.

One thing about the .17 though,it might be effected by wind a bit more than the .22 mag.,but maybe not. It's got such a slim profile,that might make up for the lighter weight. I am going to try to do a comparison soon.

Walmart has a pretty good deal on The Savage A17 semi-auto IMO. I have a Savage .22 mag bolt that is good shooting rifle, seems like it's $363 for the A17. CCI makes a special ammo for these rifles that is slightly more powerful,and 100FPS faster,wanting to get some to try in my CZ.

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I bought my 17 HMR because I thought it had to be the best squirrel rifle caliber ever invented.

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That would be the 17 Mach 2.