School me on rimfire

[jmccracken1214]

Outside of having a 22lr growing up, and my 5 year old having one now.. I haven't messed with rimfires outside of shooting a friend's 17hmr 10 years ago.

I've been looking at 22wmr and 17hmr again. (Would like a 17wsm but the rifles cost too much)

I have no real reason for the gun, just looks like a badarse little rifle to play around with but down the road may use it for hunting / pest control.

I'm leaning towards 22mag only because the few squirrels I shot with the 17, almost blew them in two pieces. So it seems like the 17 is the more accurate round but more of only target/pest control where as the 22 would be better for hunting?

I keep seeing the 17 is way more accurate than 22mag... No idea though.

Anyways, which would be the better of the two, in your opinion? Ammo is roughly the same price, which is kind of high for what it is.

 

[Jp8819]

Really enjoyed my savage 93 17hmr for getting ground hogs and target shooting. Very accurate out of the box if you do your part.

 

[muskrat]

I personally don't care for either just because of availability and price of ammo. Especially, when a CZ 22lr and a few other have excellent accuracy. The key to consistant accuracy with 22lr is quality ammo and consistantly using the same ammo. I have all kinds for testing but CCI Mini-mags for the CZ and CCI Standard Velocity for 10/22s have never let me down. Just my thoughts.

 

[Ikarus1]

Best thing about rimfire was cheap ammo and guns. Now that neither one apply, i suggest centerfires for their reliability. My next smallbore will be a .204 Ruger.

I still shoot quite a bit of 22lr since I have a good stash, but once thats gone and Im in the realm of a dime or more a shot, then whatever is cheapest to reload will be next

 

[NKD]

Best thing about rimfire was cheap ammo and guns. Now that neither one apply, i suggest centerfires for their reliability. My next smallbore will be a .204 Ruger.

I still shoot quite a bit of 22lr since I have a good stash, but once thats gone and Im in the realm of a dime or more a shot, then whatever is cheapest to reload will be next

What's .204 ruger cost per round?

.80-1.00 per round?

That's 3-4 times the cost of .17hmr!

.204 is awesome though. I'd love to have one.
I guess reloading would knock the price down a bit, but I bet the bullets alone are probably almost as much as a whole .17 cartridge.

Edit: no comparison to .22 which is widely available for 6-7 cents per round

 

[Ikarus1]

What's .204 ruger cost per round?

.80-1.00 per round?

That's 3-4 times the cost of .17hmr!

.204 is awesome though. I'd love to have one.
I guess reloading would knock the price down a bit, but I bet the bullets alone are probably almost as much as a whole .17 cartridge.

Yep Reloadable brass cases means you can reload them. .204 pills run about .18 cents a pop so yeah about what an hmr costs with about ten times the range and power


On the other hand...i can reload .223 for less than a .17HMR cartridge costs easily

 

[np307]

I wouldn't knock someone for either .17 or .22 mag, but I have just never seen a need for them for hunting around here. I found a round my Marlin likes and bought enough to last several dozen squirrel seasons. Any particular reason you're not just looking at .22lr?

 

[NKD]

Yep Reloadable brass cases means you can reload them. .204 pills run about .18 cents a pop so yeah about what an hmr costs with about ten times the range and power


On the other hand...i can reload .223 for less than a .17HMR cartridge costs easily

You have a funny way of saving money, lol.

The fella said this:
"I'm leaning towards 22mag only because the few squirrels I shot with the 17, almost blew them in two pieces. So it seems like the 17 is the more accurate round but more of only target/pest control where as the 22 would be better for hunting?"

.204 will put squirrel pieces into the next county!

 

[NCFubar]

I have quite a few .22LRs in bolt and semi rifles along with a couple .22Mags in bolt. Truly the one that gets 90% of the work is a little CZ 455 American in .22LR on which I had the barrel thread for a can. With a little 3-9x40 scope 50 yard squirrel patrol on the pecan trees is routine ... my kid even shots from his window with that setup if needed. I love the CZ line so much I have two others, 1 in .22LR with a 24" varmint barrel (also threaded) and a .22Mag in factory heavy barrel. I will likely never part with them and every so often think about a .17HMR (especially back when .22LR & .22Mag were scarce as hens teeth). My vote would be a CZ 455 in .22LR and if you wanted the occasional .22Mag fun buy the interchangeable barrel for it ... truthfully you'll just get a complete second CZ because you live the first so mucho realize you need both ...

 

[Ikarus1]

You have a funny way of saving money, lol.

The fella said this:
"I'm leaning towards 22mag only because the few squirrels I shot with the 17, almost blew them in two pieces. So it seems like the 17 is the more accurate round but more of only target/pest control where as the 22 would be better for hunting?"

.204 will put squirrel pieces into the next county!

Pretty sure thats not what he said.

He wasnt familiar with the magnum rimfires. Asked for opinions on em.

He said he wanted
1. A nice rifle to target shoot
2. Maybe a hunting rifle

He expressed interest in the 17 WSM. Not just the 22mag or 17mag.

A bolt action .223 does all of those things cheaper, better and more reliably.

22lr is a fine squirrel round. A .17 or 22 mag, not so much.

I said MY next small bore would be a .204, simply because it will be

 

[jmccracken1214]

We've got a 223, I got my gf one for her birthday last year. Ruger American Predator.

Ikarus1, you're correct on the 223's capability. I suppose Im just wanting a rimfire because those fast little calibers are cool to me... Most of the rifles come with heavy barrels, are around $200, I dont have to spend a fortune to get a pretty decent scope for the caliber...

Just got the gunbug is all... and even more so after building my 6.5 grendel and having a heck of a time trying to find decent deals on brass ammo, or brass ammo itself!

 

[NKD]

Pretty sure thats not what he said.

He wasnt familiar with the magnum rimfires. Asked for opinions on em.

He said he wanted
1. A nice rifle to target shoot
2. Maybe a hunting rifle

He expressed interest in the 17 WSM. Not just the 22mag or 17mag.

A bolt action .223 does all of those things cheaper, better and more reliably.

22lr is a fine squirrel round. A .17 or 22 mag, not so much.

I said MY next small bore would be a .204, simply because it will be

You're right.

This is a gun forum and all opinions are valid. My bad!

 

[Ikarus1]

We've got a 223, I got my gf one for her birthday last year. Ruger American Predator.

Ikarus1, you're correct on the 223's capability. I suppose Im just wanting a rimfire because those fast little calibers are cool to me... Most of the rifles come with heavy barrels, are around $200, I dont have to spend a fortune to get a pretty decent scope for the caliber...

Just got the gunbug is all... and even more so after building my 6.5 grendel and having a heck of a time trying to find decent deals on brass ammo, or brass ammo itself!

Fast little calibers are cool. At 30z40 pennies plus per shot, magnum rimfires quickly loose their appeal to me, esp ones that are so prone to wind drift as the 17s. If you want a rimfire I would stick with the 22/22mag. Maybe like the CZ that was suggested.

 

[Jayne]

I have a 17hmr, used to use it all the time for hunting cotton tails in the desert. Out here... too damn many trees and people seem to hunt rabbits with dogs and a shotgun. Meh.

I chose it over the 22mag because it's flatter shooting. I think the 22mag has more energy overall, but the 17 takes down rabbits just fine. Just don't hit the body or it makes a mess out of everything. Also lead-free 17hmr is very accurate as it turns out which is (was) important in CA.

Took a lot of rabbits out of this place. Wasn't popular because it was far away and required a lot of climbing around.

 

[Dave951]

22mag and 17hmr are ok I guess, but 22lr is far more common and usually less expensive. Get one with a threaded muzzle and a can for lots of fun. A Savage FVSR with a can and subsonics is stupid quiet, like pellet rifles are waaay louder. Pretty much what you hear is the click of the firing pin and the plop of the bullet downrange.

Back in the day when the kids were about 10-12 I'd buy a couple bricks of 22lr, make some sammiches and tote some soda and we'd spend the afternoon plinking with rifle and handgun. Memories like that are priceless and the skills the boys got from working with the 22lr and iron sights have pretty much directly translated into them both being amazing shots today. They'd have impromtu long range matches where we'd attempt to hit empty soda cans at over 200yds and they got to where they'd hit far more than not. I've said it before, if you can hit with iron sight 22lr or muzzleloaders, a modern cartridge firearm is easy to shoot well. The 22lr and muzzleloader both require good shooting fundamentals to be consistently accurate with iron sights. So my choice would be a good 22lr bolt gun. A repeater is ok, but that temptation for pew pew is very strong and makes for lack of marksmanship.

 

[nchunt101]

Look at getting a single six with the 22 Mag chamber. Makes a hell of a squriell gun.

 

[RedneckFur]

.22 LR is probably the best training and plinking round out there. I think every shooter should have at least one. I love mine, and they're perhaps my most-shot guns.

Between the others, I like the .22mag. I've had 17hmr's, and they are often astoundingly accurate, but the .22mag really speaks to me. Its got considerably more power than the .22 LR, and its a good 100 yard shooter too. (I've had good results shooting steel at 200 yards with mine) Great for hunting small and medium sized game too.

The ammo is a lot more expensive than 22lr, but it seems to be a little cheaper than 17hmr most of the time.

 

[GymB]

I think that I have more 22lr guns than centerfire guns, there are just so many that are fun to shoot.