The 17HMR for me has an interesting beginning and I'll try to share it with y'all.When the HMR first come out I kinda figured it was a gimmick and not that much of an improvement over the 22lr to justify the cost=so I didn't!
Then I made a trip out doggin with buddy Curt.On the drive out to S Dakota(I lived in Mn at the time)He expressed a desire to get a prairie dog with the bow and that he had his new HMR along.I proceeded to explain that this was going to be a scouting trip to find dogs as close as possible to home and that finding a place to use the bow and a rim-fire was asking a lot of a BDB.As luck would have it this BDB stumbled into a great little town that had not ben shot yet that year=FUN,more FUN and just plain a BLAST!
Well Curt got the bow out and ended up with a few prairie dogs and a streekie,it was so easy even i got one with the bow
It didn't take long to get sick of fetching arrows so he then brings out his new 17HMR that he's ben saying is so accurate.The dogs are real ignorant so I got my 22lr and give it a try.Shooting side by side that HMR was kicking the little 22lr *** for both range and hits!!
It rained the next morning so we took off for Cabalas to get some more 17HMR ammo.While there I looked into getting an HMR for my own self.$275 later I had a Savage package unit with a BSA scope(scope and bases have since ben replaced with a little better quality) and 500 rounds of ammo.By the time we ate dinner and got back to the town the dogs where back out.The 17HMRs really raised cain with that small town as the dogs didn't seam to be bothered by the quiet report of the 17rimfire.
Got so we where shooting for doubles to conserve ammo /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Kinda graphic but shows the HMRs ability to hit the PEEKERS.
The price of ammo is going up but I still like the HMR for a lite carry gun that dont scare everything in the area.Just picked up another 1000 rounds the other day.$181/1000 is more than I can reload some other rounds for but its nice to have around sometimes!!!
This Savage don't seam to be too fussy what ya feed it=just have to adjust point of impact and trajectory a little when switching ammo.
Got a couple thousand rounds through the HMR now and have found it will shoot farther than it will kill humanely.Have made a few shots past 300 yards but try to limit range to 200 or less for better kills on prairie dogs.Rabbits are best shot inside of 150 yards for a good kill.