17 HMR for hunting

[dsully]

I saw in the hunting regs where 17hmr is legal for turkey in rifle season. Anybody have experience with the 17? Is it too small for coyotes?

 

[jjason]

Not at all it has plenty of power.very accurate round and cheap to shoot

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yes I consider too small for coyotes myself. For turkeys, it's ok, thought I'd rather have a .22 magnum or better yet, a centerfire .22 cal.

 

[Relentless]

I agree it's a little weak for coyotes unless you have a standing close shot, you can always get lucky, but you can't count on that. I've blown patches of hair/skin off of coyotes with a 204 and had them run away on clean shoulder hits, that's why I use a 223 or 22-250 now

 

[Old Fart]

Wouldn't be my first choice for yotes. But if one ran by in reasonable range I'd let it have.
I really like these little rounds, but prefer to use them on smaller varmits/pest.

 

[1mathom1]

I agree it's a little weak for coyotes unless you have a standing close shot, you can always get lucky, but you can't count on that. I've blown patches of hair/skin off of coyotes with a 204 and had them run away on clean shoulder hits, that's why I use a 223 or 22-250 now

Interesting. Not to hijack the .17 thread...but I would thought the .204 would have been the ticket. Had been thinking about one....but maybe not now.

 

[trickydick]

just looking at the ballistic charts it seems like the 25-06 would be the hot small caliber round maybe even the .17 fireball

 

[rickeyparker]

The 17 hmr is such an accurate round that head shots are Possible on turkeys, or even right in the vitals, Coyotes are just as killable with a 17HMR as it will knock em flat under 200 yards using the VMax round, If you use the FMJ round they will run off and die slowly somewhere, Or even the game point round is not for Coyotes. People think that the heavier the bullet the better and this isnt so, The 17 HMR will even kill whitetail Deer easily ( not that I have), As with any Gun size you have to hit them in the right place, I have had deer run off after being hit with a 12 guage slug, The 17 HMR is as close to perfect as you can get for anything Coyote size and under.

 

[Relentless]

Interesting. Not to hijack the .17 thread...but I would thought the .204 would have been the ticket. Had been thinking about one....but maybe not now.

I shot probably 20-30 coyotes with my 204 and that happened twice, could have been the bullet I guess, but it was the damndest thing.

The 17 hmr is such an accurate round that head shots are Possible on turkeys, or even right in the vitals, Coyotes are just as killable with a 17HMR as it will knock em flat under 200 yards using the VMax round, If you use the FMJ round they will run off and die slowly somewhere, Or even the game point round is not for Coyotes. People think that the heavier the bullet the better and this isnt so, The 17 HMR will even kill whitetail Deer easily ( not that I have), As with any Gun size you have to hit them in the right place, I have had deer run off after being hit with a 12 guage slug, The 17 HMR is as close to perfect as you can get for anything Coyote size and under.

I'll agree to disagree with you here, you can kill anything with anything if you shoot it in the right place, but to try and shoot coyotes at 200 yards with a 17 is very unrealistic in my opinion

 

[257wby]

IMHO the 17 could do the job on a yote, but not my first pick when out checking calves.