Disappointed with the .17 HMR

C

Craig S

New member
I went out for red fox last night with my .17 HMR for the first time and lost two of two. My first fox came in from 200 yards to 75 yards and presented a sitting frontal shot. Being my rifle is zeroed in at 100 yards, I placed the crosshairs just below his nose/glowing red eyes and pulled the trigger. I heard the bullet hit, but he did stagger off. My friend and I looked for 30 minutes without any luck.

We went to another location and started calling and after 15 minutes, we saw red eyes crossing the cattle pasture. Keep in mind, we decided to try the 12 gauge dead coyote loads this time, since we were not sold on the .17 HMR from the last experience, but we did have it. As I kept calling, I also attracted the black angus cows, which now surrounded us. The fox hung up at 150 yards and I guess did not want to come any closer due to the cows. My friend grabbed my .17 HMR and shot. Again, we heard the bullet hit and we saw him spinning in circles. There were two more follow up shots, but I did not hear a hit. We walked down and searched for 30 minutes with no luck.

I don't know about this pleasing the neighbors thing, but what's worse, repeated shots with a lost animal or one moderate bang with a dead animal. I hope my .22 Hornet barrel comes in soon.
 
Sorry to hear about the lost dogs. In my opinion, the 17 hmrs are just not enough gun for the job. Get a bigger rifle.
 
Get rid of the 17 Hummer and get a real 17, 17 Remington they would have dropped on the spot. More noise but more fur.......
 
To be honest with you.....I am not impressed at all with what I see even shootin prairie dogs. Sure they die.....but no special effects.
 
The 17 HMR is one of the most fun rifles that I have ever owned but you have to realize it's potenial. It is not a centerfire and I am sure it wasn't intended on competing as one. To me it fills that gap between a 22 rimfire and the centerfires. It's effective range is from 10 yards out to maybe 125 yards on small game like rodents, rabbits and birds. People who end out disliking the 17 HMR are pushing it beyonds these limits. On prairie dogs it works great on those famalies sitting on a mound under a 100 yds. Because of the noise level you can take down the whole family before they realize what is going on. Using my VQ I have shot as many as 6 PD's off one mound in about 30 seconds. I have shot about a dozen Woodchucks with the 17 HMR but I won't take it again because I didn't get any flips, etc. and a few crawled away. I won't take it Fox or Coyote hunting either. Some states such as Wisconsin frown on using centerfires for any hunting out of the regular deer season. There isn't any other caliber that can hit a dime at 25 to 125 yards without changing the aiming point. If you ever tried to shoot a PD at 25 yds with a centerfire sighted in for 200 yds you would appreciate the 17 hmr. When you get into those residential areas where noise and ricochets are an issue the 17 HMR shines.
 
I have had the same type of luck as you guys. I switched to the 20 grain hollow points and have had a lot better success with killing varmints, upto some pretty large coons. I'm wondering, are you trying to replace a centerfire rifle with a rim fire? If so, of course you aren't going to blow up prairie dogs. I would expect it to kill a fox, but there are a lot of variables here. I would try the 20 grainers on some animals in day light that you can positively seen where the bullet impacted before giving up on this caliber. That being said I wouldn't call the 17HMR a predator round. Varmint would be more accurate.
 
the .17 hmr is going to have precise shot placement on a fox. If you do your part, it will do it's part.

It sounds like that first shot you made you probably shot the thing right in the face. That's not a killing shot for a variety of calibers. My guess is that you messed up his face something bad and he crawled off and died. If you had a full frontal shot, why didn't you shoot him in the chest?
 
R buker is right on the money, I have personally seen many, many grey fox killed with the 17hmr shooting the 17gr. v-max. Next time shoot for the vitals! GOOD LUCK!
 
I traded my .17 HMR for a single shot .223. After losing two coyotes in a matter of hours due to not enough knock-down power, I had seen enough. I knew it was a good trade when a week later I dropped a coyote in its tracks. The .17 is a blast for shooting rabbits and what not, but as you have learned the hard way, leave it home when you call dogs.
 
I did mention that I shot below the nose. I guess I should have said neck/upper chest. I think that's a vital area? The bullets used were the 20 grain xtp's. And there is a big difference between a grey fox and a red fox size wise.
 
Quote:
I placed the crosshairs just below his nose/glowing red eyes and pulled the trigger. I heard the bullet hit,



Just below the nose/glowing eyes is the mouth or bottom jaw. Even a neck shot isn't considered a vital shot although it will generally kill them eventually when you are shooting them with something that small.

Red fox and grey fox aren't that far apart in size. Typically a few pounds at most.

I'm not trying to pound on ya here. I'm just offering food for thought and suggesting to newbies that the shot you took isn't always the best option.
 
I agree with Samspade the 17 HMR wasn't designed for coyotes ,bobcats etc. I use my marlin on crows, rats and such and it does the job. If you must use a rimfire on predators go with the 22 mag. Better yet step up to the hornet, 218 bee or 221 fireball. the noise isn't that much greater and they will do a much better job on natures killers.
 
I have an HMR,(obviously) I wouldnt trust it an much more than a ground hog. It took me 3 shots to kill a beaver with it, these were close range, 50-70 yds. I was upset, it was knocked down the ladder as my squirrel rifle, got a 204 for the yotes n such. Cant deny that the 17 was the mast accurate gun ive owned out to 150. killed a crow at 180 one time, but thats a CROW, hollow boned, weighing a pound at best.
 
How can this be. There are other guys that frequent this board that are 100% kill on coyotes. I wonder where those boys are. They should be chiming in here any time to tell us all, AGAIN, how great the round is for predators!!
 
You must keep in mind that every shot on every animal is different. In my opinion a 17hmr is very effective on animals such as fox and smaller. I hit a coyote with a 270 wsm at 20 yards and yet I had to put another round in him to finish the job but yet can drop a full grown cow instantly with a well placed 22lr. The 17 is extremely accurate and offers astounding impact for a caliber its size and price. Having owned 4 different guns in this caliber and shooting over 5000 rounds I would have total confidence on any fox but would reach for something else on anything larger such as coyote.
 
Quote:
but yet can drop a full grown cow instantly with a well placed 22lr.



OR YOTEHUNTER: Just curious, what are you doing dropping cows with .22LR?
 
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