.17 vs .22 LR

[Woods&Water]

I've always grown up around .22's. We used them for varmints and basic irradiation. Like most people, I learned to shoot with them as a young boy. Now that I'm looking to step up my little game defense line, I learned about the .17. With all of these improvements such as bull barrels, camo stock, floating barrel, light triggers... it can go from knock around gun to high precision rifle. My question is this... What's the ups and downs for the .17 vs the .22 LR?

[cosmiccowboy]

IMHO the only advantage to 22LR is if you want to use subsonic ammo to reduce noise. Other than that the .17 whips the .22LR in virtually every way possible.

[Rudey]

The .17 compares more closely to a .22 magnum. I may be wrong but isn't the .17 HMR basically a necked down .22 mag?

But to answer your question, the .17 will outperform the .22 in every way. The .22 will be cheaper to shoot. That's all I got...

[H-D]

Only down side to the .17hmr is that the ammo is more expensive than .22...period.

[texag93]

17 is more accurate on average, more KE, more expensive to shoot. If you want the most out of a rimfire, go with a 22 mag.

[H-D]

I may be wrong but isn't the .17 HMR basically a necked down .22 mag?

You are correct sir.

[Rudyl]

Right now the only thing that I can think of is that the .17 doesn't have a semi-auto platform, since Remington recalled their model 597 semi-auto which was amazingly accurate and fun to shoot. I've got a CZ bolt action with a 5 round clip that is also more accurate than I am.
So unless I'm mistaken the .22 has tons of semi-auto rifles you can go with and the .17 doesn't, and I think the .22 mag ammo is the same if not more expensive that the .17.

[Low Fence]

Cost and availability of ammo is a minus.

I have both and while the 17hmr is a blast to shoot and gives a much more interesting "display" when it hits, I still reach for the 22 more.
a 22 hole in the body of a squirrel will have some meat lost, a body shot with a 17......no squirrel left. Mine is very accurate at the distance sighted in but changes alot more than I like at closer and farther distances (not enough to miss an animal but enough to miss my mark) I guess I'm just use to the 22's balistics after many years.

[Woods&Water]

Im looking to put a scope on it with hopes to have it knocking ticks off a fence post at about 50yrds. If you had an equal playing field... which gun do you grab first? .17 or .22

[Low Fence]

At 50yrds I think the 17 would win by a hair. Everything equal

[cosmiccowboy]

You can knock ticks off a fencepost at 50 yards with both of them. The difference is that you can do it with the .17 at 100 yards with an effective kill range of 200 yards if the winds not bad.

[Shane]

.17 HMR is a necked down .22 WMR (.22 magnum) - faster & lighter bullets than .22 mags.

.17 HM2 is a necked down .22 LR. - about twice the velocity and half the bullet weight of most .22LR loads.

Ammo costs more for both .17s, and crosswinds probably affect the smaller .17 bullets more than .22s, but they shoot a lot flatter.

Ammo cost is probably the only negative.

[Aggie]

I used my 17hmr more it is scope and more accurate. My 22 is plain old open sights but it is semi auto and fun to shoot. Mine is the savage with accutrigger. It is accurate and shoot well but the blueing is a little thin and the trigger guard is plastic.

[BrianL]

Anyone else notice the bulk 22lr ammo seems to be even worse than it was before the "scare"? I bought 4 different types and this stuff is just plan sorry. It is getting to where you can't even buy bulk to use as hunting ammo. Junk.

[txfireguy2003]

I had a .22 scoped semi-auto rifle that would hit fleas, much less ticks at 50 yards, much past that and it was toast, but I loved that gun, until I got my Savage .17HMR that is. I scoped that one too, and it'll hit ticks at 100 yards as long as I'm willing to keep buying ammo. I sold the .22 not long ago because it never came out of the safe. The .17 ammo is more expensive, but your .270 ammo is more expensive than your .223 ammo is as well. They both do a job, one better than the other, and for that, you pay more. The .17HMR is one awesome round, and don't worry about body shots on squirrels eating up too much of the meat, but a good scope on it and you can pop them in the head every time at 100 yards.

BTW, I believe there IS a way to have a semi auto .17HMR, but you'll have to do it yourself. You have to find a 10/22 MAG (not easy to find, but they do exist) and swap the barrel to a .17HMR barrel. OR, you can get a regulare 10/22 and swap barrels to a .17HM2 barrel and be good to go with the HM2 ammo.