Ok I posted over in the rifle section but figured it might help more over here. I just got a 17hmr, bull barrel. What size of animals can I expect to shoot in shoulder before I really need to make head shots. And out to what distances do y'all feel a 17 will stay accurate to make head shots, with slight wind but not much

That 17 will take anything up to coyote size. That little bullet does a lot of damage for its size. On part 2, if the wind isn't blowing hard, 250yds is not hard at all. It really is an impressive little round.

Thanks I guess I just need to shoot it and try it out so I will have faith. On the coyotes I am taking it that it would be a head shot? Or a well placed shoulder would work?

I've got one that I love to shoot. That little round is awesome. You can pretty consistently hit a golf ball at 300yrds pretty easy. I haven't shot anything other than some squirrels and targets with it. I can say if you can find a squirrel at 200yrds a head shot works great lol. My gun itself likes the CCI TNT round I believe it is.

How much drop is there at 100 if it is sighted in at 50?

About 3/16ths of an inch

Thanks everyone.

love that .17 HMR....

One of my favorite guns, very accurate. Biggest animal I shot was a 150 lb sow at 100 yds and dropped it on the spot, still looking to shoot something bigger with it.
Here is a pic of that pig and a bobcat. Bobcat was shot at only 40yds.

I'm surprised the small 17 HMR was such potent pig medicine. Did it exit the pig? Could you tell what it hit and tore up on inside of the piggie?

I like the .17 Dang good round for head shots. Would not trust too many body shots mainly cause there is not much lead there. Try .204 Ruger for more body shots. I shoot the .32gr Horandy superformance rounds. Devastated coyote, bobcats you name it. You can get a cheap but very accurate H&R bull barrel single shot .204 for $250. Just try it and your hooked I did.

Hunt like it was your last!

Go check out the website www.VarmintAl.com, it has a TON of good info on the 17!

Talking about the wind with a 17 HMR, with a crosswind of 5 mph you will get ~1.5" of drift and at 10 mph your drift is a little over 3" AT 100 YARDS and it increase drastically the further out you go (about a 15" drift at 200 with a 10 mph crosswind)! The wind is the biggest enemy of the 17. I have 2 and love 'em but you have to know it's capabilities as well as yours. Have fun and good luck!

I took down a 250lb+ pig with mine along with several other pigs. Its all about shot placement.

nice shots

If you look in that picture you can see the exit wound, and the entrance wound was just on the other side. I'm gonna say it hit one of the major arteries because it bled out real quick, by the time I shot it and then drove over to it in my truck it wasn't moving at all. But I would say if you shot one in the shoulder with a 17 it probably wouldn't do much damage just piss it off, I shot that bobcat in the shoulder and it didn't even have an exit wound at 40 yds.