loving my Savage ..17HMR

1st pig with my Savage 93R .17HMR. Shot her this morning after the fog lifted enough to safely see the 40 yds to my pig feeder. 39 degrees, heavy fog mist
http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbth...init=1&f=0. Going to be some fine breakfast sausage although there was little visible fat when I opened her up.

I’ve got 2 of the same rifle, and another in the 17wsm. Killed a pig with the warm, but not the hmr. Good job

Should have read, killed a pig with the wsm. Stupid autocorrect......

Nicely done!

Where did you shoot her? Ear?

Was aiming for the neck. Too cold and wet to really look good, but didn't see an entrance or exit at all. Guess I should have been more interested but just wanted to get her gutted and me back to a warm camper.

I came pretty close to buying one the other day. I can't decide between .22 mag or .17 hmr...

I can assure you, there was no 'exit'. It is rare that I get an exit even on small animals (squirrels, rabbits, crows). Certainly not going to happen on a hog.

Good shooting.

Just depends on what you want to do with it. There is no question...the .22 mag will hit harder.

IMO...the .17 HMR is best suited for small animals. Raccoons being the upper limit. Yes, I know folks have killed coyotes with them and even hogs, but the diminutive round is being pushed way beyond its practical limit in those cases (again IMO).

Anything bigger than Rabbit (maybe fox and possibly bobcat) and I believe the .22 mag or .17 Winchester Super Magnum would be much better choices.

My .17 HMR is superbly accurate (out to a little past 100 yds.), but I've had quite a few 'crawl offs' with well placed thoracic shots on Raccoon and even some squirrels.

Just my .02 on it.

What ammo did you Use? The HP loads dig much deeper in my experiments. I am going to take the testing to the hogs soon. My rifle is a twin to yours.

I've only tried the Hornady VMAX 17gr so far.

I'm stuck between the 17HMR and 22WMR.

Tried just about everything. The CCI 'gamepoints' get a little better penetration and the TNT's are especially explosive, but the fact remains...the cartridge just has its limits. The good news is...my rifle is quite accurate and I can generally make CNS shots (head/brain pan). But thoracic shots have varying results.

The Hornady XTP 20 grain bullet out penetrates the VMAX by at least twice. Makes it through 2 gallon jugs of water where the VMAX stays in the first jug. At 100 yards that is, haven't done any 50 yard testing. As for choosing between the 17 HMR and the 22 mag I have never owned a 22 mag that came close to the accuracy my 17 is capable of or that had ammo avaluable that would absolutely not ricochet like the 17 VMAX.

Thanks, might have to those a try.

Did the water jug test again and the XTP easily sails through two jugs and the VMAX doesn't even make it to the far side of the first gallon milk jug. This test was done at 50 yards.

Here's my 17 HMR. Savage. It's has a staineless bull barrel! I love this little gun! Crappy pic.

I’ve killed 1 hog each year the last 3 years with my savage 22 mag. Use solid CCI ammo and each shots been under 25yds just behind the ear. Wife shot 50 rounds at range a month ago and was stacking them all on top of each other at 50yds. Love the gun. Been looking at WSM but not sure why I need it

If I had a good shooting 22 mag and didn,t have to worry about collateral damage to stock around the house I would keep it for sure.