WB
Great practice for the handgunner
Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 08:56

the trajectory is pretty close to several of my Reeder custom hunting cartridges. The wind is a bit of a problem on the teeny bullet. But also a teaching factor, just exaggerated from a bigger caliber example.

The .17 is quieter than the .22 WMR by a noticeable amount and there is no comparison to accuracy. Zero recoil, you watch the bullet hit. For the "non-reloader" it is really a great opportunity for fun. $13-16/50 usually all the time around here in both 17 and 20 gr. bullets. The 17's seem to do better and disintegrate on impact.

One fun test we did was fill a 2-liter bottle with water. In the rifle at 25 yds. it will not penetrate the back of the plastic water filled bottle, just blows the front out. Same bottle at 100 yds. it blows through both sides! It's slowed down enough that it's not as explosive and the little jacketed slug penetrates better. I personally saw a Coyote killed with a 17 HMR at over 400 yds. So far we used a 4-wheeler odometer to measure crudely. Center chest hit facing, through the heart, it went about 20 yds., laid down and died. It was like stabbing it with an ice pick (through the heart). The .17 MKII was possibly the best squirrel shooting caliber ever invented. If you hit anything beyond the bullet just comes apart do do no harm. If they could only have perfected the 10-22 Ruger to .17 for the masses. It's too hard to control premature bolt opening and they blow out and through the mag opening! Magnum Research still markets .17 HMR (and .22 WMR) guns on the Pinetree Castings/Ruger chassis. But bring your checkbook!