Always a shooter at heart, I was curious to compare my twice-the-speed-of-sound velocity to that of a rifle cartridge. Some of these calibers have a long history, and some … The 17 HMR seems to ricochet less than the .22 long rifle cartridge. Recoil and muzzle blast are minimal The test rifles I used were Kimber Pro Varmints, and both wore Bushnell Elite 4300 4-16X scopes. the .22, but is loaded with a 17 grain, .172" diameter bullet at much The 17 is only a fair weather round when the 22 is an any weather gun. of equal ballistic coefficient, which is another very good thing for the rifle LR actions. Velocity cartridges, although there are others. bullet is capable, is an important component in killing power. Due to the relatively slow burn rate of powders loaded in the .17 HM2, propellant fouling seems to build up faster than with .22 LR loads. As I see it, the .17 HM2 has only two things going against it. .22 LR has a big advantage. best known. Just for the fun of it, and to give people who take life far too seriously something to complain about, I will also point out that whether or not the .17 HM2 lives up to its name in velocity depends on who is shooting it and where it is being shot. After that the bullet drops rather quickly. Once the HM2 came out, nearly every ammunition manufacturer in the .22 rimfire business started making HM2 rounds as well. and the relatively short barrel of a conventional revolver or autoloading That is okay by me since it was never meant to replace the .22 LR anyhow. the bullet, the greater the area of the wound it creates (given the 100% powder, the .22 Long Rifle was adapted to the new propellant. David Fortier talks with Jeff Hoffman of Black Hills Ammunition about the evolution of the .308 Win. The smallest 100-yard group I have fired with one of my personal rifles was with Remington ammo, and it measured 0.26 inch. shoot very small animals, so minimizing the rise and fall of the bullet from figures for our two cartridges in foot-pounds. for shooting small varmints (non-edible animals). www.outdoorlife.com Reply. The .17 HM2 vs the .22 Long Rifle. The velocity is nearly double that of a standard .22 LR, which results in a much flatter trajectory out to its 175-yard (160 m) effective range. This is a significant advantage for the .22 LR. Velocity is an important factor when comparing rifle each caliber. will be a brief summary and conclusion. penetration typical on small game animals). the line of sight remains important. By Ron Spomer. location. for about 60-70% more than ordinary High Velocity ammunition. Aguila also made a .17 rimfire, the .17 PMC/Aguila, but it never became popular. the US, the number and diversity of .22 LR loads far out numbers the available always important to shooters and these are the two least expensive small You can duplicate its accuracy with .22 LR match ammunition, such as Eley Tenex and Remington/Eley Match EPS. A decade after the introduction of the .17 HMR, Winchester threw its hat in the .17-caliber rimfire ring with the release of the .17 Winchester Super Magnum. All loads presently available are loaded with the Hornady 17-grain. based on the .22 Magnum case, requires a rimfire magnum length/strength action ammunition (including the CCI Stinger) and a single brand of .17 Mach 2 All rights reserved. context of rifle cartridges, but it must be remembered that they are used to Firing 21 different loads in Kimber's Mountain Ascent rifle proved it is a good friend to have... Cutting-edge projectiles provide unprecedented performance in the venerable old workhorse, the... Keith Feeley of Tactical Solutions sat down with Michael Bane at SHOT Show 2018 to talk about the new X-Ring Takedown SBR .22LR rifle. The .17-caliber bullet went to pieces inside the first bottle with only a single small jacket fragment making its way through the near side of the second bottle and coming to rest inside it. learning to shoot, will be better served by the .22 LR. My experiences in the field with those cartridges revealed a number of things about their differences, so the next logical step was to see how they stacked up on paper and in front of the chronograph. Decide which factors are most important to you and choose wisely. The lighter bullet and modern powders allow the .17 M2 to achieve a MV of 2100 fps (Hornady's figure--CCI claims 2010 fps) at the same SAAMI specified MAP as the High Velocity .22 LR. So what level of accuracy should you expect from the .17 HM2? 22LR vs 17HMR vs 22WMR Trajectory Chart In the case of 17 HMR, the bullet trajectory is fully flat to 100 yards (due to its high velocity), but there’s a huge drop in the case of 22 LR. Match. Stinger was the original and has remained the best known of the .22 LR Hyper This comparison article is worthwhile because both Fishing. Use of the Stinger case in developing the .17 HM2 enabled engineers at Hornady to safely push a 17-grain bullet beyond 2000 fps from a 24-inch barrel without exceeding the maximum chamber pressure level of the .22 LR. Hornady and Federal ammo is loaded by CCI, whereas Eley loads Remington ammo. than almost any other rifle cartridge when fired from the relatively short Although its widely known that the .22LR is lethal on small game out to 100 yards. One is the fact that it heats up a barrel much quicker than .22 LR ammo. Having spent quite a bit of time in the field with several rifles that are capable of squeezing the most accuracy possible from the .17 HM2, I have become convinced of its ability to cleanly take small game out to 125 yards, as long as there are no breezes to blow that tiny bullet astray. Report. PX Member. After the arrival of smokeless Both took a 17-grai. .17 HM2 is the odd duck out. One advantage of this projectile is its frangibility. In terms of kinetic energy, there is little practical difference between our The .17 Mach 2 (.17 M2) was introduced by Hornady in 2004, Interestingly enough, the .17 HMR is a descendent of the mighty .22 Magnum, featuring the parent case necked down to house a .17-caliber projectile. Maximum internal pressure on the cartridge is roughly 26,000 psi, about 7,000 psi less than the .17 WSM. Obviously, it is better to punch a The Mach 2 is based on a.22 LR Stinger case necked-down to accept the same 17 grain, polymer tipped, V-MAX bullet Hornady developed for the.17 HMR. Using near-identical rifles from the same manufacturer reduced the number of variables that might have influenced the outcome of my comparison of the two cartridges. It is not unusual to see individual groups fired with the .17 HM2 run considerably smaller. No battery is complete without rifles chambered for the .17 HM2 and the .22 LR. Now, however, a new challenger to the .22 LR has emerged in ammunition (Hornady). The American was chambered for .17 HM2, .17 HMR, .22 LR, and .22 WMR in right-handed rifles, and for .17 HMR and .22 LR in left-handed rifles. (The last contender that I can remember was the now In both price and availability, the Mag. beginning shooter, who will of necessity burn large quantities of ammunition I mention all of this to emphasize the fact that I know a bit more about the performance of the .17 HM2 than how it performs on paper targets or how it looks in a company catalog. Depending on the rifle from which they were fired, all loads exceeded their factory velocity billing by as much as 50 fps, with the Federal and Eley loads proving to be fastest. Unlike the .22 LR, the .17 Mach 2 has not been widely I have also civilized a few prairie dogs with Federal ammo and a switch-barrel bolt-action Sako Quad. Though the 22 LR is a great choice for hitting targets under 100 yards but 17 HMR is what you’ll need to hit those targets at 125-175 yards. ammunition catalog, taken at the muzzle, 50 yards and 100 yards. 175 Gr. Copyright 2008 by Chuck Hawks. Less expensive Regardless of how that type of ammo is zeroed, it does not shoot flat enough for consistent hits at unknown distances once the range begins to exceed 50 yards. Rimfire cartridges are undoubtedly some of the most popular cartridges used in America. Similarly, the HM2 is a necked-down .22 Long Rifle case. velocity of the .17 M2 bullet allow it to equal the energy of the .22 Stinger. to medium range varmint shooting. All Shooting Times subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This makes it safer than any of the .22 LR bullets for small game and varmint hunting in semi-populated areas. for both cartridges and therefore are not factors. Ballistic coefficients for the 17-grain bullet of the.17 HM2 and the 40-grain bullet of the.22 LR are close to the same, but the.17-caliber bullet shoots flatter because it starts out considerably faster. Latest. The Stinger was introduced by CCI in 1977, and its muzzle velocity of 1640 fps with a 32-grain bullet quickly added the word "hypervelocity" to the vocabularies of .22 Rimfire shooters around the world. n bullet through the lungs at exactly 61 yards, and damage to the eating part was no worse than with .22 LR hollowpoint ammo. Here are the energy V-Max bullet, and they vary in appearance only by the color of their plastic tips: red for Hornady, gold for Remington, blue for Eley, and black for both CCI and Federal (you can tell the CCI and Federal cartridges apart by their "C" and "F" headstamps). Hunting. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. two bullets in square inches. In such areas, the .17 Mach 2 is probably J. justin amateur Sergeant . Shooting a .22 LR rifle at 300 yards is just as challenging as shooting a .300 Win. HMR (Hornady Magnum Rimfire) cartridge. The other knock against it is cost. One advantage of this projectile is its frangibility. The "hottest" .22 introduced a "Hyper Velocity" version of the .22 LR. compared to the .22 LR. I have yet to use a copper solvent in my match-grade barrels, but fouling of another kind will need to be kept under control regardless of the condition of the bore. ISS Prop House gives us the rundown on the guns used in Enemy at the Gate. Its high velocity also enables the.17-caliber bullet to deliver the same energy levels downrange, even though it is 35 percent lighter. When discussing the pros and cons of the .17 HM2, I must not overlook the safety factor. anything like its full potential. The .17 Mach 2 is clearly much faster than the fastest .22 LR Hyper Velocity load. As I write these words, a 50 round box of .22 Stingers Its jacketed bullet makes the .17 HM2 immune to that idiosyncrasy, not to mention the fact that an accurate jacketed bullet is more easily mass-produced on high-production machinery than an accurate lead bullet. While both cartridges are reasonably available in much of This is perhaps due to the smaller bullet exploding or disintegrating … not a lot of difference between the .22 LR Stinger and the .17 Mach 2. consider a .17 M2 rifle. obsolete .22 WRF, which never came close to unseating the .22 LR.). One of the beautiful things about shooting the .17 HM2 is its accuracy in a good rifle along with its flat trajectory allow the hunter to consistently make head shots on small game at distances deemed impractical for the .22 LR. Let's begin! ©2021 Outdoor Sportsman Group. Fox squirrels are tough critters, but the first two I toppled from the limbs of the same tree appeared stone dead before they reached the ground. The best bet is to clean with a good powder solvent every 250 to 300 rounds, and since a slight amount of wear or damage to the rifling at the muzzle can harm accuracy rather seriously, a pull-through cleaner is the way to go. Within its effective range, the .17 HM2 offers plenty of punch for hunting small game. The .17 Mach 2 loads. The increase in net case capacity of the Stinger allows the use of a relatively heavy charge of slow-burning powder for a muzzle-velocity increase of about 30 percent over the standard .22 LR. I do not find the buildup from a couple hundred rounds to have a detrimental effect on accuracy, but it tends to accumulate rather quickly in the chamber. During one of my test sessions, I filled 2-liter plastic bottles with water, aligned them three deep at 100 yards, and shot them with Hornady's .17 HM2 loading and the CCI .22 LR Stinger load. Versions were offered with either a 16.2" or 22.5" inch barrel with the muzzle threaded (1/2" x 20 threads per inch (TPI)) to accept a sound suppressor. "flatter" a bullet shoots, the easier it is to hit with downrange. How The .17 HM2 Stacks UpMy first field experience with the .17 HM2 took place during autumn of 2004 while hunting fox squirrels in Kansas with Hornady ammunition and a preproduction T/C R55 autoloader. velocity to the Long, but hit small game much harder. This is the same bullet used in the startlingly popular .17 I have taken several dozen squirrels with the M2 and can attest to it's effectiveness versus the .22LR. Stevens Arms in 1887. It should be noted that the .17 M2's V-MAX 17 HMR vs 22 LR Trajectory Let’s just cut straight to the point: you’re looking at 17 HMR to see if it’s worth the extra cost for the increase in distance. The .17 Mach 2 (.17 M2) cartridge is based on a CCI Stinger .22 LR case necked down to accept .17 caliber bullets. November 18, 2019. velocity (MV) of 1235 fps from a rifle barrel with a 40 grain, copper-plated Best Rimfire Cartridges — .22 Magnum vs .22 Long Rifle, Uberti 1885 Courteney Stalking Rifle Review, Improved Ballistics a Key to Accurate Long-Range Shooting, Ruger Custom Shop 10/22 Competition Rifle at 300 Yards, Best 6.5mm Cartridges: 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, Winchester .350 Legend Rifles and Ammo Available Right Now, The Ultimate Flyweight Match: .17 HM2 Vs. .22 LR, Tactical Solutions Introduces New X-Ring Takedown SBR Rifle, Black Hills Evolution of Rifle Cartridge: .308 Win. Yet chamber pressure is the same as for the high-velocity loading of that cartridge. The trajectory of a bullet is important because the In terms of killing power on small animals, there is What are the pros and cons of.17 HMR vs..22LR? .17 Mach 2. Energy powers Boaters and Anglers are the Only Ones Who Can Stop It . A ballistic shootout with three of the best rimfires of all time. factors such as bullet expansion rate being equal) the larger the diameter of