.22 hornet vs .17 hmr

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I can't think of a more inappropriate small bore rifle cartridge than the .204 for shooting the small game birds that the original poster is interested in hunting - what should he do with dove mist and francolin chunks? The .204 would be a good baboon cartridge, but hardly versatile for all the species listed.

Longwalker
The 204 would save a lot of plucking and with bits you find you may find to m ale small pies
Bob

 

[Major Khan]

I would HIGHLY endorse the .22 Hornet . It is ideal for the African tiny 10 ... As well as , for varmints . The .22 Hornet calibre was frequently brought by my clients , for shikar in India ... to hunt 4 horned buck , mouse deer , Barasingha , hog deer and even Chinkara . I have even seen the .22 Hornet successfully drop cheetal deer , here in Bangladesh .

Miraculously enough ... There is actually some one on African Hunting Forums , who dispatched an African bull elephant with a .22 Hornet calibre rifle .

 

[spike.t]

222 Remington would be okay on baboons with carefully placed shots. Bushbuck - head shot.
The hornet would cause painful wounds I suggest.

My son when he was lot smaller than he is now shot a puku and kafue lechwe with his hornet...both one shot...lechwe straight down and puku 20 yards and down.....good little round

 

[Dr Ray]

My son when he was lot smaller than he is now shot a puku and kafue lechwe with his hornet...both one shot...lechwe straight down and puku 20 yards and down.....good little round

Wow. I had a beautiful little hornet that my son used from the age of 12. Even a professional shooter commented how accurate it was.
Sold to a friend whose ex (hostile and crazy) threw bolt in industrial bin.

 

[Tgood1]

A .22 hornet with Barnes tsx reloads lives in my truck. Has accounted for countless hogs from when I lived in Florida and Georgia as well as coyote, bobcat, deer, various varmints, etc. Never any issues but as always proper bullet placement.

 

[Surgeon1]

22 HORNET!
Im lucky to have lots of prarie dogs to shoot! Agree with Phillip Glass that the 17WSM far exceeds the HMR! I have 2 of them and both shoot 1/2".
I find them too light for coyotes and bobcats. The 22 Hornet has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and I still have a Ruger and a custom that
gets a fair amount of Pdogs every summer. On days in a praire dog town esp in early summer its possible to shoot several hundred rounds per day.
The 204 has become a favorite of mine in recent years. We also use 223, 22-250, 22 Creedmoore, and several wildcat cartridges. One shooting partner
has used the 220 Swift for years. Barrel life on the 22 Hornet and 223 is excellent, the hotter cartridges barrel life is between 2500 and 4000 rounds.
Much depends on not getting the barrel too hot and avoiding max loads. I usually make an annual trip to Oregan to do a Sage Rat shoot where 4-700 rounds per day is the norm. They are smaller than Pdogs and a 17WSM or 22 Hornet are perfect!
For the things you are hunting the 22 Hornet would be my choice!

 

[Alexandro Faria]

22 HORNET!
Im lucky to have lots of prarie dogs to shoot! Agree with Phillip Glass that the 17WSM far exceeds the HMR! I have 2 of them and both shoot 1/2".
I find them too light for coyotes and bobcats. The 22 Hornet has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and I still have a Ruger and a custom that
gets a fair amount of Pdogs every summer. On days in a praire dog town esp in early summer its possible to shoot several hundred rounds per day.
The 204 has become a favorite of mine in recent years. We also use 223, 22-250, 22 Creedmoore, and several wildcat cartridges. One shooting partner
has used the 220 Swift for years. Barrel life on the 22 Hornet and 223 is excellent, the hotter cartridges barrel life is between 2500 and 4000 rounds.
Much depends on not getting the barrel too hot and avoiding max loads. I usually make an annual trip to Oregan to do a Sage Rat shoot where 4-700 rounds per day is the norm. They are smaller than Pdogs and a 17WSM or 22 Hornet are perfect!
For the things you are hunting the 22 Hornet would be my choice!

Man, that sounds like a lot of fun. What distances are you usually shooting at for the Pdogs?

 

[nztimb]

I had Hornets in a martini and a savage along with a mod 70 22-250 in the late 70's and always wanted something with the capabilities of the 22-250 with the manners of the Hornet and have found the perfect compliment of the two in the 20 VarTarg. Two loads with the one scope setting allows for the 35gn berger at 3700fps to be zeroed at 200yds being perfect for goats and longer range rabbits while the Nosler at 2700fos zeroes at 100yds is just the ticket for the walking rabbit shooting I do now where most shots are within 150 yds and have to be taken standing over the bog pod because of the rolling terrain.

 

[npm352]

I would go with the hornet. I got a 17hmr for long range squirrel hunting, but it blows them up. It is too small for coyotes. Blows up small stuff, too small for medium/small stuff.

 

[fourfive8]

The only modern single shot I have regretted selling was an older TC Contender Hornet with the fairly thin 10" oct barrel. One of those "looks better on paper" unhandy as heck but fun guns most all of us end up with from time to time. Mounted a little 2X LER scope on it- absolutely scary accurate with 50 & 52/53 gr standard .224" whatever bullets and normal Hornet powders like 4227. Also, I'm not 100% sure, by memory, of the land/groove config but the bore was extremely smooth and shot with minimal fouling- for all I know it may have had polygonal rifling. Could even have been a limited experimental barrel??. Of the other Hornet rifles I've had, some were OK and some not so much. I never measured the twist in that 10" TC barrel.

Lo and behold- this morning during some covid downtime, idle mind, net research I stumbled upon some info about the early 22 centerfire TC Contender barrels. Turns out some may have had 12" twist!!! Presto!

 

[steve white]

The Hornet, and never look back!

 

[BWH]

I’m surprised I didn’t hear more about a 22WMR.:.. that round is super effective. Cheap, accurate, available, great ballistics comparing the other 2 rounds....