Thread: 17HMR and wallabies

I have shot quite a few dama wallabies and the .17 does the job comfortably. Be a bit cheaper than the .223 these days with affordable ammo no longer a thing.

Interesting conversation.
223 being legal on Crown land should make the decision easy.
I don't own a 223, but do have 222-remington and 22 Hornet. I don't think either are "allowed" on Crown land but have achieved one shot kills on goat and fallow deer (222 Rem not Hornet) I would have no hesitation on suggesting either would be adequate for north island wallaby and possibly the bigger south island species.
What's the forums thoughts on 222 Remington or 22 Hornet for wallaby? The noise would certainly be less than 223, possibly allowed a second shot?

In the SI a 222/223 with 55gn plus projectiles will get the job done, I have shot a couple with my wife’s 17hmr but wouldn’t do it again, for a while I was using 243 with either 65/87gn vmaxs and it worked well for longer shots.

Energy per kilo the 17 is more suitable for wallaby than a 223 on Reds.

222 is legal and works fine

Mate I reckon a .308 with soft hollow points shall do the trick just fine

If you are shooting any sort of volume the availability and cost of brass makes .223 a winner. You dont mind so much if you dont pick up all your brass.

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

Interesting conversation.
223 being legal on Crown land should make the decision easy.
I don't own a 223, but do have 222-remington and 22 Hornet. I don't think either are "allowed" on Crown land but have achieved one shot kills on goat and fallow deer (222 Rem not Hornet) I would have no hesitation on suggesting either would be adequate for north island wallaby and possibly the bigger south island species.
What's the forums thoughts on 222 Remington or 22 Hornet for wallaby? The noise would certainly be less than 223, possibly allowed a second shot?

The 222 and Hornet are both more than adequate for NI wallaby and used within there limits I think they would work well on SI wallaby. I have shot thousands of the NI wallaby during my many years on the pest board and have used lots of different calibres but most were shot with 22 Mag, and 22LR in both sub and super with good results. We did numerous studies over the years and lots of statistics were taken including weights, many of the big bucks going around the 9-10 kg mark. Even though the SI wallaby can grow double the size , you can still take them at sensible ranges and good bullet placement , they aren’t bulletproof and a good shot in the chest should work fine.
We also had a lot of success cruising forestry roads(private) using the 12 gauge and 4 shot lead, we had a couple of spotlighters in the truck and two shooters on the back. We never stopped just moved at about 20 kms and shot them as they crossed the road or on the numerous skid sites.

the #2 or #BB is ideal for our big huas.....and they do get BIG ...Ive got skin here I shot years ago,its cut off below neck and still 6 foot to end of tail... two of us struggled to swing one over a deer fence.... if big roo ges a hold of your dog they can do serious damage...
Ive been with others spotlighting,one fella had a 17hmr it worked well but the 7.62x39mm oh so much better..the 223 is just about ideal for them and the softer the projectile the better..HUGE difference between a varmit pill and normal round...the normal stuff still kills really well but explody ones just so much more emphatic.

I'm heading up after the big buggers in 2 weeks, should be fun