Thread: 17HMR or 22WMR

Originally Posted by Ftx325

Sorry I should really be more specific shouldn't I...was interrupted. Small game out to say 150 meters, suppressed and preferably shortish barrel. Semi auto possibly...

223 is better than them both.

* 17HMR is better than 22WMR against wind, all tests confirm this. People intuitively think 22WMR is better in wind because it is a heavier bullet. but in reality, they are delivered by comparable amount of powder and use similar density materials for the bullet, so 17hmr goes faster therefore drafts less. it is lighter but equally has smaller cross section.

* neither are actually reliable at 150m if there is some wind. a lot of guess work will be involved. if you like to shoot targets at that distance and enjoy the wind guessing challenge, then go for it. But if you want to reliably kill your game with minimised risk of missing, go with 223.

* 223 is louder, but if you suppress them, 223 is not much worse than 17hmr or 22WMR.

* in terms of price of rifle, you pay about 200~300 more for a 223, but in the grand scheme of things, taking into account scope cost, fuel cost, opportunity time costs. that 200 bucks is nothing.

* you can buy bulk 223 for about $0.65 each, not much more than 17hmr and 22WMR.

I use my 17hmr for under 120m hunting, advantage of it over 22lr is that i dont have to range my shots and think about hold over.