Originally Posted by
longshot
Beyond 75 takes a bit of practice and skill, but it is achievable. Having a rangefinder and a ballistic reticle makes it fairly easy once you know where the drop is (thats where the practice comes in). You can suppress a .22 to the point that someone standing 25m away wouldn't know you have squeezed the trigger unless they were listening, but you can't silence a .17 anywhere near as effectively.
If you are out shooting rabbits with a suppressed .22 you will usually see more rabbits within 100m then you will see inside of 200m once you start letting off a few rounds of .17.
.22 is also about 80% cheaper than the .17.
As someone who has both calibres I can say that while the .17 is a great little caliber, it doesn't come out of the safe anywhere near as much as the .22 and when it does, the .22 usually comes with it to hold it's hand.