Popped a groundhog at 237 yards with the 17HMR Marlin VLS yesterday!! Did shoot him twice though! First shot immobilized him and second shot into the neck made him DRT! Not rcommending this round for that distance!! But it was the only gun in the truck at the time!!! Pics on groovebullets and wildcatshooting forums. Come on over and join us!! GHD
Posts: 2495 | Location: SW. VA | Registered: 29 July 2002
GHD: Nice shot there on the Ground Hog! These 17 HMR's sure have impressed me! I have posted my long shots here once before - it was 210 yards on a Prairie Dog and on a different Varmint Safari I shot a Ground Squirrel at that same Lasered range.
My most impressive kill though was a 175 yard one shot kill on a large male Badger. This Badger had just come out of his den and was looking right at me. I was shooting off of sandbags on the roof of my canopy while standing on the VarmintMobiles tailgate. The shot hit this Badger in the throat (where I was aiming) and he "died right there" (DRT?). Am heading over now to see the pictures now! - I am back now and viewed the great picture of you and your Chuck at the Wildcatshooting site. I was not authorized at the other site. Great photo with what I assume is typical eastern Ground Hog habitat in the background!
Thanks for posting your feat!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
Posts: 3067 | Location: South West Montana | Registered: 20 August 2002
Excellent shootin, and excellent point about distance recommendations for the HMR on chuck sized critters. I had a an almost identical situation to VarmintGuy, I was p-dog hunting private land from a pickup, a large badger popped up and it was shoot em with what I had or forget it (Damn they dig fast!) . He was just under 200 I aimed at his neck and the breeze pushed it a couple inches left and bored out his ear canal. Took one big bite of dirt and quivered. If that little breeze had pushed it the other way I'm sure it would be a different story. If I hadn't shot it and the rancher who owns the land found out I'da been singin in the Vienna Boys Choir. When I read posting of guys setting out to shoot larger varmints such as coyotes and such at long distances I shudder. I punched your shot into my ballistics program and at the speeds my CZ generates when the bullet hit it was carrying a little over 50 foot lbs of energy, a .22 long rifle has about 90 at 100 yards. It'll do er but it better be perfect. Thanks for the topic GHD.
seafire, I have a burris 4.5x14 ballistic plex on my cz. Combined with a leica rf1200 that combination works well. It is kentucky windage on the wind however. When I have made the longer shots with my .17hmr there was very little or no wind. I'm thinking of trying some of the blue dot loads you've been posting about in a .223. 12 gr and 2600fps is impressive. I like the 600 rd a lb. sidewinder
Posts: 133 | Location: Bothell,Wash | Registered: 24 December 2003
I know this will sound like one ups manship but the lazer RF gave me 238 yards on two PDs taken off the same mound with a Ruger 77/22 mag converted with a White Mountain barrel to 17 hummer. Ammo was Hornady and the scope a Weaver grandslam. I have taken many PDs between 150 and 200 yards with this rifle. I looked for years for a 22 mag that I could regularly take PD out to 200 yards and never did find a combination that worked. I own 22 mags by Ruger, Winchester, Savage and CZ. None of them are more than 150 yard rifles.
Prairie Dog Dundee: I could not agree with you more. Your post regarding the 17 HMR being superior to the 22 Magnum in the Varmint fields is exactly what my experiences have led me to conclude! I have used and tried to find a happy combination of scope, ammo and Rifle in caliber 22 Magnum for right at 4 decades! I mean, what I was looking for was an accurate, flat shooting and lethal 22 Magnum combo (rifle, scope & ammunition) for Varmints that would make it worth the investment to stick with any of the rigs that I tried. I have simply tried them all over the decades and still have not been very happy with any combination I tried.
Then along came last spring when I ventured forth (after so many rave reviews from my Varminting buddies and first hand declarations from folks I came across at Gunshows, gunshops and Rifle ranges) and I bought a 17 HMR Rifle! This first Rifle, scope and ammunition combination in 17 HMR was sensationally accurate and amazingly flat shooting (for a rimfire!). Then I tried it out on all manner of Varmints and my conclusion was easily made! Due to the much better and much more consistent accuracy the 17 provides and the much flatter trajectory the 17 provides and the much less wind drift provided by the 17 HMR over the 22 Magnum - it was obvious, I would be hitting MUCH closer to where I was aiming with the 17 HMR than with any 22 Magnum I have ever owned. Now enter into my conclusion process my observations of the amazing (to me anyway) phenomenon of the lethality of good 17 caliber bullets! They are lethal just way beyond what such tiny bullets should be expected to do! I can not fully explain this lethality situation with the 17 caliber bullets. But I know it exists! So, combine this superior lethality with superior accuracy, superior trajectory and superior wind bucking ability (less guesstimation needed for these last two attributes) and you have a superior cartridge for Varminting!
Alas, I have been in this conversation with many others regarding the 17 HMR and the 22 Magnum and these others often point out the slight edge in foot/pounds of energy that some 22 Magnum rounds attain. Therefore, they conclude, the 22 Magnum is a superior round lethality wise. This is incorrect! Remember (you should know already) that ft/lbs of energy is not THE ONLY criterion to be considered in determining a bullets lethality!
The 17 HMR is heads and shoulders above the 22 Magnum lethality wise (refer to my previous paragraphs for the reasons)! And remember this comes from a shooter/Hunter that has used the 22 Magnum for 40 years!
Again I could not agree with you more Prairie Dog Dundee and I enter into this possibly (often) controversial conversation with the sole intention of sharing my experiences with those that may be weighing pros and cons of the two cartridges and making up their mind as to which to go with. I have a Marlin bolt action tube fed 22 Magnum that I use now and then but in the back of my mind the time, effort, expense, frustration with and the limited gains of the 22 Magnum over some of my super accurate 22 LR's would preclude me from choosing it again. I would go directly to the 17 HMR! No question at all!
Seafire: I sight my 17 HMR in to be dead on at 125 yards. Then I use the excellently designed Duplex crosshairs of my Weaver KT15 (straight 15X) scope to aid in ranging and for windage and holdover. I did not have time on my long Badger shot to use my Leica Laser rangefinder. I did take it to the scene of the kill and ranged back to my shooting position. I had been shooting at Ground Squirrels in that area prior to the appearance of the Badger from his den. Easy shot with the 17 HMR actually, as I had been gauging the wind on the Ground Squirrels in that area for some time.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
Posts: 3067 | Location: South West Montana | Registered: 20 August 2002
befus, Y'all don't have many "groundhogs" ou there so you use the paper ones instead, right?? GHD PS: I "killed" a half frozen orange on 2/2/03 at 251 yards....first shot after dialing 22 clicks into the scope!!!! Bullet didn't exit the orange!!!!
Posts: 2495 | Location: SW. VA | Registered: 29 July 2002
Actually up here in the Ozarks we have a sizeable number of the little furry porkers. This one had the problem of being on a slight rise with a light sky profile. There was a bit of a breeze and on each shot I moved a little left and a little higher, and on the third shot he went down like a sack of potatos.
My friends think it was the luckiest shot in history, and they might be right!
237 yard with a rimfire!!! Holy crap! Nice shooten' Rex. 
