I am thinking of getting a new rifle, and can not decide which calibre to get. I have a 22rf, a 22/250 ackley, and a .243 ackley. My firearms licencing officer was against me using the .22/250 for small vermin,but said i would be granted something smaller than that no problem. So what i want to know is what you would recommend that would work as a long range small vermin gun. I was thinking of a .17rem, but keep hearing things about .20's?
Thanks for the input.

If you are planning on shooting foxes regularly, a 17 is a bit on the light side, but it looks like it would be dinamite on rabbits! Too bad you 'licencing officer' is a (&*^%&^%, does argueing, appeals etc ever change anything?

To be fair he is not too bad, and i do want a new rifle anyway, so thought that if he is willing to let me have one why argue about using the .22/250 for small vermin, i'll just use it for all my foxing and get something else as well.
Has anyone used one of the other .17 variants, or is the .17 rem the way to go. It will be for rabbits, hares and crows.

I haven't used it myself, but the Hornaday .17 round (.17hr???) is supposed to be stunning according to some mates who have played with it.

Not sure if it is the same round as the .17 rem... You may enlighten me

FB

A .17 would be fantastic on rabbits, hares, foxes and crows.

A .17 Remington, or a .17 Hornet Improved sounds good. Now of course there is also a rimfire .17 the .17 Hornady Magnum.

The small bullets do have a propensity for wind drift of course.

When fox furs were in demand in the Northern hemisphere before the idiotic greenie anti-fur campaigns, fox furs in Australia were in great demand and many hunters made a living or part-living as professional fox shooters. By far the best round was the .17 as it was much more likely to fragment in the fox's body or skull and not damage the skin as much or at all. Only headshots could be taken even with the mild .222. Body shots would wreck the off-side skin if shot side on.

I had almost the same dilema as you, except that I had guns that overlapped each other, I have a 22rf, 22WRM, 22Hornet and a 243. I decided that the 22WRM was not doing much of a job that the 22rf and the Hornet could not cover between them. The fact is I really enjoy shooting it, and it is responsible for demise of plenty of rabbits foxes and crows, but, past 100 yards I need the Hornet, past 150-175 the 243 sorts the foxes but the Hornet is good for the rabbits out to 200 - 220. I use the 243 for Deer as well but could really do with something with more stopping power. Therefore I have a 6.5 X 55 on order and the 22WRM is going to be traded for it.

What I am trying to say is get the Hornet it is good out to a couple of hundred yards and then you are in the land of your 22/250.


Hope this helps

John

Many thanks for the input, i have decided that i will go for the .17rem, but next choice is manufacturer, all my other rifles are sakos which i think are great, but i think that they stopped making a .17, so who else would you recommend that i could get in the UK. I have seen RPA's advertised but have not heard much more about them?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Simon

I was given a shooting times today that reviewed a couple of .17 rifles. I'll have a look a see what it says.

I might even post some of it...

FB

Aussie fox hunters used the old Sako's a lot but preferred stainless steel barrels. Something to do with fouling problems in under 50 rounds shot with the chrome-moly barrels. BTW there were more .17 Rems sold in Aussie than the rest of the world combined at the time.