On a whim, I brought my Cooper .17 HMR with me on my recent safari to Zimbabwe. My PH, Mike Payne, was very skeptical about this diminutive caliber.......that is, until he shot it. My Cooper rifle will literally shoot the eye out of a gnat at 100 yards, and from what I understand, this is not uncommon performance. So, how did it do on game? I shot several guinea fowl with it, for which our trackers were very grateful. It also accounted for a large civet, a genet, and two impala shot right in back of the ear. In each case it literally pole axed the intended target. It was a lot of fun to shoot, and this this little rifle has a new following with a few folks in Zimbabwe. You might consider taking yours along on your next hunt.

I was thinking about something like that for the Vervet monkeys that are always around camp in South Africa.

What is meat damage like? Guineafowl are tasty....! I am not familiar with the caliber but on paper it seems like just the answer for Vervet monkeys etc. Glad you were successful with it. The CZ flavour I like.

Meat damage was surprisingly minor - that little 17 grain bullet just zipped through the guineas

Im quite surprised! I kinda expected it to be severe.Please elaborate on the Impala if you will?

My PH wanted to see what the .17 would do to an impala after seeing the performance on smaller game. He asked me to take only a head shot on a close ram (50 yds). The intent was to bleed it out quickly by slitting its throat after the shot. With the ability to place the shot precisely, the impala went down like it was struck by lightning. The trackers rushed to the downed animal, bled it out, and the result was a superb dinner a few days later.

Does this help?

Admiral: Thanks for your report on the 17! Wow! I just purchased and scoped a Winchester Model 1885 in 17 WSM, topping it with a Swarovski Z-3 scope. I cannot wait to try it out on some critters! The 17 WSM is the fastest rimfire caliber in the world, and a kissin' cousin of the 17 HMR. 20 grains at 3000fps and 25 grains at 2640fps

Joe Coogan brought one to Tanzania and I used it on all the Game birds we could muster. Head shots out to about 50-60 yards and dusted many out to 130 to 140 with body shots. Very little meat damage and was blast to use. The team was quite impressed with that little rim fire.

I have had a few 17 HMR's, my current is a Blaser R93, it has accounted for thousand of prairie dogs, other varmints and one snapping turtle.

The amazing thing about the 17 HMR with the 20gr XTP bullets is how well it penetrates. I was in my kitchen one afternoon right after the newly arrived R93 barrel had been sighted in and I saw a snapping turtle charging me while inside my house! Although a bit surprised, I still had time to think about which rifle to use, retrieve it from the safe, mount the right barrel and then position myself for the shot.

The snapper saw my actions and turned away as I came out on to my deck, but inside of eighty yards, with his speed he was still a potential threat. I engaged him from my deck, aiming for the right eyeball as he crossed left to right at a full out gallop. Alas, he dropped at the shot, as would be expected, but I knew I jerked that shot low left. How could he have went down so quickly?

As I walked up on him from behind, ready for this prehistoric relic of the prairie to come to life again and bite my leg off with his powerful beak like jaws. I noticed an inch sized exit hole just above the left side shoulder. I had jerked the shot after all, but it was a prefect high shoulder shot on the right side, through and through.

After making sure he was dead and upon cutting him open, I saw a nice half inch wound channel through both shoulders and both sides of the shell.

Moral of the story you ask? Use enough gun! And yes, when I head back to Africa, I'll bring the R93 17HMR barrel and 200 rounds of XTP bullets just for birds, the small cats and laughs.

I took mine as well and my PH Bruce Cronjie loved mine as well.
We shots LOTS of Rabbits and Springhares at night, Dassies, Vervet Monkey, a bunch of G-Hens.
I shot my Steenbuck with it as well as a few Impala for bait. I shot the Impala in the head but the Steenbuck was shot behind the shoulder...it took 2 steps and went down.
Here I shot hundreds of prairie dogs with it as well...I love the 17HMR.

I use the 20gr bullet for everything now. I think that the 17gr expands too quickly. I watched Bruce make a few solid body shots on G-Hens only to have them fly away...never happened with the 20gr.

Frank:

I have a .17 HMR and I think it would be a great small game rifle for Africa, providing you sized the game to the cartridge.

I remember attending one sports show where there was an African outfitter exhibiting there. He was telling me all about the black wildebeest that one of his clients took with a .17 HMR. What I found out later was that the dude had to shoot it NINE TIMES to kill it!

I have two. I have had a Sako for a few years . It is a real shooter . Head shooting squirrels at 100 yards is no problem.

I was just in a gun shop. They had a used Savage with thumb hole stock and a bull barrel. I honestly didn't see how I could survive without if. I have shot it maybe 50 times. The accuracy is amazing .

Perhaps I will take it on my next trip across the pond .

Definitely do that Larry. You'll be surprised at how much you use it shooting little critters.

On my last trip, PH Bruce "Borrowed" my 17 while I was putting out baits for Leopard with PH Wayne Grant. I handed Bruce the gun with 2 50rd boxes and we went out separate ways. Back in camp he handed me back the gun and sheepishly handed me back THREE 17HMR Rounds!
I asked him "what the hell did you shoot 97 friggin rounds at to which he replied, "Every-Fucking-Thing!" laughed and walked away.

GREAT Trip with real men....I had the time of my life.

I bet it would work good on rock rabbit