ShootingSquirrels.com

So, I was telling a guy the other day that I was a squirrel shooter and that I used a 17 to shoot squirrels with. He was really impressed and wanted to know how bad the kick was on the 17. Which, of course, made me laugh. I told him that the 17 hmr was like shooting a bb gun, and why was he asking?

He said that his uncle had a 17 and had shot coyotes at over half a mile. I told him that the 17 hmr shot a 17 grain ballistic tip at 2550 and there was no way in hell that it would get out to half a mile, let alone drop a Coyote when it got there.

That conversation got me to thinking, so I went out on the net to see what I could find out about other types of .17′s besides the .17hmr.

Read the article at Guns And Ammo. According to the article, here are some of the 17′s that used to be available:

17 Hornet and run the gamut, with the following cases necked down to .17-Hornet, Bee, .30 Carbine, .221 Remington, .222 Remington; .223 Remington, .222 Remington Magnum, .225 Winchester and .22-250 Remington.

what the guy I was talking to must have had in mind was the .22-250 necked down to a .17 caliber. Check out these velocities:

A .22-250 necked down to .17 using a 25-grain bullet in front of 30 grains of 4350 developed 4,444 fps from a 22-inch barrel. The same weight bullet in front of 33.5 grains of 4350 in a .225 necked down to .17 developed the same velocity.

This must be the rifle he was talking about that could drop a Coyote at over half a mile. Does anyone know where I can get one of these? I would love to get video of a 25 grain .17 caliber round going through a squirrel at over 4000fps.

SquirrelSniper
ps. Just a wanna be without a .22-250 necked down to .17 LOL

The guys over at Arkansas Hunting have a poll going to see who likes to shoot squirrels with which calibers. Right now, the 22 long rifle is in the lead, with the 17 HMR way down in the bottom of the barrel, next to the bow hunters. So, I need all the hunters out there who shoot the 17 to go over there, sign up for an account and vote for your favorite squirrel shooting caliber (as long as it’s the .17 HMR…). If they want to know where everyone is coming from, tell them SquirrelSniper sent you. LOL

Here’s a breakdown of the current poll. I’ve never used a shotgun to go squirrel hunting with, but you have to remember, these guys are shooting tree squirrels. I don’t have a clue as to the bow hunters. I can’t imagine shooting squirrels in trees with a bow. Every time you missed, you’d have to climb the dang tree and pull your arrow out. Doesn’t sound like much fun to me.

.17 Mach II            0        00.0%
.17 HMR                6        11.32%
.22 LR                29        54.72%
.22 Mag                5         9.43%
Shotgun               11        20.75%
Bow                    2         3.77%

So, get over there and vote now!

SquirrelSniper

(Sung to the tune of the wheel of fortune ad on TV… You know, “I’m a wheel watcher, I’m a wheel watcher.” OK, you caught me, I’m a dork.)

Yesterday morning, Sunday the somethingth of May (Not really sure since I’m so dang tired), I took my trusty Savage .17 with the Accutrigger to Oregon and killed all their squirrels. No, really, I killed all the squirrels in Oregon yesterday by myself. Well, maybe the Verminator got one or two, but the rest of the dead squirrels in Oregon are mine. Muuhhaaa hhhaaaaa hhhaaaaa… (more…)

I went to the shooting range last week and shot my Savage .17 HMR. The trigger pull was a dream, so I’m pretty sure it is going to be one of my favorite varmint guns, but I still need to shoot it some more to tighten up my groups.

At 100 yards, with my new Bushnell 6x18x50mm, this is what I shot with my 5 round groups: (more…)

Here is the same 100 yard shot at an 11 oz. water bottle, but made with the .17hmr instead of the .204. the .17hmr is shooting a 17 grain, Nosler ballistic tip bullet at 2550 feet per second. The foot pounds of energy put out by the .17 has to be a miniscule fraction of what was put out by the preceding .204. (more…)

I bought a new Savage stainless steel .17 HMR with synthetic stock and the AccuTrigger. The AccuTrigger is cool. I’ve always been too cheap to send a gun in for a trigger job, so buying a rifle that lets me adjust the trigger pull from 1.5 lbs to 6 lbs myself is awesome.

The idea behind the AccuTrigger is that trigger pull makes a big difference on accuracy, because the harder you have to pull, the more likely you are to pull off target. (more…)