Didn't say the .22M wasn't more, I said what you gain isn't worth it. Is 50 yards worth the cost of another gun and more expensive ammo? To a few yes, to the masses no.
But the OP didn't state he was using or had a .22 lr , plus nothing will beat the .22 lr for edible game. Since he bought the HMR he pretty much relegated himself to expensive ammunition. That said the 40 grain rounds aren't that much more expensive than your Velocitors or any other non bulk rimfire ammunition, and the offer the advantage of more energy delivered to the target at 100 yards or less (OP's specified range) than even the HMR and probably a little beyond 100 yards.
I hadn't sorted through all 122 choice of LR ammunition on Midway when I came up with the 800 and 600. However the 30 grain bullets out of the .22 WMR are 800+ fps faster when you use the
2250 fps Winchester load and 765 fps (nearly 800) with the standard 2200 fps 30 grain loads from most other manufactures than the Velocitor (your first choice) and 500 and 450 fps respectively over the Aquila 30 grain load. The 40 grain load is 440 fps faster than the Velocitor, don't ask me why I said 600 (sometimes I type faster than I think). However
Winchester has a TMJ 40 grain round with a MV of 1910, 475 fps faster than the Velocitor and 440 fps faster than Aquila.
All I know is 450-500, and 440-475 fps difference between 30 and 40 grain bullets is something that will never be overcome. And these differences are
HUGE when talking rimfire cartridges. 50 yards is far more of a difference in rimfires than if we were talking about centerfire cartridges and speeds approaching or exceeding 3000 fps and with ballistic coefficients in the .300-.500+ instead of the .100's that the rimfires offer.
As far as the .17 HMR being more accurate it isn't, it does have the flatter trajectory but that doesn't make it more accurate. It just came along at a time when sub $300 rifles were shooting as well as far more expensive rimfire rifles of just 10 years earlier. In fact I'll put my .22 WMR pre accutrigger Savage BV up against any other rimfire of similar quality for accuracy at 50 and 100 yards. Plus I'm pretty consistant at keeping it minute of prairie dog out to 200 yards I may not do it as easily as the HMR but I can get it done.
Manufacturing is at a point where sub moa rifles are more common than ever as long as the nut behind the trigger is doing the job. The .22 LR came out in 1887 and the .22 WMR in 1959, and it wasn't until 2002 for the .17 HMR. If you wanted a sub moa shooter you almost needed a custom rifle for a rimfire before. Plus if anything else the advent of the HMR has brought new life to the WMR cartridge by changing the way we think about rimfire rifles.
