50-125yards, 17HMR or .223?

I don't want to eat them. I just want them to STOP chewing on my deck. I don't have to worry about where the lead goes.
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Then you're going to enjoy lighting them up with the .17HMR. :D

TNTs are more effective, but v-maxs are more accurate.
 
Both/Either

As for the 17 HMR being more expensive, the only part of that would be the actual bullets. I bought a Savage 93 from Dunhams including the scope for under $200 and couldn't be more pleased. I have taken soo many grey, fox, black and red squirrels with the 17 that I can tell you you will not be disappointed with its performance. Out of curiosity I let my son shoot a raccoon with it. Dead right there! At 75 yards it didn't even twitch. At the distances you are talking about, the 17 will do fantastic. We can put 5 shots into the top of a 2 litre soda bottle almost to the point of boredom.

The 223 will do very nicely as well, but as stated it is somewhat overkill. If you hand load and use some of barnes varmint grenade bullets, you will see some really neat kills, but again, way overkill.
 
The .17 caliber bullet is too small,about the size of a pellet. A .22 LR or .22 Magnum is the best type of caliber for them critters. a .223? NOOO ammo is too expensive for tree rats when you can easily get by with a .22 . Im guessing a tree rat is the size of a new york subway rat right? I dont think we have those in Texas? :eek:
 
in all honesty at the ranges you're specifying any small caliber round will do the trick, I know at 60 yards I yoosta could shoot empty 22 casings with a 22LR of mine, which was kinda handy because I could make new targets as fast as I could shoot them :D I dont have any experience with a 17hmr but my AR15 is a squirbo smacker at 100 yards. I could push that much further if I wasn't too blind to spot them sooner. so either 22lr or 223 would suit your purposes splendidly

And you only need around 15-17 ft/lbs to kill a squirrel. see a .223 is a bit much.
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I woun't completely agree with that, when I was a teen I decided to experiment with a paintball gun(I think those generate around 30-40FTLBs) all I ended up with was pist off blue tree rats lol, if you really hate the tree rats a 223 might give more satisfaction :D
 
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Well, two things a paintball gun does not penetrate any, and the balls pop once they impact acting as sort of a sponge and lossing energy. And i regularly kill squirrels with a .177 pellet gun with a heart, or head shot and mine only puts out like 14 ft/lbs. and the size of the 17hmr does not really matter unless you are useing fmj ,because of the explosive expansion. My 17 hmr literally blows squirrel apart with the 17gr vmax bullets. And for any one who does not know (tree rat= squirrel)
 
the 17 will do great and the 223 will do the job with that much more intensity

for bullethole1 the 17 is the same size as a .177 pellet but a 22lr and 22mag. are the same size as a .22 cal pellet and there is even larger cal are rifles out there all the way up to .50 that they have killed buffalo with
 
17 hmr

I suggest the 17 hmr. If i had it to do over again i would buy the plain jane savage model. A friend of mine has one and it shoots every bit as well as my marlin stainless fluted model. As for performance on squirrils, If its not too windy the 20 grain hornady xtp's (around 10$ a box) do a good job of decapitating squirrels at long range, Im sure it would handle your tree rat problem perfectly.

And once you have exterminated all of your pests, you have a nice rifle to knock down empty rifle casings at 100.:)
 
I got me a Ruger 77/17 today. I ran about 20 rounds through it. 1/2 inch groups at 70 yards off the bypod. I like it!
 
bullet diameter has nothing to do with its power, because .17 is less than .177 doesnt mean its less powerful than an airgun.

Ive seen some backyard physicists make a coil gun that will fire an iron slug of about that size fast enough that itll shatter 2-3 cinder blocks in a line.

.22 would be your best bet as far as dispatching them effectively. i had a rem. 597 in 22lr, it was accurate enough i could shoot a 2" group standing at 100 yds. squirrels arent notoriously well sighted at ranges out that far, you can most likely walk up close enough to gaurantee you a headshot pretty much every time.

.223 will give you some versatility for other pests, dont know where you live but if foxes or raccoons or anything are nearby thatll help too
 
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