As the post title suggests… Is 22MWR and 17HMR dead or dying. Seems to be neither here nor there cartridges, very expensive for what they are and nothing someone couldn’t do with a 22 or some sort of .22 centrefire that are way more versatile.
Discuss.
Never caught my interest…not reloadable, not versatile…Only rimfire, is the ol faithful 22RF I think…
I still use a 22 magnum for foxes and cats etc but not as often as I used to. As stated, for what it costs for a packet of shells it becomes very expensive.
I agree mate! I have a 22 hornet had it for years great for spotlighting , I pay $37 for a box of 50 (PPU) n they shoot well through it . So it’s not hugely more expensive than HMR and 22 mag but a hell of a lot more punch!
Expensive, terrible for plinking, questionable extra power. 17hmr is good when there is no wind. Anything you can use a 22wmr or 17hmr a .223 will do it better at similar money.
They have niche purposes if range or noise is an issue. For the average Aussie shooter, waste of time.
Never really seen the point in either cartridge, to be honest - if you want more than a .22LR then something like .357 Magnum or .223 will do the trick and be more versatile.
.17HMR is accurate but extremely sensitive to wind, IME.
With recent hike in feed costs, they’re definitely becoming more and more irrelevant.
Trailboss loads in 223 are cheaper and more effective with similar range and sound. Not as flat as hmr and no good it you don’t reload.
Saying all that, I know people with both that still love them.
I dont think they are dead. They seem to have a bit of a cult following. I used to have a 22mag the only reason I had it was for culling cows. Needed just a bit more than a 22 to break the skull bone but not blow the head apart, distance was only ever 10-30 ft. Got rid of it as like everybody has said other rifles can do the same job and more.
I can see back in the day when rabbits were plentiful it would have reached out that little further than the 22LR but now the 223 is often needed as they are that far out and “Hunter Aware”
Yeah I had a .222 trail boss load that cost next to nothing to load and was dynamite on bunnys and quiet, no recoil.
I can see how 17hmr and 22 mag would be good if you didn’t reload, but why wouldn’t you reload?
17 hornet would smoke the hmr and there’s about 400 .22 centrefires that’ll smash the 22mag.
I haven’t seen a 22WMR for a bloody long time, however there always seems to be a fair bit of 17 HMR brass on the ground out at the range. They seemed to be quite popular there for a while. I am sure they are handy in certain applications however as others have already eluded to, plenty of reloadable centre fires that do the job a better for cheaper.
Let me know what that 222 Trailboss load was please mate, when you can…
Will do mate
I have a 22mag barrel for my cz455. But was never that impressed by it. It occasionally grouped well. But more often then not would throw the odd flyer that would miss a rabbit at 50 metres.
The 17hmr is much more accurate in my experience. I got it 2013. Mainly because I never thought I would never start reloading and it was cheaper to run than my 223. The 17hmr is a great bunny gun and can handle foxes and cats.
