Thread: >17's

Originally Posted by .375H&H

It seems theres some confusion with 223's which to me sit a little odd in the market as I personally think this round is to large for rabbits and magpies and to small for deer and pigs.

I'm looking to shoot out to 400, 500 yards max! So the poor .22 just doesn't cut it anymore.

I'd like an out of the box set up just for ease of ammunition but if a wildcat is going to deliver I guess i'll just have to bight the bullet and invest in some reloading gear.

I personally agree with your statement regarding the .223. For me too it seems to be somewhere in the middle of 'no man's land', however, it does appear to have it's share of followers and devotees!

At the lower end of the scale I have a .22LR, for when the going gets tough (financial going that is) also, a .17HMR, and shoot rabbits with the HMR out to 150m sometimes (very rarely) managing 200m, however, if you're wanting to shoot rabbits out to 4 or 500 yards then I'd suggest you're up for something far more than a mere .17 Remington Fireball, or even a .223 for that matter! I also have a .22-250 for medium game (goats, Roos etc) however, firing a 60grain Sierra bullet, if I could nobble rabbits 'consistently' at 350m (I've never done that before) I'd be doing handstands!

Also, there's the cost to consider! It makes me laugh how some forum members are under the illusion that the .17HMR is very cheap to run. If you're one of them then you're either onto a very cheap source of ammo (let me in on it too) or you've never seen rabbits before!

Consider this: My best "day" rabbit shooting netted me 617 "DEAD" (not maimed or wounded) rabbits. I was running a strike rate of 1.39 to 1, so with 857 shots fired at a cost of $0.34 per round ($170 per brick, hate to think what they're costing these days) = $291.59 just for ammo alone for 1 (one) days shooting! So, as you can see, as much as I'm partial to a good day out walking the hills, I always cringe when a mate rings me up and suggests we go for another spot of bunny bashing!(possibly another 4-5 hundred dollars for a day!) But, then again I suppose no ammunition is cheap these days!

My mate tells me he's loading his .22 Hornet, on the cheap, for around 30 - 35 cents per round, but I don't know how he'd get on at 4 or 500 yards either... hopelessly underguned I'd say!