.17 or .204?

[Mr.James]

Any experienced hunters/shooters on the site?

I've been shooting since I was a kid, rabbits, & foxes, and the occasional deer.

I've used .17 , 22 , .22-250 , .220 swift & 270

But I'm looking at buying a new rifle & having trouble deciding between a .17 HMR (new .17 rimfires) or .17 fireball or .204 calibers. (thought about .223 but it maybe too big..)

Shooting ranges 100-350yards, need it to be very accurate.

My mate's got an awsome custom .17 rem mach IV, we been getting foxes up to 250m & rabbits up to150m easy. (head shots only)

I have recently been reading about the .17 rimfires but not sure if they are going to be as good as the old centrefires?? & What are .204's like in comparison? I've read mixed reviews? I want the extra weight and range but do they really make a mess of the pelts?

Any good experience and info would be great to hear.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[grizz]

I have herd the .204 is the new black! my brother was recently trialing a few, 223, 22 250 and the 204. he felt the 17 was a little small and was more likely to be effected by wind etc. He has been out with a fellow and used his 204 on 2-3 different accasions and has since placed the order to aquire.

Cheers Stephen.

 

[Mr.James]

Hey Stephen, the .204 seem to be pretty good, I have never fired one.. Do you know what brand he's getting?

 

[grizz]

Hey Stephen, the .204 seem to be pretty good, I have never fired one.. Do you know what brand he's getting?

Not off the top of my head, he was tossing up between a couple. I'll call him tomorrow and ask and let you know.

Cheers, Stephen.

 

[Mr.James]

thanks mate.

 

[cris]

I have recently been reading about the .17 rimfires but not sure if they are going to be as good as the old centrefires?? & What are .204's like in comparison? I've read mixed reviews? I want the extra weight and range but do they really make a mess of the pelts?

Mess will depend on bullet type as much as the caliber. If you are interested in skin i wouldnt bother with the newer calibers, they are made to go flat and go splat...

Rimfires can be as accurate as centerfires, but have less power and cant be reloaded.

 

[Mr.James]

Mess will depend on bullet type as much as the caliber. If you are interested in skin i wouldnt bother with the newer calibers, they are made to go flat and go splat...

Rimfires can be as accurate as centerfires, but have less power and cant be reloaded.

Yeah, I'm thinking .204 maybe too much for the closer range shots.. the new .17 magnum rimfires are apparently pretty good & cheap to stock ammo. But I'm worried they maybe just a tad too weak with the longer range shots.. & we'll the .17 centrefires seen to be the way to go maybe.. can re-load and they have great range, just depends on the weather and terrain I suppose..

 

[cris]

Yeah, I'm thinking .204 maybe too much for the closer range shots.. the new .17 magnum rimfires are apparently pretty good & cheap to stock ammo. But I'm worried they maybe just a tad too weak with the longer range shots.. & we'll the .17 centrefires seen to be the way to go maybe.. can re-load and they have great range, just depends on the weather and terrain I suppose..

For long range the bigger the better, if i was getting a rifle for shooting deer and 250 yard shots i wouldnt get anything less than a .243 or high powered .22 magnum but most of the time you would be better off with something small and less hard on the ears... if it was simple they wouldnt make so many cailbers :lol: If you reload just go something with plenty of power and just use lighter reloads when you dont need the power.

That said just get a .416 barret, then you can extend your range to about 2.5km and any animals shot will be preskinned :lol:

 

[wranga]

had a 223 a while ago. was the best rifle that i had. found it to be a great allround rifle for medium to large game

 

[townsvillepython]

LOL cris go the barret I,ve got a .375 H&H for pigs bit tooooo big for rabbits and foxes

 

[jack]

.375 is a bit much for pigs too.... unless they are bloody big pigs

 

[Mr.James]

.375 is huge! But I suppose alot of people don't wanna eat their kills or unless your head shooting...but even then..I prefer the lower calibers, that way you can eat a good kill, keep the pelts/skins, and trophy mount the heads if they are worth keeping. Just my opinion, I'm not into blowing **** up! LOL

I've been doing more research and leaning towards to .204 ruger caliber, maybe a savage or weatherby stock.
The ammo is so over priced!! Thats the only bad thing, around $60 a 20pack of rounds. Double alot of other calibers ammo.

 

[Kupres]

.223 Is an excelent small cal round.... It is a great round cuz there is so much available out there to customize your gun & amo for accuracy (i gather that is what you are looking for) Dont read Ozzie stuff,,, Read what blokes are doing in the states...They are the best.. (Get all your gear from the states) Do things like primer seat tooling, Neck turning,, Run some match powders & get a match triger & float your barel... Or just buy a UNIQUE ALPINE in .223 & dont do anything.. But the reason i say .223 is cuz you can get some pretty trick projectiles out there for that cal. Lets face it, the projectile is what is gunna be doing the thumping...So get some trick if not custom made projectiles... All this is just my oppinion based on doing all this stuff for the last 5 yrs... But you will find there are a million ideas out there,,, The only thing anyone is going to agree on is 1. accuracy = money... & 2. knock down power is a combination of projectile weight X speed X projectile expansion..

 

[townsvillepython]

lol i got sucked into buying the cannon i dont eat what i kill i sell it to the meat works for dog food

 

[Goodoo]

Go the 204. I have one, very flat shooting. I recon it is the best fox gun you can get. It does the job on fallow deer if you are only going for head shots. You will need to reload though if you want best accuracy. Remington primers are the best and do not use Federal amo as their primers will blow through. The standard load which gives the best acuracy is 27.5g of 2206H with the 39g siera BK projectiles.

 

[Mr.James]

Go the 204. I have one, very flat shooting. I recon it is the best fox gun you can get. It does the job on fallow deer if you are only going for head shots. You will need to reload though if you want best accuracy. Remington primers are the best and do not use Federal amo as their primers will blow through. The standard load which gives the best acuracy is 27.5g of 2206H with the 39g siera BK projectiles.

GREAT! Thats exactly what I wanted to hear. Definately going the .204 bought a pack of Remington .204 ruger premier accutip's 32g just to check them out. Now just gotta decide on which rifle to use, tossing up between the Remington 700's, Savage 25 , or Weatherby vangaurd.

It's the hardest part...& they aint cheap!

Planning to learn how to reload, a friend does all his reloading for .17 & 22-250 so should have too much trouble. I'll look into 27.5g loads and siera BK projectiles.

Thanks for the advice Goodoo.

Doing abit of fox shooting tonight with the .17 rem, got quite a few in the last month. Little rippers too.

 

[cris]

.223 Is an excelent small cal round.... It is a great round cuz there is so much available out there to customize your gun & amo for accuracy (i gather that is what you are looking for) Dont read Ozzie stuff,,, Read what blokes are doing in the states...They are the best.. (Get all your gear from the states) Do things like primer seat tooling, Neck turning,, Run some match powders & get a match triger & float your barel... Or just buy a UNIQUE ALPINE in .223 & dont do anything.. But the reason i say .223 is cuz you can get some pretty trick projectiles out there for that cal. Lets face it, the projectile is what is gunna be doing the thumping...So get some trick if not custom made projectiles... All this is just my oppinion based on doing all this stuff for the last 5 yrs... But you will find there are a million ideas out there,,, The only thing anyone is going to agree on is 1. accuracy = money... & 2. knock down power is a combination of projectile weight X speed X projectile expansion..

Yeah .223 is a great round, the good millitary bullets are cheap and are ideal for larger animals, bullet variety and price of any .22 centerfires are advantages worth considering.

Check out the performance of a .223 in ballistic gelatin. Obviously more powerful .22's would do better.

 

[shamous1]

Depends

It depends on the distance of the shot.

I've got both. From memory you can pick up the .17HMR for around $700 brand new with thumb hole stock. The Tikka T3 will et you back probably around $1,200.

Then add your scopes etc to suit both.


I have a .17HMR made by savage - it has the thumbhole stock as pictured in the first pic. Mine also has the heavy barrel.

I also have the Tikka T3 in .204. It's stainless and has the heavy varmint barrell as listed in the second pic.

 

[Mr.James]

Shamous1 how's that savage feel to handle and shoot? I wrote the wrong model before I'm looking at the savage model 12 BTCSS varmint series. In .204. Do you know what price they go for in Melbourne? Tikka's are good too but I prefer the wood stocks & they are like $2000 aren't they in tikka?

Nice rifles mate, if I had heaps of cash I'd ideally get a .17HMR & .204 aswell. Sweet scopes too, what are they? I got a leupold and Nikko scopes but they are fairly old.

 

[Southside Morelia]

Huh, Great minds Shamous..... lol

I have the Brno 452 17HMR nickel, mounted with a genuine silver Nikon 3-9x40 from the states awesome glass and am getting the T3 camo tomorrow....tossing up the .243 or .308, for pigs, deer etc, can't decide just yet... :lol: What do you guys think???
The 17 is a dream to shoot and hell accurate! Although a wind does affect the small projectile. Hornady Vmax Ballistic tips are the go.

QUOTE=shamous1;1511296]It depends on the distance of the shot.

I've got both. From memory you can pick up the .17HMR for around $700 brand new with thumb hole stock. The Tikka T3 will et you back probably around $1,200.

Then add your scopes etc to suit both.


I have a .17HMR made by savage - it has the thumbhole stock as pictured in the first pic. Mine also has the heavy barrel.

I also have the Tikka T3 in .204. It's stainless and has the heavy varmint barrell as listed in the second pic.

[/QUOTE]