A rimfire magnum that I can love..........
There are many opportunities around the place for shooting small game. From the deck to the back side of the garden is about 150 yards and a big threat to the veggies are the cottontails coming out of the woods. We also have the challenge of hawks eating the chickens....
They are all easy to kill..22 long rifle is plenty of power but at at that range it is kinda hard to hit them....even though my nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away I do not like shooing into the trees with a .22....you can hear the lead 40 grain bullets whining through the air or bouncing around the barn yard....
This fancy Ruger is good for close to (or better than) .5 MOA...fancy trigger..3.5/10x Leupold...about as good as a .22 auto gets...drops 6-8 inches at 100 yards....easy to miss at 150 yards...
![[image]](http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p239/yrusik/004-2.jpg)
This Savage heavy barrel 17 HMR cost 200 bucks...crispy crisp 2 lb Accu-trigger...3x9 Leupold...throws 17 gr bullets into a silly tight groups....surely better than .5 MOA is still air....it is the easiest rifle I have ever shot to hit small targets within a couple of hundred yards.........
![[image]](http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p239/yrusik/002-1.jpg)
Given the ease of hitting small targets within a couple of hundred yards...this round...17 HMR gets my vote...
Byron
I have a Handi-Rifle secured for $150 that I have played...
by Hoot 
, Diversityville, Liberal-sota, Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 02:06 (4547 days ago) @ Byron
with. I haven't had much luck shooting well with it and need to dedicate some time soon.
Does yours show any preference for specific ammo?
this is a replay of the o'conner/keith debates...
and my experience says the bb-diameter .17 doesn't kill as well at longer ranges
no debate here..............
The game targeted is limited to cottontails and chicken hawks....very little is required to kill them...an air gun will get the job done.....
The advantage is the .17 HRM shoots much flatter and is easier to hit with....
If I remember correctly Keith shot tough jackrabbits with solid brass bullets out of a Swift or something at some crazy velocity and the jacks did not even indicate they had be hit....
Byron
no debate here..............
I remember shooting a 22 lr one time and a 222 Rem side by side at a tin can balanced on a limb of a tree maybe 25 yeards away....the 222 made me think I missed so got the 22 long rifle and shot the can off the limb nice as you please....went down there and there were two holes inch apart....the 222 wnet at such igh velocity it never moved the can and it was too close for bullet expansion....can you image the 220 swift at 4000 fps...whooeee.....
.220 Swift -- once evaporated a litter of groundhogs..
by John Meeker , LOL, there. worked as a locksmith in a, Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 18:24 (4547 days ago) @ Gila Jorge
after i shot the sow. Didn't realize what had happened until I walked the 150 yards or so over the meadow and couldn't find the younglings. Looked closer and realized the longish grass was carpeted with fragments of them. Have also picked up just the wings of a crow connected by a gristle string, out of the scattered feathers. 40gr from a early HB Ruger 77; Norma factory ammo. 12 power scope.