# .17 HMR on Yotes



## SaugerHunter91 (Dec 6, 2011)

I'm firmly convinced that as long as shot placement is proper that a .17 HMR with the 17gr V-Max is plenty adequate for yotes out to say 125 yards. Does anyone have any personal experience they can testify with as to weather or not this is an effective round? I believe in being as ethical and humane as possible so in most cases I will be using my .223. However there are some instanced where I'd rather use the explosive little .17 because I'd rather not be throwing lead out there and having it travel such distances with houses around.


----------



## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

If you think the 17gr bullet from the 17HMR can kill a yote what would keep it from killing a pet or child? 

I personally don't believe that the 17HMR is enough for yotes. Not enough energy transfer for my taste. Just my opinion. Get some 223 ammo with 40 gr v-max ammo. Those light bullets do the job on light game.


----------



## leupy (Feb 12, 2007)

I suggest you go to "coyotegods" web sight and either research there or pose the question. I will warn you, it might be better to just research the 17HMR, depending on who may respond, they have been known to spank newbies asking questions that have been answered before.


----------



## Muskarp (Feb 5, 2007)

I'd probably keep your shots under 100yds with that. You may want to stay around 75yds. 
I used to shoot Dixie cups full of sand at 200yds. The bullets would exit but were completely intact. They were not flying with enough velocity to damage the ballistic tip. That's probably barely enough energy to penetrate, let alone kill. But that's 200yds and not what you asked.
By comparison, I popped a yote at about 230yds with my .223. Nice loud smack when the bullet hit. Dropped on site. 15 seconds later crawls to it's feet and runs off. Blood all over the snow where it fell. I tracked it for 100 yds and it quit bleeding and I eventually lost its tracks when it ran to a hiking trail that was full of domestic dog tracks. I still scratch my head about that one. They are definitely tough.


----------



## FISNFOOL (May 12, 2009)

The coyotergods recommend the 17 Remington instead.

EXCERPT:

The .17 Rem does what it does based on a combination of speed and bullet construction, and that's bad news when you pile one onto the big ball joint in the front shoulder or in the pelvis. It will take a rib in stride, and even punch through the thin bone of a shoulder blade before turning the lungs to jello, but those ball joints will stop the bullet in it's tracks if you center one, and even though that coyote will usually go down like a pile of rocks, he'll often be back up and in the thick stuff once the initial shock wears off. 
Some people think that this is an indictment of the cartridge, and sufficent reason not to try it, but I'm here to tell you that the .22 centerfires, up to and including the .22-250 and the Swift, will do the same thing with the same hit. 
Varmint bullets are simply not constructed to defeat heavy bone and continue their penetration into the vitals of an animal, and that's about all there is to that. 
The answer is pretty simple, though; just don't shoot them in the ball joints. The overwhelming majority of the coyotes that I kill are standing still and looking at the call, and I carefully shoot them on a vertical center, just behind the shoulder. A little low and the heart is in the bullet path, a little high and the spine takes the hit, a few inches back and the liver and spleen take the damage, and a centered shot is dead in the middle of the lungs. 
From the front a shot into the center of the chest, where the neck joins the body, gives the same result; shredded lungs, a dead coyote, and no exit. 
Gather up a rifle chambered in .17 Rem and give it a try. I can promise you that you'll never blow up another furbearer with a bigger rifle again, once you see what is possible with the little .17. 

FULL ARTICLE
http://www.coyotegods.com/pagepart15.html


----------



## SaugerHunter91 (Dec 6, 2011)

I was actually going through our ammo racks at work tonight and found some 35gr Hornady NTX rounds and I think thats going to be my go to round in these situations. I know for a fact once it hits a yote or anything even remotly hard for that matter that its going to dissintigrate. I've never been sold on the light little .17 as being even half descent on anything larger than a groundhog but I've been running into more and more "sportsman" swearing they've had cosistant clean kills with it. This NTX round looks like the way to go though!


----------



## Nikster (Mar 14, 2007)

FISNFOOL said:


> The coyotergods recommend the 17 Remington instead.
> 
> EXCERPT:
> 
> ...



*GREAT ADVICE.*
There are 2 people that use the 17, for varmit shooting, that I know. Both will NOT shoot beyond the 100yd. range. I was taken aback when I shot these little guys & found out for myself just how lethal these guns are. Even thought about buying one myself.

Nik,


----------



## Slatebar (Apr 9, 2011)

I have never used a HMR so can't help you any on that line... But if you have a 22 Hornet, try loading up some of the 33 gr Speer bullets. You can safely pump those babies out at over 3000 fps. Fun to shoot and deadly on yotes.. have shot several and I don't remember having any exit wounds... But when skinning you will see massive internal destruction and brusing... Also fun to shoot in 223, but some times if loaded to hot they won't make it to the target,,,


----------



## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I once asked a guy who owned a gunshop if the .17 HMR was adequate for coyotes! He laughed in my face and when I appeared not to understand if he was laughing pro or con, he got real serious and told me he has shot many of them with it and NEVER lost one! I highly respected any answers this guy ever gave me about firearms, as he must have owned every one ever made and shot them all. He reloaded most of his own stuff and also was an excellent gunsmith! He did say, for extended shots(150->), he preferred his .223.


----------



## CasualFisherman (May 21, 2004)

I have killed a couple with a 22mag. Looking at the ballistics, that would be the superior rim-fire choice over the 17. I was well under 100 yds though.


----------

