17 Mach 2

[Captain Midnight]

Gentlemen:
What would be the Maximun Point Blank Range to sight in a new 17 M2? My son gave me one for my birthday and it is NOW TIME to get it ready for PA ground hogs.
Thanks in advance. Your comments are always appreciated.............. Captain

[AkMike]

You should ask the guys over at rimfirecentral.com about this. It'd be real hard to cast for this boolit.

[35remington]

Probably 100 yards, as it's essentially the same trajectory as a .22 magnum. Forget the maximum point blank range concept because you need to place the shot precisely with this little cartridge. I wouldn't tolerate much deviation from line of sight.

Problem with shooting groundhogs further than that is that the .17 M2 and the .17 HMR aren't exactly great groundhog killers. I would suggest less than 75 yards if you are talking body shots. For head shots, let the weather conditions determine how far.
All the rimfires have pretty substantial wind drift, and windy days make things tough.

A 100 to 150 yard body shot with the M2 on a groundhog means the groundhog makes it down the hole.

Head shots aren't humane either unless you can hit the brain.

Frankly, take the .223 or .22-250 along too. The problem with the rimfire .17's is that you can hit with them (on calm days) further than you can kill cleanly with them. You must figure that at ranges of around 125-150 yards and further the little plastic tipped M2 bullets don't expand very well. This problem also plagues the HMR, but a bit further downrange. The plastic tipped bullet works well only when velocities are high, and that means the closer, the better.

[Scrounger]

Go whole hog and get the .17 Remington. It is flat enought to work that way all the way out to 200 yards. Recoil is nearly non-existant. Power is adequate for groundhogs, even with body shots to 250 yards or so. And if you reload, and you should, it's cheaper to shoot than the .17 HMR.

[StarMetal]

Captain Midnight,

As much as I hate to admit it...[smilie=b:....Scrounger is right about this one. I didn't want to say anything since your son bought it for you as gift, but now that the bird is out of the cage...ALL the gun rag writers that tested it....and Rick Jamison being one who is very knowledgeable.....said it's definately not for anything bigger then a ground squirrel. He said it's even very minimum on praire dogs and definately ruled out coyotes and groundhogs. Sure...you'll report back that you killed groundhogs..but it's not a groundhog gun extroidinaire.

Joe

[jh45gun]

I cannot figure it lots of folks who think anything under a 30/06 is marginal buy these guns ( both the hummer and this one) and go nuts figureing they will kill larger critters like groundhogs, coons and yotes, kinda contrary???? I would say it would make a great tree rat gun and they are good for target shooting at longer distances than the 22 LR. Even with my 22 mag I would stick with shorter distances maybe 75 yards and under. Once you start getting out at a 100 yards and farther its centerfire territory. Your son bought you a nice gift but I would limit it to tree rats and targets and other SMALL critters at a reasonable distance.

[StarMetal]

jh45gun,

I believe you have alot to learn about 22 magnums. You sound like the gunrag writers back in the 60's that it was barely more powerful then a 22 long rifle and costs a whole hell lot more. Fact is a 22 mag hollowpoint will take small game such as the size of groundhogs, redfox....plus cats out to 150 yards EASY. I've shot 22 mags since 1964. Let me tell you about their power. I don't know if you remember on railroad cars on the truck assemblies they use to use babblit bearings and they had a journel box between the wheels filled with like a wool and soaked with oil to lubricate the bearings. There's a STEEL cover on this box and it's about 1/8 inch thick. Well my best friend and I found one of these and set it up at 100 yards. They are about a foot square. We fired at it with 22 mag hollow point and a 22 long rifle hollow point. The 22 mag punche neat little hole clean through it and all the 22 LR did was left a lead splatter on it, WITHOUT even dimpling it. So don't be telling us about 22 magnums because you sure don't know about them.

Joe