Much Fuddery in this
The .17 Remington. Richard Mann
I shot my first .17 caliber—it was a wildcat called the .17 O’Brien Mach IV—in 1976 on a prairie dog hunt, and noticed two things about it: First, the wind, no matter how light, toyed with its tiny bullets; second, a not-insignificant number of prairie dogs dragged themselves off to die rather than expiring instantly. I next used a .17 30 years later, and saw exactly the same thing. The combination of miniscule bullets and hyper velocity may have some entertainment value for some hunters, but for whatever is being shot, it does not.
The 10 Most Overrated Cartridges
They aren't bad cartridges, per se. They are rounds that, like the 7mm Mag and .22 Mag, just aren't what they're cracked up to be.
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1. The .17s—All of Them
The .17 Remington. Richard Mann
I shot my first .17 caliber—it was a wildcat called the .17 O’Brien Mach IV—in 1976 on a prairie dog hunt, and noticed two things about it: First, the wind, no matter how light, toyed with its tiny bullets; second, a not-insignificant number of prairie dogs dragged themselves off to die rather than expiring instantly. I next used a .17 30 years later, and saw exactly the same thing. The combination of miniscule bullets and hyper velocity may have some entertainment value for some hunters, but for whatever is being shot, it does not.