[Funshooter]

Just wondering if anyone has had any expiriance with the new little .17 cal revolvers. Been thinking that I'd like another 9 shot .22 fishing gun. Does the short barrel reduce the effectiveness of the .17. I've had a couple .22 mag revolvers and couldn't hit well with them unless they had a 6" or better barrel. Is the .17 any better?
Thanks for your opinions.

 

[MrTuffPaws]

Well, here is a review of the 6.5" .17 tracker
http://www.gunblast.com/TaurusTracker17.htm

From the article

Out of the six and one-half inch barrel, the Hornady seventeen grain V-Max bullet averaged 2168 feet-per-second.

As a rule of thumb, you lose about 50fps per inch of barrel, so that would give you around the neighborhood of 1900fps out of a 2" inch barrel. That's still one hell of a BB gun.

As for accuracy, chances are, the 6" and the 2" are going to be comparable, but the shorter sight radius on the short barrel will make it harder to shoot well. If you can't shoot well with a 22 snub, then chances are, you're going to see the same results with the .17.

 

[Steelheart]

North American Arms couldn't get them to work reliably and I don't see them for sale new much anymore. I know that CDNN has them for cheap.
http://www.naaminis.com/sandy100107.html

I'd rather get a rimfire in one of the 22 flavors for ease of finding ammo. Now if you just want a neat plinker then go for it. I prefer my plinkers to use real cheap ammo.

Steelheart

 

[adam731432]

According to gunblast the .17's are very efficient cartridges ,because they loose velocity with any barrels over 16"s. I don't know if they have enough velocity & energy out of a short barreled revolver to expand or do any good besides poke a BB sized hole in it.

 

[Funshooter]

Thanks for the info and the links. I've also been looking for something a little bigger than a .22 rifle for general camp and truck varmit gun, but not a full hunting rifle. The .17 in a carbine or short rifle might be just the ticket.

 

[adam731432]

They have came out with a few new rounds for the .17 HMR including a hollow point and soft point for larger game instead of fragmenting ballistic tipped varmint rounds. You mite want to look into the new CCI GAMEPOINT that are 20 grains instead of the usual 17grains and are hollow points.

A .22mag would be more consistent on coyotes but no rim fire should be used past 100 yards on anything as big as a yote. With the correct shot placement a .17hmr can be more effective than the .22mag.

 

[Funshooter]

I probably don't need much more than the old .22LR. About all I'd use it for is snakes and turtles out fishing.