Guest Swat791 Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 I received a Marlin 917V for a Father's Day gift this year. After looking at different scopes I finally chose a Bushnell 4-12x40, I mounted the scope and got her sighted in. Next decision was bullets. I decided to use the Hornady XTP 20 gr. bullets. There are not a whole lot of bullet choices in .17HMR, but I decided to go with the Hornady XTP 20 grain bullets. The main reason is because I have had really good results with Hornady brand ammunition vs. others brands. The 20 grain was chosen because I wanted a bullet that would retain most if not all of its weight and would not fragment like the 17 grain polymer tipped bullets. I sighted the rifle in at 100 yards, 3 shot groups could be covered with a nickel, in a wind of less than 5 mph. After shooting a box of bullets I was sold on the Marlin 917V .17 caliber. This “sweetie” is not very loud, no recoil, fast and fun to shoot! Next to try this out on some game. While doing a little research on the .17 HMR most of what I heard about this little pill size bullet is it is nothing more than a “hotrod” rabbit, squirrel and short range prairie dog gun. I was curious to see what it would do, despite the general consensus of so many that it will not kill anything bigger than a ground hog. The Hunt: Saturday (08-27-05) morning I headed to our lease for some Blackbuck Antelope management with my "Sweet Seventeen." I am running a little later than I want but manage to get out there before the sun comes up. I head down the dirt road to the pasture that Tammy, my wife, hunts and there was a herd of about 30 Blackbuck Antelope. We all freeze looking at each for a couple of seconds before they break and run and I grab a gun. These critters do not like 4-wheelers in the pastures! As they all run in different directions one decided to stop and take one last look at what was on the dirt road. I grabbed my range finder and ranged her at 104 yards. I then rested my Marlin 917V .17HMR across my .243 that was in the gun rack (the .243 makes a fine rest in the rack) put the cross hairs dead on the shoulder and squeeze one round off. The gun made its firecracker “pop” and immediately after that I could hear Thwack!, as the bullet struck its intended target. The antelope kicked its back legs like a bareback horse at a rodeo, then she takes off running. My view was blocked by a mesquite tree, so I was not able to keep her in sight. I waited a couple of minutes and headed into the pasture she was standing in to try and find her. I drove out to where she was standing and made a right turn to follow her path. There she was only about 50 yards from where I shot her. One down! After inspecting the shot at the skinning rack I noticed that the bullet went in the right shoulder, thought the top of the heart, both lungs and exited her left side. The bullet stayed in tack and retained its weight. Later that evening I headed out to locate another Blackbuck doe. I set up under a big oak tree along a large rock wall. The antelope usually enter the open field about 100-150 yards from where I sat. I was going to prone out at the drip line of the big oak tree, but the fire ants were very active. On top of all that the weeds would have blocked my field of view, so I decided just to stand against the tree and wait. Two Blackbuck Antelope does came from the left and crossed the dirt road. As I was trying to get a good rest the older one saw me move. She stopped and turned. She was facing me. I found a good “V” in the tree so I jabbed the forearm of the Marlin in the "V" and ranged the antelope. She was 154 yards away. The gun was zeroed in for 100 yards, but a ballistic calculator I found stated that the bullet would drop about 3.2" for a 150 yard shot. I put the cross hair right on her nose and squeezed the trigger. The "V" provided a very steady rest for the Marlin. The rifle made its "Crack" and I saw the antelope buckle in her tracks. I looked through the scope and she didn’t move. I continued watching for about five minutes and she was motionless. I headed to my 4-wheeler so I could pick up the second Blackbuck Antelope of the day. I had a great time in search of these mystical creatures. After getting her to the skinning rack I inspected the wound a little more in detail. The bullet entered dead center of the throat and exited the spine, taking a small piece with it as well as shattering the vertebra above and below it. Then it entered again in between the shoulder blade. The Hornady XTP 20 grain bullet did a great job on quickly bringing down the Blackbuck Antelope and retaining its weight. I am impressed with the accuracy of the Marlin 917V and of the accuracy of the Hornady XTP 20 grain bullet. Sweet .17 Rising Sun Outdoors.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR Did you hunt these bucks in Texas cause in Texas its illegal to take a deer witha rimfire rifle according to the regs. maybe its different for blackbuck antellope. sounds like you had fun none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrophies Posted September 7, 2005 Report Share Posted September 7, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR [ QUOTE ] Did you hunt these bucks in Texas cause in Texas its illegal to take a deer witha rimfire rifle according to the regs. maybe its different for blackbuck antellope. sounds like you had fun none the less. [/ QUOTE ] Here is the quote from the 2005-2006 hand book put out by TPWD: [ QUOTE ] Game animals and game birds may be hunted with any legal firearm, EXCEPT: • white-tailed deer, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope may NOT be hunted with rimfire ammunition of any caliber. [/ QUOTE ] The blackbuck antelope is considered an exotic and therefore, it does not follow the regs of the whitetail deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR interesting a blackbuck antelope is not in the same caliber as the others .... interesting thanks for the clarification ... FYI i did look that up thats why I was asking i read the same thing ... still seems like poaching to me lol even thought its legal seems like cheating that antelope never even knew what hit him he never heard it coming ... again thanks for clearing it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutchies Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR [ QUOTE ] still seems like poaching to me lol even thought its legal seems like cheating that antelope never even knew what hit him he never heard it coming ... again thanks for clearing it up. [/ QUOTE ] So what about the WSSM calibers. They are capable of astonishing FPS speeds. 243 WSSM 95 grain ballistic silvertip comes out the barrel at 3250FPS and at 100 yards it is still at 3000 FPS. So you are saying that shooting the Blackbuck with the WSSM cartridge is poaching because they don't have time to hear the shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] still seems like poaching to me lol even thought its legal seems like cheating that antelope never even knew what hit him he never heard it coming ... again thanks for clearing it up. [/ QUOTE ] So what about the WSSM calibers. They are capable of astonishing FPS speeds. 243 WSSM 95 grain ballistic silvertip comes out the barrel at 3250FPS and at 100 yards it is still at 3000 FPS. So you are saying that shooting the Blackbuck with the WSSM cartridge is poaching because they don't have time to hear the shot. [/ QUOTE ] Um no I said shooting them with a rifire is a buncha crap thats all I said about I have my opinion on this i voiced it and I will not defend myself on this .... BTW I am not the only one on this forum who thinks this I thihnk it would surprise you who else thinks its a buncha crap ... I really get tired of ppl on these forums tryiong to drag everyone down that doesnt have there opinion on something ppl like you cant debate you just voice your opinion ina criticizing manner personally I am sick of it on the boards here I dont come here to get ridiculed for my opinion. The 17 Cal RIMFIRE makes 3/4 the noise your 243 does ... Fact a rimfire is the #1 weapon a poacher uses in Iowa to poach Whitetail anything else you wanna tear into me about. PM keep it off the boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR PMs sound like a good plan guys, if you want to argue. I guess if it's legal, it's legal eh. Glad it was a clean shot. Personally, I don't think I'd want to use a rimfire on such a magnificent species either, but my bow sure is quiet Are exotics considered varmits down there in Texas?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowtechTurkeyHunter Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR Sorry wasnt meant to start an arguement just tired of this all the time for the record I said it was a lot LIKE poaching and then stated that the number one weapon used in poaching in IOWA for that reason thats all I was saying ... not very sportman like if you ask me. Thats all I was saying well then the other stuff too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ronin Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR I'd be hesitant to shoot a deer size animal but I did drop a 30 lb bobcat in it's tracks at 80 yards. I had the same bullet, or so I thought, and interestingly it penetrated the ribcage on the left side and blew up inside. Nothing came out the other end. I think the bullet hit a rib and was obliterated. My only issue with this cartridge is windage. It seems to be really affected by crosswinds at about 100 yards onwards. I've missed things with the 17 that I would have never missed with my .222 Remington. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutchies Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR Not trying to start an arguement but it seemed like you were trying to put this guy down for shooting it with a rimfire caliber. I was simply questioning why your reasoning in why you said that they did not even have time to hear when the WSSM are much faster and I seriously doubt they would hear it before they got hit. I personally would have been using the .30-06 with some 140 grain managed recoil shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ronin Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR I think the vast majority of rifle ammo would negate the hearing of the shot prior to the bullet striking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bowhunterforlife Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: Blackbuck with my .17HMR i love the .17, takes a squirrels head off at 70 yds, i shoot wood chucks at 160 yds and its deadly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RisingSunOutdoors Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 I forgot I posted this over here... The .17 HMR is a good little round and does the trick. I may have to pull it out again and shoot a couple more since deer season is over. This time it will be head shots at 400 yards. J/K...75 to 100 yards is more like it. I'll have to get the .243 out for the long shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 the .17 is, imho, just too light for a big game animal. i know it can be done, if hit correctly. i also know that a LOT can go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTSIDER Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 I love the .17hmr...but shooting anything other than coyote sized game and smaller with it is unethical to me...I feel sorry for anything larger than that shot with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardwood_HD Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 how big is one of these antelope?? i shot a pumpkin at 100 yrds with my .17 and the bullet fragmented inside the thing.. i cant believe the extra 3gr would have that much of a difference.. ill stick to squirrels with mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davetucker Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 if its your gun weapon of choice i don't think it matters who cares.noise i don't care once i pull the trigger on my 270 ,30-06,25-06,45-70,once the trigger is pulled even if they hear it they ain't gonna move fast enough to get out of the way unless it's some matrix bullcrap,the .17hmr does'nt make much noise but neither does a bow nobody ridicules this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.