Up to this point, all I have done with the Savage BVSS is punch paper, and have not had a bad group with either the 17 grain nor the 20 grain bullets, with most groups in the 3/4" range at a hundred yards. I also haven't noticed a huge POI change when shifting back and forth between the two. The rifle now wears a Bushnell 4200 Elite 4 X 16 from Jon at the optic zone, and I shimmed the trigger with .025 shim stock front and rear, as well as cutting a couple of coils off the trigger spring which resulted in a clean breaking trigger around the 3 to 4 pound range. Hard to tell without a gauge, but I'm very happy with the trigger as it's much better than it was.
A group of crows decided to molest the bird feeder the other day, and now think better than to try again. My wife has a couple of bird feeders on the place, one about a hundred yards from the house near the barn. I looked out the window and had a dozen or so crows feeding on the ground below it......well, I had been waiting to try the hummer on something other than paper......anyway, I had the rifle zeroed for 100 yards with the 20 grain Hornady XTP and the range to the crows was with in a yard or so of a hundred. Perfect! Opened the window, put the front bag on the window seal, then the forearm on the bag, zoomed the scope up to 12 power or so...placed the cross hairs dead center of the bird, .took a deep breath and while exhaling slowly squeezed the trigger......... Yes, I was able to watch the whole episode through the scope!
I hit the crow with the 20 grain pill near center but slightly low. The 20 grain XTP passed straight through the crow, doing very little damage, ricochetted off the ground and knocked a hole through a 1/2" pine fence board about 10 inches high on the fence which was roughly 8 feet beyond the crow. It looks like the bullet expanded as it passed through the board and removed a quarter sized hunk of wood from the back. I spread the bird out and it measured 34" from wing tip to wing tip, and 18 inches from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail......I left him out hoping to get another shot when the crows came back to preach his funeral.......something made off with him in the middle of the night, not a feather to be found in the morning. Darn.....no chance at a second one!
I had heard of the destructive nature of the little .17 on small varmits and decided that the 20 grain would be the way to go on larger varmits but was suprised that the 20 grain bullet didn't vaporize the crow....something that my .243 and 85 grain BTHP's always do.... I really wanted the hummer because of a lowered chance of ricochet but that doesn't look like the case with the 20 grain Hornady XTP. I see no reason to believe the 20 grain XTP wouldn't be a fair yote load,as penetration doesn't seem to be problem. I have, however, zeroed with the .17 grain bullet, and will be using them on any future crows....
Also, for those in need of ammo, I stopped by Dicks sporting goods today and picked up 4 boxes of CCI 17 grain for $6.98 a box......I also stopped by Walley World and priced the same ammo at $9.48....Lowest prices every time.....Yaa....right!
So far, I really like the .17 HMR but have not used it enough on game to learn it's effectiveness......There are many posts on several forums with a mixed bag on game the size of a coyote....some claim certain death.....others wouldn't use it at all.........certainly accurate enough......The 20 grain XTP would be my choice at this point......now if I can just get one of those willey wascal yotes in range.......I'd sure give the hummer a try...... just to see which side is correct......I'm betting the hummer with the 20 grain XTP will do the job just fine.......after all, as is said here on Greybeard by someone......dead is dead!
