In the land of the rimfire rifle cartridge, the 22 long rifle with its 40-grain bullet remains the most popular round for plinking and light pest control.
However, sometimes a .22LR simply isn’t powerful enough to take on larger varmints, like coyotes, and lacks the muzzle velocity to take down prairie dogs at longer ranges.
To take on these larger critters, you need a rifle cartridge that has more muzzle energy and higher velocity. This situation reminds me of watching Star Trek back when I was a child and listening to Captain Kirk call down to Scotty and tell him, “We need more power!”
And I have no doubt that if Mr. Scott were a ballistician, he would present Captain Kirk with something along the lines of the 22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) or the 17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR).
The 22 WMR, more commonly known as 22 Mag, and 17 HMR are two magnum rimfire cartridges that excel at long range varmint hunting. The 17 HMR is known for its flat trajectory and high muzzle velocity, while the 22 WMR can fire a heavier bullet and really bring the ft-lbs of pain to unsuspecting varmints.
In this article, we compare the 17 HMR vs 22 WMR to help you select the best round for your next bolt action rimfire rifle: https://ammo.com/comparison/17-hmr-vs-22-mag at Ammo.com.