Best caliber for goats?

Update on the goat caliber saga...

I went south to a large property near Tamaranuie a few weekends ago to help them with some pest control, mostly rabbits, turkeys and goats.

I took my FX wildcat in .177 shooting KO slugs at 22FPE (Little Emma), and my .22LR shooting subsonics at about 90FPE, and my 22-250.
The owners were keen to fill their freezers so said any rabbits, turkeys or goats I got they would be interested in.
They also said if I find any deer I could take a few for my self, and some for them.

Using Little Emma I took a bunch of rabbits and 3 turkeys, most of which I gave to the farm owners.
Using my .22LR I took 5 goats. 4 of them were at about 30 to 50yards, and one was lying down at just over 100 yards.
Two of these were young and edible, so they went to the farm owners.
Unfortunately we never found any deer.

My little .22LR performed well out to 50yards, which is what I have it zeored at.
The 105yard shot required a lot of careful aiming, I was using a normal optical scope (no fancy digital, ballistic calculators) with a plain 30/30 reticle, so no hold over points. I knew that the drop at 100 was about 30cm so I needed to aim up above its back.
The shot was good, a touch lower on the chest then I would have liked, but still a dead goat, it is the black and white billy in the picture.

After the above discussions in this thread on the pros and cons of different calibers, many hours of youtube research, and that weekends goats at 30 to 50yards and the one at just over 100yards with subsonic .22LR, I've decided to look deeper into the reported virtues of the .17HMR, using the 20gr soft nose and hollow point bullets.

So I made some purchases, and last friday was rimfire range day
I upgraded the scope on my .22LR to a hawke Vantage with mil dots for hold over and zeored it at 50yards, and I sighted in the two .17HMR's that I have aquired, zeroing them at 100yards.

At a dollar a pop, they are not cheep to shoot, but I'm looking forward to getting to know them and seeing if I think I'm capable of using them for goats.

Hahaha yep, but these are already stuffed at poit of impact hahaha

Just a thought, had a friend who used to (and probably still does) shoot a 22-250 for goats.

Was looking at this video last night

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=viatCbGtdZ8

I agree with you, all are underrated, and as always, shot placement is always vital.

I’ve been watching quite a few of these hunting and comparison videos on you tube about the 17HMR, trying to educate myself without actually being able to shoot one..
There is no doubt that it is a fierce little round. The videos of it penetrating steel plates are very impressive.

The video of the guy culling impala is all close range stuff, although he seems to have grass in front of his scope in every shot???
In Africa “management culling” is usually done from a vehicle because you can get much closer than on foot.
The description says it well when he says wind, twigs and blades of grass are the undoing of that little 20gr bullet.

As I type this I’m looking at a 13.4gr .177 Spyda slug sitting on my desk in front of me, and I'm thinking a 17gr or 20gr .177 is not going to be that much bigger than that tiny little piece of lead…!

The guy who shot the pig was also close, 19 yards. He shot it in the neck, below the spine which is why it dropped from the initial shock, but got up and left as it recovered.
But I do believe if he had shot it in the brain it would have dropped DRT, like the impala.

I've also been looking into what .17HMR ammo is available these days.
Up to now I thought .17HMR ammo was only available as varmint rounds like the very hot V-Max. The soft nose and FMJ's are new to me.

One thing that irritates me is how everyone talks about how those little bullets explode and that’s why they are so deadly...
What crap.
Bullets don’t explode. Dynamite explodes. C4 explodes, hand-grenades explode.
Bullets don’t explode.

Depending on the bullets design, and its intended use, a bullet will either not change shape at all (solids/FMJ), partly deform, i.e. mushroom (softs/soft nose/hollow point), or fragment into little pieces (frangible).

When the .17HMR was first released 20 odd years ago it was intended as a varmint round, for use on varmints and small game such as squirrels, ground squirrels, rabbits, hares, ground hogs etc. which are all hare sized or smaller.
The bullets were designed to be frangible, meaning they are made with a very light construction and are intended to fragment into tiny pieces and come to a stop within a few centimetres of impact. Which is why they create massive but shallow trauma. They were never designed to give penetration. If you are shooting a squirrel or rabbit size animal, all you need is massive but shallow trauma, and you've already penetrated more than half way through the animal. Usually DRT.

One of the youtube videos I watched the guy said after much testing he decided he would rather use a .22mag (40grain bullet) over a .17HMR for racoons, because the .17HMR just doesn’t penetrate enough to get to the vitals on a racoon.

The addition of soft nose and FMJ bullets in .17HMR ammo changes the applications of what you can do with a .17HMR.
However most people still seem to be using them for racoon / coyote size animals and smaller.

Could you cull a goat (impala or pig) with a 20yard head shot from a .17HMR and the correctly constructed (soft nose or FMJ) bullet? Absolutely, I have no doubt the penetration would be achieved and it would drop like a stone.
Should we be shooting goats at 100 or 150 yards with a .17HMR? I’m not sold on that yet.
My gut feel is still that a 17 or 20gr projectile (soft or solid, defiantly not the frangible ones) is still too small and light for a goat size animal. A goats humorous, scapula or even a rib is going to severely impact the penetration of a 20gr projectile, but I’ll reserve my judgement until I’ve had the chance to play with one.

I would love to have one with some of the frangible V-max rounds for some long range bunnies though!

And with a decent suppressor, bipod or on a tripod

Edited by Billbobnz - 16 Nov 2024 at 4:52pm