The 17 HMR. The particular one that we upgraded to was the Ruger American and so far I have been very impressed. With mobile slaughter all of our shots are extremely close up, the livestock are in a small area of confinement decreasing the chances of missing. So it was a little tricky to adjust the sites to compensate for this short range.
What I did was take the iron sights that were on the Ruger American which have the Ruger butterfly system they have been using for years and we actually flipped it around. There is a set of two screws of the iron sights and I flipped it over to the other side. This way it operates as a standard iron sight gun instead of the Ruger factory set up.
Most of the time we only shoot within two three feet for the animal, but we definitely need to know exactly where that bullet is going. With this new Ruger Rim Fire American 17 HMR we have enough velocity to get a really good knockdown and we're placing the rounds right on in the target zone. Which is always in the forehead right above the eyes. This is a difficult place to shoot especially if the pig is moving its head around, but this placement is ideal to have the least amount of damage done to the meat.
This rifle did come with an adjustable trigger pull from 5 lbs to 3 lbs making the adjustment down to 3 lbs has really helped to make a quick shot on the moving target. Now of course this head shot placement during longer range hunting will rarely present itself for those out hunting wild hogs, but I still think this would be a great caliber for hunting.
Shot placement is going to be very important during hunting, because you are not going to get a bunch of long range knock down with this caliber. With that all being said I think the 17 HMR would be an excellent caliber for kids just starting to hunt, because it has a powerful enough long range knock down with no kick. I think a BB gun has more kick than this thing.
If you do happen to get one of these rifles out to the field for pig hunting and are successful in bagging you a pig 🐗 to place in the freezer. Give our pig skinning video a watch to learn our tips and tricks making skinning a pig easier and manageable by oneself. It will also teach you the final cuts that you will find in the store like Boston butts, pork chops, and ribs all without the use of any high dollar equipment. A high place to hang it and a sharp knife 🔪 is all you need.
In our mobile Slaughter unit this has definitely become our go-to rifle and an upgrade that we much appreciate.
