I've been shooting my Ruger 22/45 w/2-6 scope on it at squirrels on the bird feeder lately...don't tell my wife :).

I just got to thinking a Single Six 17 HMR would be pretty fun for squirrel and rabbit hunting, but have never shot one or seen on. Are they pretty accurate? Is the 17 HMR any better than a .22 LR out of handgun for squirrels? I'm sure they give a bit extra range, but I'm not sure my shooting skills would put it to good use. The bird feeder is 41yds from the backdoor, and I can't head shoot em, but I can body shoot them with regularity with the 22/45.

I had a similar thought in getting one for squirrel and turkey hunting in PA. I have the .17 HMR in a contender and a rifle. The contender barrels are 10" and 14".

After shooting those I think I would only shoot a squirrel in the head using the .17 HMR. Assuming I could.

It's super accurate in both contender barrels but pretty hot compared to a .22 LR, in my opinion.

Not answering your question on the single six I guess but just an opinion on the round.

John

You shoot them off the feeder with the 17 hmr your wife's gonna know, squirrel guts everywhere is a dead giveaway A .22 doesn't make as much of a mess.

I'm not planning on shooting squirrels off the feeder all the time.I was just using the feeder distance as a reference for what I would consider my max range for my .22 pistol. I enjoy hunting squirrels and was just wondering how a 17 Hmr pistol would work, but if it's going to blow them up, I may just stick with what I've got.

Explosive results all depends on what bullet you use and where you shoot them.
In my experience, most of the plastic tipped expanding bullets will give you explosive impacts and ruin a lot of meet unless you head shoot them. CCI does make a 20g FMJ and a 20g gamepoint load which would be more appropriate and have shot well for me I shoot the Hornady 17g vmax and it is explosive.

I have a 12" bullberry 17hmr barrel on a contender and can call which eye I shoot on a pdog out to 100 yards. Velocities will typically exceed stated velocities on the box by a small bit. A shorter barrel revolver will likely lose a good bit, but should still be quite effective out to ~100 yards if it is an accurate gun.

Thanks Karl. 100yd squirrel pistol would be fun. Not sure how accurate the Single Six would be with a scope. Also saw the Taurus Tracker option.

The question comes up often on how accurate is this revolver, what kind of accuracy can I expect from this X Y Z pistol . There is no way we can answer that question. All pistols are different and only the owner of said pistol can answer the question by shooting it with different ammo. All we can answer is it should be accurate ,or mine will shoot this, yours may not too many factors to consider. All the members here can give is what ours and we are capable of on the day we shoot. Some days are better than others and some days the planets don't line up and MR Murphy is sitting right there on our shoulders. There are pistols I cant hit a bull in the a@# with, that others can drive tacks with. So how accurate is this pistol only you and your shooting style will be able to say.

Not trying to ruffle any feathers or poke fun, just my .02

HellO:

A while back I bought a Ruger SS Hunter in 17 HMR. I made a nice chest holster for it and figured that I would have an idea rimfire small game and varmint gun. At the time I hunted some state owned land that mandated a rimfire. So I figured that this set up would allow me to extract the most power, so to speak, for something like coyote on state land.

Ok. One day I was shooting and my friend asked what I was shooting. I held it up and at that moment I had an epiphany. I saw that the cylinder gap was HUGE.

I thought to myself, " Wow. What will this gun really do?" I saw results of the hunter propelling a round at 2000 to as high as 2200.

So I rigged up the chronograph and was sadly disappointed. The gun was averaging 1880 for most 17 HMR loads. To me that is way under powered for what I intended to do.

So I gun brokered it.

Now. For squirrels I suspect that it would be ideal in a way. Head shots are quite doable and it would work out on that. A body shot may be a tad messy.

I am just adding my two cents for my experience.