R8 in new small calibers? Anyone use them?

[Tra3]

Do any of you have experience with the new R8 barrels in .17 HMR, .22 WMR, .17 or .22 hornet? I already have the .22 lr barrel and really enjoy using it. I would consider one of the above, or is that duplicative to the .22LR and I should just get a .223?

Just recently we had a 55 degree morning in MN and the air started to smell like fall. Which, in turn, smells like hunting season.

I have a Ruger predator in a .17HMR, I like the caliber but it is an inartful rifle when compared to the R8. A major selling point for me on the R8 little calibers is to “train like you race”.

Good advice here led to a deferral of a pistol purchase when a bear got in my bee hives this spring. (Fence improvement solved the problem.). So, the ministry of home affairs won’t likely object to a new barrel.

 

[John the Electrician]

Do any of you have experience with the new R8 barrels in .17 HMR, .22 WMR, .17 or .22 hornet? I already have the .22 lr barrel and really enjoy using it. I would consider one of the above, or is that duplicative to the .22LR and I should just get a .223?

Just recently we had a 55 degree morning in MN and the air started to smell like fall. Which, in turn, smells like hunting season.

I have a Ruger predator in a .17HMR, I like the caliber but it is an inartful rifle when compared to the R8. A major selling point for me on the R8 little calibers is to “train like you race”.

Good advice here led to a deferral of a pistol purchase when a bear got in my bee hives this spring. (Fence improvement solved the problem.). So, the ministry of home affairs won’t likely object to a new barrel.

I don’t have an R8 but I do have a .22 a .17 HMR and a .223 and a .204.

I enjoy shooting things with a 17 HMR but, it really doesn’t do anything a .223 doesn’t do. Except, you can’t reload a 17. Given that the cost per shot is so similar I don’t know there is much value in choosing a 17 over a 223.

A .204 is a whole ‘nother thing. Probably the best prairie dog cartridge out there. Just a freaking laser.

some of my best hunting memories involve a .17 HMR. It still isn’t moving the needle far off the.223.
John.

 

[Tra3]

I don’t have an R8 but I do have a .22 a .17 HMR and a .223 and a .204.

I enjoy shooting things with a 17 HMR but, it really doesn’t do anything a .223 doesn’t do. Except, you can’t reload a 17. Given that the cost per shot is so similar I don’t know there is much value in choosing a 17 over a 223.

A .204 is a whole ‘nother thing. Probably the best prairie dog cartridge out there. Just a freaking laser.

some of my best hunting memories involve a .17 HMR. It still isn’t moving the needle far off the.223.
John.

Thanks for the input. So if you had to pick a caliber other than the .22lr, it would be the .223?

 

[John the Electrician]

Thanks for the input. So if you had to pick a caliber other than the .22lr, it would be the .223?

I think so. That would be the base cartridge I would choose.

A .22-250 does more a .17 does less (no reloading) and a .204 is more specialized. A .223 covers a lot of the overlap. That is just my opinion.

 

[Challer]

I just spoke to a large dealer yesterday who says they are not in the US yet

 

[bowjijohn]

I have .223 barrel for my R8

I like it a lot and prefer it over my .17HMR

be aware though that the barrel is a 1 in 10 twist so the heavier grain bullets (60 and above) either don’t group or won’t stabilise very well - or at least don’t in mine

 

[Nhhunter]

I wish they would spin a few calibers faster keep us from using some of the new high Bc heavy bullets

 

[375er]

The .22 Hornet is a sweet little cartridge and as long as you are not intending to drill coyotes at 200 plus yards it would do a good job for you.