What's a good fur friendly fox rifle and round if you plan on hunting grey & red fox (no coyote)

and most shots will be 100 yards or less.

Is there a subsonic round or lighter grain bullet that keeps the sewing to a minimum with

pencil sized entrance and exits holes that works better than most and preferably factory loads ?

A bolt firearm is preferred over a semi-automatic configuration.

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses.

w

.17 WSM. If absolutely under 100 yards a .22 magnum.

Osky

Yep.

22 mag causes some dmg to a fox pelt unless a head shot.22 lr works good at short range-50yd or so.Might take a couple shots for insurance.Its usually not hard to squeak out a fox at that range.
Don't know about the 17-dont own one.

You taught me that one Bucks... I bought the .17 tho I have not used it yet. Topping it with a Leupold straight 6 power.

Osky

I've never shot fox with a .22 Mag because I've never owned one.

My experience with shooting fox has been limited to .22 caliber rifle

with a variety of rounds, and different grain projectiles.

I just wonder if there is something better out there

to use since fox are so thin-skinned and delicate.

w

Boco may be right but I would think a fox out near 100 yards would be plenty salvageable after a 22 magnum round, and if it's inside of 70 yards or so a head shot should not be a problem. Maybe not?
I went with the.17 as per Bucks because of its ability to stretch out to 300 yards or so as I have a lake out front here.

Osky

What is the muzzle velocity, and downrange velocity of a fox friendly .17 round at 50, 100, or 150 yards ?

Do they travel at a particularly hot velocity with that round.

I wonder about the exit hole on a fox with a particularly fast caliber or as BOCO would say: Calibre.

I have no knowledge about the ballistics of a .17 so that is why I ask.

w

Walleyed that is a question Bucks can answer. I am new to the .17wsm. I'm told there are enough options in bullet weight to make it fur friendly in tight while still able to stretch out and handle even coyotes to 300 yards. Bucks shoots an even hotter .17 and loves it.
Again I'm just getting involved in the round Bucks has a lot of real time experience.

Osky

* the round runs around 3000 feet per second. Pretty good for a rimfire cartridge.

10 ga. 31/2" shells 21/4oz. of copperplated lead bb's fox or coyotes out to 70 yds. in my Ithaca mag 10
Dennis

No more the 130 yds, .22 Magnum bolt awesome on fox

22Hornet or 218 bee

22 hornet. light bullet like the 40 grain nosler ballistic tip you can poke one further than a 100 if you choose to.

those light bullets shoot best at the low end of velocity potential. in fact IMO most people load them to fast then have accuracy problems. that little round really shines as long as you don't push it as fast as it will go.

^^what he said!
I used them both for decades and they liquefy the boiler room and don't come out. We loaded 45 gr Herters thin jacketed SP.
Perfect for Woodchucks too!

With "factory loads preferred" I have found the hornet to be very hard on fox. If you are going to reload you might as well get a 223 or a 222 or a Hornet or a Bee.

I don't have enough 17 rimfire experience to really make a good recommendation on those. But the 17 hornet should be good. I have yet to see it leave much of any exit hole on anything I've shot with it from woodchucks to coyotes. For an experiment when I first got it, fired into a bunch of 1/2 gallon milk jugs filled with water at 100 yards. all you get on the far side is some small shot sized shrapnel holes at least with 20 grainers. they virtually disintegrate. might not be the case if you went to the 25 grain pills or if you substantially increased the distance. think i would want to avoid shoulders or hard angles raking across ribs as i can picture one coming apart before it made full entry in a case like that.

A fox being thin skinned and a pretty small, I would use a .17hmr or .17hm2. With polymer tipped bullets, I doubt there could be an exit wound.
Both of these rounds are 100 yard squirrel head shooters and are used for that purpose.

Under 100 yds the 17 HMR OR THE 17WSM are both excellent choices-or even a 17 hornet.I have shot a pile of foxes with 17 caliber rifles-from the 17 Rem to the 17 HMR-MUCH BETTER CHOICES THAN THE 22 CAL Rifles

I do quite a bit of night hunting for fox, I've gone back and forth between my 22 mag and my 17 wsm. I want a good pelt but I also don't want a hit animal to run off, you don't have snow it's a chore if that happens. That being said I like the 22 mag under 100 yards, the 17 wsm over but not over 150 typically. I have not had any damage that has hurt the sale of a pelt, I sew up anything as a result of the shot but they have been small holes. Someone above mentioned the 17wsm for a yote at 300 yards, well pack your lunch and gps for the tracking job the next morning. I do target coyotes but only with the 222. A coyote needs to be dropped in its tracks despite the sewing job you end up with. If it runs hit with a rimfire its running a long ways. All in my opinion of course.

Agree
22 WMR