I have the Savage 17 and it's like a little laser stinger round. at 100, it's dead flat (2550 ft/s, IIRC) and the holes are as close as you are steady. As the others have said, not nearly as cheap as 22LR, but similar to the 22WM within a dollar per 50 box most places. As far as shooting little critters, I can see how it wouldn't leave much to reclaim once they're hit. We had a 50yd fruit target day at a friend's farm once, just to compare the effects of 22LR to the HMR, and the difference was intense. While the 22LR shot clean little holes all day, the HMR (with a hollow point spitzer round) punched a perfectly-shaped 6-pointed star entry hole and blew the whole back out of a small watermelon. Impressive for such a little guy. Just like jbot. The only drawback I've found is that the speed and trajectory of the HMR give a false sense of accuracy at traditional 22LR distances, and when you go to longer ranges, the bullet lacks the mass of most long-range rounds and can really float away with decent cross-winds past 150-200yds. It's not a drawback in the traditional sense, but it really brings you back to reality once you're done with the 100yd playtime stuff.