Made the jump into the 17HMR world.

[BigAlofPa.]

Picked up a new savage 17HMR rifle and 200 rounds of CCI ammo for it. I got the wood stock model. I prefer wood over synthetic Looks like a fun round from videos i was watching. As soon as im back on my feet. I'll get out and see how i like it.

[Chad5005]

its a little rough on small game unless you head shoot but very accurate

[BigAlofPa.]

Yeah i saw video of a guy shooting rabbits with one. Rips them up pretty bad. I usually use shotgun for small game. Amazing what a small bullet can do.

[303Guy]

I've seen one in action. Accurate and deadly - until the wind blows. But very flat shooting within reasonable range.

[uscra112]

Still surprises me how loud they are.

Don't own one - no practical use for it here.

I do buy 17HMR ammo, though. Pull the bullets, dump the powder, expand the necks, trim, and I get a passable .25 Stevens Rimfire.

So thanks to all you .17HMR shooters who keep the ammo on the market.

[Static line]

I have one in a beautiful CZ bolt action but I hate shooting the thing. You will go deft on only one shot if you don't wear hearing protection.Don't go hunting without your ear plugs or other hearing protection. The report is very harsh.

[BK7saum]

Learned something new the other day
Do not stockpile 17 HMR and bottleneck rimfire ammunition. I had some 17 HMR ammo since about 2008 or 2009. Sealed box, but only shot 3 because the case split the neck the neck and into the shoulder/body. I didnt want to do any damage to the chamber (even though we aren't talking centirefire pressures), plus, the accuracy wasn't their either. Called the mfg and they said rimfire bottleneck ammo doesn't get the final anneal after case forming and can't be stored long term without becoming brittle and cracking on firing.

Centerfire cases are fine like we all know, but rimfire bottlenecks aren't treated the same.

[uscra112]

I'll confirm that. Opening the necks as I do absolutely requires annealing or you lose 90% to splits. They are hard, hard, hard.

Yes, I worked out a way to anneal them without setting the priming charge off. Too far off topic for this thread.

[Kylongrifle32]

It's little brother the 17 Mach 2 is a fun round to shoot also. I have it in a 14" Contender barrel and I'm amazed how affect it is on groundhogs out to 75 yards.

[303Guy]

uscra, can't you use 22 mag for your purpose? Just curious about the reason.

[M-Tecs]

My experiences with the 17 HMR are somewhat different. I have several all CZ 452's or 453's. I order ammo from Mid-South when it's on sale in 2,000 or 4,000 orders. A case is 2,000 rounds. Primarily used for shooting prairie dogs but I have killed racoons, skunks, muskrats, beaver, fox and coyotes with it also. Total round count is about 10K for the 17 HMR with 99% being 17 grain V-Max. I love it for it's my intended use. That is mostly for prairie dogs under 125 yards.

While it it louder than a 22LR it is much quieter than a .223. Two of my hunting partners have shooting from vehicle permits. They shoot out the window without ear plugs a lot. While I always use ear plugs for 223's and up I do occasionally shoot the 17 HMR without ear plugs.

I also have a couple of 17 Mach 2. They see much less use. If I was shooting rabbits and squirrels for eating they might see more use. I have some Hmong friends that love the 17 HMR for rabbits and squirrels for the table but the use FMJ's for that application.

Neck splits are an issue with any of the bottleneck rimfires since they prime the cases before final neck forming. Due to this the necks are not annealed after forming and splitting can be and issue. It's not a safety issue to shoot them. Neck splits tends to be a much bigger issue with the Mach II's than the HMR's. Due to the surprise popularity of the 17 HMR manufactures jumped the gun when they rushed to bring the Mach II's out. The Mach II chambers are all over the map and Mack II's some split necks more than they don't. The neck splitting issue is why they stopped making Mach II's for a long time.

[dverna]

A friend has the same gun and loves it. He shoots quarter size groups at 100 yards with it. Far better than a .22 in his opinion. Enjoy it!!

[megasupermagnum]

17 HMR is one of those things that people either love to death, or can't figure out what the others see in it. I'm one who just doesn't see it. The noise was the first big surprise. It is as loud, if not louder than a shotgun. The performance is not what I want for small game. The bullet comes apart immediately, and does not penetrate. I made the mistake of gut shooting a rabbit with one, that left the nastiest gaping wound that was not instantly fatal. It is a headshoot only caliber. And last is price, which is cheaper than store bought centerfire ammo, but you can load your own ammo for about the same price. I'm not sure why noise would be a big concern, but if I was, I'd be looking into a suppressor.

[richhodg66]

I have a Contender rifle chambered in it. It was too good a deal to pass up, but it is too destructive on edible game in my experience (I'd say the same thing about the .22 WMR). I think I'm gonna have the barrel rechambered to .17 Hornet eventually so it's something I can reload for.

[richhodg66]

I'll confirm that. Opening the necks as I do absolutely requires annealing or you lose 90% to splits. They are hard, hard, hard.

Yes, I worked out a way to anneal them without setting the priming charge off. Too far off topic for this thread.

I am intrigued by this. I have a Stevens 44 1/2 I believe is chambered in .25 rimfire. The barrel has been relined, and I think whoever had it planned to do a centerfire conversion, but not sure if done or not. I'd love a source of .25 rimfire.

[M-Tecs]

I have a Contender rifle chambered in it. It was too good a deal to pass up, but it is too destructive on edible game in my experience (I'd say the same thing about the .22 WMR). I think I'm gonna have the barrel rechambered to .17 Hornet eventually so it's something I can reload for.

I don't use it for edible game but my Hmong friends love it with FMJ's for edible game. Like any cartridge proper bullet selection is paramount. The 17 grain V-Max are highly explosive the 17 grain hollow points less so and the FMJ's not at all. The 20 grain hollow points have worked really well for me one coyotes. I've never fired an FMJ in the HMR.

I've never owned 17 Hornet but a couple of friends had them. Had is the operative word. Both are 17 HMR fans. One got ride of the 17 Hornet and solely went back to the 17 HMR. The other switched to the 17 Fireball. He loves it. Says the brass is why tougher.

[uscra112]

uscra, can't you use 22 mag for your purpose? Just curious about the reason.

.22 Mag is ~ .100" too short.

[M-Tecs]

.22 Mag is ~ .100" too short.

Saami case length for the 17 HMR is 1.064". The Saami case length for the 22 Winchester Mag is 1.055". The difference is .009". The 17 Winchester Super Mag is 1.200" case length with a larger body diameter. It started life as a 25 caliber blank nail gun cartridge. Are you using 17 WSM or 17 HMR for the .25 Stevens Rimfire?

[uscra112]

I am intrigued by this. I have a Stevens 44 1/2 I believe is chambered in .25 rimfire. The barrel has been relined, and I think whoever had it planned to do a centerfire conversion, but not sure if done or not. I'd love a source of .25 rimfire.

I'll start a new thread on this. There's been others but they've been a bit of a jumble. Give me a couple of days to summarize it properly, and maybe post a few photos of my kit.

[BigAlofPa.]

Thanks for the heads up on storing ammo for the 17hmr. Im dying to shoot it. I had my surgery today for my disconnected quadricep. So now on to recovery.