Any love for the 17 Hornady Mach 2?

[303Guy]

A lot of the cases crack at the shoulder on firing. The story I heard was that the shells are primed .22LR brass, at the final state of hardness to just sustain the crimp on the .22 lead bullet. Necking them to .17 work hardens them too much, but they can’t easily be annealed again because of the priming.

I've seen that with 17 HMR. With the round head spacing on the rim, is the chamber shoulder not too far forward? It wouldn't take much clearance to allow the neck to crack with hard brass. Just wondering. That HMR ammo was not old and besides, shelf life for ammo to crack is BS. I've had that with old 303 Brit ammo but we are talking pre WWII ammo. Mind you, I've had cracked necks in my 25/303 that were annealed less than 20 years ago that were reloaded once or twice and not loaded since.

[M-Tecs]

The claim is the brass is not annealed after necking down to 17 Call from 22 Cal due to the priming compound being inserted before the neck down. I occasionally get shoulder and neck cracking with the HMR but they are much less common than with the Mach 2. The claim is the HMR was not expected to be nearly as popular as it is. When the Mach 2 came out the SAAMI specs weren't finalized so lots of different chambers specs are out there. It was such a problem they stopped making Mack 2 until they fixed the problem.

All 12K of my Mack 2 ammo is the original run that was purchased on clearance for between $1.99 and $2.49 per box.

[dverna]

All 12K of my Mack 2 ammo is the original run that was purchased on clearance for between $1.99 and $2.49 per box.

Smart move!

[gc45]

Having shot lots of Ely Mach2 ammo I never had an issue in my CZ rifle..

[SoonerEd]

The 17 HM2 seems to have not stuck and loosing popularity. 17HMR seems to be mainstream, at least for a while. You don't want a rimfire that is a dying breed if you plan to keep the gun and shoot it many years to come. I would go with an HMR unless you have a specific need for the reduced power of the HM2, or interested for some other reason like uniqueness or less report.

[Bigslug]

A light, frangible varmint bullet in the reloadable .22 Hornet would seem to make about a billion percent more sense to me for what you're after.

[vonfilm]

It seems like those that own rifles in 17 HM2 love them, and those that don’t are skeptical. I can get a new Savage A17 HM2 for about $370 total in my hands. Cartridges are about .18 to .25 a round. That’s 4 squirrels for a dollar.

I could see myself with a 17 HMR in the future, but I think it is too loud and too powerful for squirrels, and bunnies. I think a Henry lever action in 17 HMR would be pretty fun.

I used to have a Contender with a .22 Hornet barrel and I still have some ammo on hand. If I ever run across a reasonably priced CZ 527 I would probably go for it. I’m not looking to spend a $1,000 on a rifle right now.

[SoonerEd]

Bigslug,

That's exactly why I have a 17 Hornet in addition to my HMR.

[SoonerEd]

A light, frangible varmint bullet in the reloadable .22 Hornet would seem to make about a billion percent more sense to me for what you're after.

That's exactly why I have a 17 Hornet in addition to an HMR. I can also get better accuracy as I can develop a load for the rifle instead of just using what RF is available.

[Bent Ramrod]

You can use Aguila’s 17 Aguila ammo as a sub-load in the Hornady Mach 2. It it a little shorter, and blows out to fit the chamber, but doesn’t crack or leak gas in my experience.

It features solid point at a slightly reduced velocity. Sight settings have to be changed, and the stuff seems not quite as accurate as HM2, but it is still accurate enough, and the small game destructiveness would be avoided. Don’t know how it would feed through a repeater; my Mach 2 experience has been with single shots.

The HM2 really is a tragically under-appreciated cartridge.

[gc45]

You can use Aguila’s 17 Aguila ammo as a sub-load in the Hornady Mach 2. It it a little shorter, and blows out to fit the chamber, but doesn’t crack or leak gas in my experience.

It features solid point at a slightly reduced velocity. Sight settings have to be changed, and the stuff seems not quite as accurate as HM2, but it is still accurate enough, and the small game destructiveness would be avoided. Don’t know how it would feed through a repeater; my Mach 2 experience has been with single shots.

The HM2 really is a tragically under-appreciated cartridge.

I agree. The little M2 is a killer on most smallish game up to rabbit size inside 100yds. Can't tell you how many crows and Starlings I have shot over the years, to many to count.

[Beaverhunter2]

You can use Aguila’s 17 Aguila ammo as a sub-load in the Hornady Mach 2. It it a little shorter, and blows out to fit the chamber, but doesn’t crack or leak gas in my experience.

It features solid point at a slightly reduced velocity. Sight settings have to be changed, and the stuff seems not quite as accurate as HM2, but it is still accurate enough, and the small game destructiveness would be avoided. Don’t know how it would feed through a repeater; my Mach 2 experience has been with single shots.

The HM2 really is a tragically under-appreciated cartridge.

"17 Aguila" Never heard of it until this thread. I now have some on the way. Should be fun to play with!

I'd love a decent 17 Hornet but like Vonfilm said, I'm not interested in spending $1000 for one. I figure I got my 17M2 (an NEF Sportster HB) for $140. I can buy a lot of ammo with the money I've saved.

[Thundarstick]

I thought the 17hm2 was the best squirrel round ever made! The first ammo produced was extremely accurate, and then the case splitting issues reared their head! On top of that, it just didn't work very well in semiautomatic platforms. I got rid of all my rifles, but have several thousand rounds of ammo I really need to move out.
I'm thinking a 22lr case using a .20 non healed bullet will one day make its way into production and solve the splitting and semiautomatic issues while still being a superior small game round.

Ironically, my go to squirrel getter today is a subsonic HP bullet through a suppressed rifle, and for small varmints is a 17hmr through a suppressor. The latter reminds me of the 17hm2 sound wise.

[uscra112]

I'm thinking a 22lr case using a .20 non healed bullet will one day make its way into production and solve the splitting and semiautomatic issues while still being a superior small game round.

Your wish has been granted. Look into the ".21 Sharp".

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...57949-21-sharp

[vonfilm]

Researching the A17 in 17HM2, I am reading of a lot of dissatisfaction with the A17’s Accutrigger. Apparently it is much different than the Accutrigger in Savage’s bolt action rimfires with creep and grittiness. The best solution is said to be the Jard trigger which cost $249. That’s a lot for a sub $400 rifle. Some say what do you expect for $400.

The other alternative in17HM2 is a Mark 2. I have an old pre Savage Lakefield in 22 LR. It is accurate, but it’s trigger is not that great.I wish they made the B17 in 17 HM2. I can get a B17 FV for less than $300 in 17 HMR with a great Accutrigger. Maybe I should go that way for now.