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17HMR...looking for opinions

1K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  tac foley 
#1 ·
I've been thinking about acquiring a 17HMR and the ammo is a little rich for my plinking needs and I know almost nothing about them other than they are fast and have very light bullets. So...are they inherently more accurate the a .22? They will kill small game real well, so if you were going to target Coyotes with one...what would be the effective range...assuming low wind conditions. I read that many auto loaders had trouble feeding the reliably...any truth or improvement? How consistent is the "normal" hunting rounds in terms of reliability and repeat-ability of accuracy...not going to run match ammo as I'd be better off with a .223. any particular guns that run them well or better than average?

Any other opinions, thoughts and experiences would be welcome.
 
#2 ·
I have a heavy barreled Savage in 17 HMR. Very fast boat tailed spitzer bullet. Mine shoots less than half MOA at 100 yards. The 22 LR typically drops to subsonic at about 75 yards, and gets a bit of a wobble as it does so. 17 is still supersonic. 22 LR zeroed at 50 drops about 5.5 inches at 100. 17 zeroed at 50 drops 1.5 inches at 100.

Have not seen match ammo, that is CCI 17 gr polymer tip. $12-$15 per 50 rounds, good stuff. Wind moves bullet a lot. Destructive on squirrels. For coyotes, would do head shots. 200 yds if you are a good enough shot and can read wind.

Mine is a bolt gun, there IS a least one autoloader out there.
 
#4 ·
I've got a Marlin 917 heavy barrel bolt action. It likes the heavier 20gr over the 17gr, but both ammos have gotten a mess of squirrels and have killed a few groundhogs on the farm. It's just one of my favorite rimfire rifle.

They make the Savage A17 that's semiautomatic and I've heard it was having some issues when first came out, but they now make a semiauto ammo for it called A17. Don't know if this ammo is hotter, different powder(burn rate) or what, but it seemed to of helped the Savage with the issue(s) it was having or at least I've not heard anymore about them.

For Coyote's, I'd probably keep the kill zone at 100yds or less. This is because of wind conditions for such a light pill. I seen Youtube guys that hunt hogs with 17hmr and with right shot placement they don't have any problems.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
Mouser
I have a Marlin 917-V Heavy Barrel 17 HMR. Of all the guns I have I love to shoot the little rifle. It is one of the most accurate at 100 yards as well as the bullet velocity is around 2500 fps. I have a 3X9 Nikon Scope on it and put a RifleBasix Trigger in it and set a 2.5 lbs. It is great for small game like groundhogs, prairie dogs, crows, *****, squirrels, rats, and the like. It certainly could kill a coyote although IMO not the best choice for Coyotes. Coyotes are tougher than people think. I have even shot them with a 223 and the ran off even though the were severely injured and died shortly afterward. SO the 17 HMR IMO is on the light side for them.
But the good news, you get 50 extremely accurate and ultra fast Rounds for the 17 HMR for under $15.00 last I purchased. And they are sometimes not as scarce as 22 cal. at times! The cost of 22s now days is ridiculous compared to the past. You know it is the old supply and demand. I would recommend a 17 HMR. I am not sure about the semi auto 17 HMRs. There have been issues with them in the past. Maybe they have it remedied today?
03
 
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#6 ·
Mouser
I have even shot them with a 223 and the ran off even though the were severely injured and died shortly afterward. SO the 17 HMR IMO is on the light side for them.
This.
I've had the same experience even with the .223. The 17hmr to a coyote is like a .223 to a deer: lots of people do it, little margin for error, and people never rush to forums to share experiences about wounding an animal and maybe not recovering it.

I won't fault you, but would not recommend using it for coyote.
 
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#7 ·
I've had a Savage 93 and a Marlin 917 (light profile barrel). The Savage shot better. Just under an inch. The BEST groups I could get from the 917 were 1.5". It could have been my light barrel or flimsy synthetic stock. Trigger on the 917 wasn't very good (it was not an accu-trigger style).

Regardless, if I were buying one based on what I know now, I'd go with a wood stock, heavy barrel, and buy a CZ.
 
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#8 ·
Just a word here, gentlefolks. Over here in yUK, over the past few years, we have been having a LOT of trouble with this little round. Most of the .17HMR guns over here are used on what we call pest control - vermin like crows, rabbits, but mostly foxes, the only predator over here now that the Romans have killed all the bears. As such, the guns are about 99% fitted with moderators so that the mostly night-shooting doesn't spook cattle or sheep.

So?

Soooooo, if you have a misfire or fail-to-function cartridge, you are still going to get that firing-pin click, regardless of whether or not the bullet has actually left the barrel. With that extremely effective mod fitted, that's all you are going to hear anyhow. Recoil with a ten-pound rifle/night-sight combo is virtually non-existent, especially through a few layers of outdoor clothing.

This, you would agree, is NOT a good thing, and has led to a large number of damaged rifles, although, thankfully, AFAIK, no injuries apart from a shake-up and wake-up. Three of FIVE CZ rifles in ONE dealership waiting collection had the magazine blown out of the action, with distortion of the trigger plate. In each case I looked at, there was an obstruction about six or seven inches up the bore from the chamber. Not wanting to compromise any investigation, that's as far as I went.

Another problem was finding a box of fifty containing many, sometimes as much as half, of the rounds with split necks. Obviously they were not fit to shoot, and were returned post haste.

I'm not going to go public with the brand-name invariably associated with this unpleasant occurrence, but PM-ing me will get it if you don't already know, but would like to.

I stress that I have no dog in this race. I'm a target shooter, and I can only have a lead or FMJ cartridge calibre that is used for this purpose. .17HMR - a violently expanding little game shooting cartridge - is not any kind of a target round here in yUK.

tac
 
#9 ·
Tac makes some good points- I can't count the number of .22 LR guns I have seen with "wedding ring" bulges in the barrel- result of firing with an obstructed bore. Couple a suppressor with the much higher energy of a .17 HMR, that is going to get ugly real fast.

Re: ammo w/ cracks- have read about it, have not experienced it. At one time, CCI was loading almost all .17HMR ammo, and there were some issues reported. One speculation was work hardening of the brass when forming the shoulder/ neck. The rimfire priming material will have been placed in the case, so further annealing is not possible. May have been a problem that got ironed out as production increased- just do not hear a lot about it now.

My "go to" groundhog gun (woodchucks for folks not from the South) has been a .220 Swift for years. But the countryside I have hunted most of my life is more densely peopled- what use to be 700 acres of woods is now a housing development. The shorter range of the rimfire makes it more attractive to me for that reason.
 
#10 ·
i have a savage 93r17 fvsr.....i think that's the model, lol. it's got a 16" heavy barrel that's threaded at 1/2x28 like an AR. it's a bolt gun.

it'll shoot right at an inch at 100 yards. a longer barrel would help. it's much more accurate than my old savage 22lr, but it's semi auto.

i've also only tried hornady ammo through it, need to try some other stuff i have.

i've only had it a little while and put maybe 250 rounds through it. i need to shoot some more and see if it'll tighten up. i need a better scope as well. i have a BSA sweet 17 and the glass doesnt seem that great to me. i have high end scopes on my centerfire precision guns though, so maybe i'm spoiled.
 
#11 ·
There is an excellent article concerning the .17 HMR in the "2005 Gun Digest" on page 59. The author found that while the .17 HMR's 17 grain V-Max BTPP bullet did not ricochets the light, frangible bullet would exceed its potential on any critters larger than the average woodchuck. He felt that penetration was the issue unless this round was relegated to crows, gophers and ground squirrels.
I sat all day out back with my Ruger 77/22 magnum, whereby I installed a .17 HMR barrel, to ambush a rogue porcupine who was "ringing" trees of bark. I finally did see it come out and start its trip up another tree. Three rounds from the .17 HMR was what it took to get that critter sent to porcupine heaven.
 
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