Rock River Arms 17 HMR

Say whaaaaaat????? I'm listening
I am surprised this hasn't generated more interest. I posted a similar message on a rimfire forum and there haven't been any responses.

I don't know much about the cartridge and haven't had any experience with it. On the other hand, I had a couple of rifles in .22 WMR and was amazed at how well it worked on ground hogs.

If I get this upper, it's going to wear a thermal scope for varmints at night. I have good luck with head shots on the coyotes from 50-150 yards with the .223 V-Max rounds but have to be extremely careful of my direction of fire where I hunt.

This little round has my attention because of limited pass through on the body. Now, I am not foolish enough to think that this will stop a coyote in its tracks with a heart/lung shot. A head shot, on the other hand, is what I am looking for on this round.

RRA says they will be coming out with a version in .22 WMR later. I wonder if I should wait. the advantage of accuracy goes to the .17 HMR but more damage on target goes to the .22 WMR.

Here's a little different view of the BCG.



It's Inland MFG but says they have partnered with RRA. Is the delayed blow back roller locked bolt going to be a new thing now for magnum rimfire cartridges. Imagine 20 rounds of .17 caliber bullets spit out fast as one can pull the trigger on the prairie poodles!

 
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I've been shooting the .17 hmr and the .17 mach2 for years. My hmr is probably one of my favorite guns to shoot. Tack driver. I've shot plenty of coyote with it inside of 200 yards with giod shot placement. Great on everything from starlings to beavers. Wind will get ahold of it pretty good.
My 10 year old loves both the 17 guns I have. The mk2 is quieter and would be a Hella good time with a can on it.
 
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I can shoot my 20 practical for about the same as 17hmr. The main reason I have a 17hmr is for clearing pdogs in places where you can only shoot rimfire. It's a simple blow back design. I have only shot maybe 150 rounds through. If 17hmr ever goes back to 12-15 cents per round I could see shooting it a lot more.
 
I'm eagerly waiting for their uppers. I have 2 17 hmr's and have shot thousands of P'dogs over the years with them. My latest is an 11" Alexander arms AR shooting 17g H vmax at 2630fps. Absolute tack driver and maneuverable on my side by side. I also have a 16" bear creek arsenal upper in 22mag but it is far slower and less violent. It may work better on coyotes due to more expansion distance. My least effective is a 5" cmmg 5.7x28. Just too slow to expand reliably beyond 30y or so. Pretty fun though. Best of show goes to my 22" 20 tactical.
 
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I have a blow back 17hmr ar15 upper. I was just wondering if this had been released the other day.
Which one do you have? I was very close to buying an Alexander Arms .17HMR upper several years ago and then I came across the Garrow DI version. Aside from the Savage SA offering, the direct blowback has been the only operating system available. AA seems to have the secret sauce but it's still a blowback. The DI version that RRA is now offering is very cool. I never did buy a 17HMR...except a CZ457. About the time I decided to "pull the trigger" on the Garrow version, I started seeing grumblings of unanswered emails and phone calls and unfulfilled orders. It seems some manufacturers he teamed up with were causing delays or something like that. Fast forward a couple years and now RRA is offering them. Are there any out in the wild yet? I'd love to see some real world reviews.
 
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I always remember the big thing with .17 HMR was that it didn’t do well as a semi. No where near as accurate and would jam and dent the cases.
 
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I always remember the big thing with .17 HMR was that it didn’t do well as a semi. No where near as accurate and would jam and dent the cases.
A measure of that may be true but I recall the big issue being blowback actions. There wasn't enough bolt-weight in early designs that would prevent blowouts. Semi-auto 17HMRs were pulled mostly for safety reasons. Alexander Arms and Bear Creek offer blowback actions but they've added a significant amount of weight; like 9mm ARs.
 
A measure of that may be true but I recall the big issue being blowback actions. There wasn't enough bolt-weight in early designs that would prevent blowouts. Semi-auto 17HMRs were pulled mostly for safety reasons. Alexander Arms and Bear Creek offer blowback actions but they've added a significant amount of weight; like 9mm ARs.
I would love to be able to get an accurate reliable semi 17 but I dont hold out much faith.
I have 2 breach barrel 17s. One is the original New England arms varmint model and the other is a custom match bullberry TC Contender G2 that is super accurate but does best with the hornady ammo. I remember getting boxes of ammo for like 8$ in later 90s. Those days are gone!
 
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Afternoon, fellas! While I don’t have the RRA version of the .17 HMR, I do have the Alexander Arms. I haven’t had any issues with the rifle by any means, and the accuracy has been very solid!
Don’t have any pictures of groups at the moment, but I’ll try and get you guys some soon! Would the preference be at 50 or 100yrds for a couple of groups?
Here’s the rifle…
 

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Bud’s gun shop got an order of these in last week. In a moment of weakness at 3 AM I ordered one. I picked it up yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to throw a scope on it yet. I stepped outside and fired a full magazine through it and it didn’t have any hiccups. The bolt catch is for cosmetic purposes only. I discovered it didn’t work and called Rock River. They confirmed that it doesn’t serve a function. The employee I talked to from Rock River Arms said they are hoping to get it fixed to serve its purpose at some point. The bolt can’t be held open at the rear. The bolt does stay open once the last round is shot through the magazine. It catches behind the magazine. The mag catch releases the bolt once you eject the magazine. I’m sorry if this is jumbled together. I’m currently holding a four month old baby and baby ain’t happy. I plan to put it on paper once we get a day where the wind isn’t gusting 40mph. If anybody would like to see the results, I will gladly share them.
 
Very interesting. The bolt hold-open is kind of an issue with rimfire ARs. S&W and Kriss make magazines with followers that hold open the bolt catch just like the centerfire mags do. But to my knowledge they aren't making a 22WMR or 17HMR magazines. They may eventually get there. Did the RRA ship with a Black Dog Magazine? I am anxious to see how this works for you. A locked-bolt DI 17HMR is in my mind superior to a blowback design.
 
Agreed on the locked bolt. Yes, it shipped with a black dog magazine. I own several Rock rivers and have owned several more that I’ve sold. All of them have been outstanding shooters. Their rimfires don’t come with any accuracy guarantees that I’m aware of, but I assume it will be minute of armadillo, which is basically what the gun will be used for😂 As long as it is more reliable and shoots better than my old savage A17 I will chalk it up as a win.
 
Agreed on the locked bolt. Yes, it shipped with a black dog magazine. I own several Rock rivers and have owned several more that I’ve sold. All of them have been outstanding shooters. Their rimfires don’t come with any accuracy guarantees that I’m aware of, but I assume it will be minute of armadillo, which is basically what the gun will be used for😂 As long as it is more reliable and shoots better than my old savage A17 I will chalk it up as a win.
If it’s anything like the BCA 22WMR, the bolt will hold open about halfway on the bolt stop. Good enough to make sure the chamber is empty
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I got the upper a few days ago and put everything together.

RRA Upper 17HMR
Burris BTS35 V2 Thermal Scope
Anderson Lower
Hiper-Fire Trigger
AAC Halcyon Suppressor
Magpul Buttstock
Area 419 ARCA Rail
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This is the final 5-shot group after all the adjustments. I shot some 5-round groups that were a little tighter than this one during the zeroing process.

Given the resolution of the scope and how a thermal image appears, I think this is a good group.

I set up some different size silhouettes (heated with a blow torch) at 100 yards and was hitting them about 98% of the time. So I am extremely pleased.

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I got the upper a few days ago and put everything together.

RRA Upper 17HMR
Burris BTS35 V2 Thermal Scope
Anderson Lower
Hiper-Fire Trigger
AAC Halcyon Suppressor
Magpul Buttstock
Area 419 ARCA RailView attachment 8652391View attachment 8652392View attachment 8652393View attachment 8652394View attachment 8652395View attachment 8652396View attachment 8652397

This is the final 5-shot group after all the adjustments. I shot some 5-round groups that were a little tighter than this one during the zeroing process.

Given the resolution of the scope and how a thermal image appears, I think this is a good group.

I set up some different size silhouettes (heated with a blow torch) at 100 yards and was hitting them about 98% of the time. So I am extremely pleased.

View attachment 8652399
Not bad, capt’n!
 
I got the upper a few days ago and put everything together.

RRA Upper 17HMR
Burris BTS35 V2 Thermal Scope
Anderson Lower
Hiper-Fire Trigger
AAC Halcyon Suppressor
Magpul Buttstock
Area 419 ARCA RailView attachment 8652391View attachment 8652392View attachment 8652393View attachment 8652394View attachment 8652395View attachment 8652396View attachment 8652397

This is the final 5-shot group after all the adjustments. I shot some 5-round groups that were a little tighter than this one during the zeroing process.

Given the resolution of the scope and how a thermal image appears, I think this is a good group.

I set up some different size silhouettes (heated with a blow torch) at 100 yards and was hitting them about 98% of the time. So I am extremely pleased.

View attachment 8652399
What ammo