Re: .17 hmr choices for varmint/trainer
Dackar,
You're in the same boat I was a few weeks ago. I narrowed the choice down to either the CZ452 series or the Savage TR (which is not yet available in the UK, but should be soon). I looked at the Anschtz rifles which were really nicely made, but perhaps a bit too nice for sitting in the back of a Land Rover.
After some careful thought I went with the configuration below:
- CZ452 Varmint in 17HMR with 21' barrel. I know the heavy barrel doesn't add a great deal of accuracy (if any?), and you could argue that it's weight that shouldn't be there when compared to the Silhouette model or others with the 'Sporter' profile barrel. However, I think that the longer heavier barrel balances the rifle better, and it feels nicer in the hand. Probably a personal thing. If you're shooting from a vehicle you may want the 16' version.
- Sirocco / SM11 moderator. For the money (£40) it offers excellent noise reduction, it's strippable and has a tapered rear, so there is no step up from the barrel. While this isn't that important it does mean that the rifle is less prone to catching on sticks etc when shooting from a hide.
- Replacement bottom metal from Staffordshire Synthetic Stocks. I can't recomment this highly enough. The standard CZ two-piece bottom metal is pretty poorly made. The SSS piece isn't cheap but is beautifully made and a replacement for both pieces of metal.
- Rimfire Magic trigger kit. There have been many threads about the poor CZ triggers and the amount of creep. Mine was bad, so fitted the Rimfire Magic kit for £12. Depending where you are in the world I'm sure you can get this or something similar.
- A 5.5-25x50 Falcon Menace scope. Probably overkill for the .17HMR, but it is superb. The glass is very clear, gives a crisp picture and allows shooting until pretty late without the lamp.
- Bipod to follow at some point.
- Replacement stock to follow at some point, not because the woodwork is poor quality but because I'm not sure I like the shape of it. I was actually suprised that the wood was so nice on a gun of that price.
I decided against the Savage because it's not yet available in the UK (and won't be for a month), I've read mixed reviews of the AccuTrigger, and it might be too 'tactical' looking for a rabbit gun. The Savage magazines are awful, and I don't think there is a replacement part available, but could be wrong.
The CZ is a common rifle, there are all sorts of replacement stocks, trigger kits etc for you to tweak the rifle to what you want. If you're in the USA maybe the moderator / threaded barrel option is no use, but you can get that as standard here in the UK. The only downside is the trigger, which is awful but easily fixed. If you don't like the Rimfire Magic kit (which shims the trigger to give a cleaner pull) you can get the Timney unit which replaces both the tigger blade and the sear, but it's not cheap.
My local gunshop advised me to fire a few rounds through it from new, give it a good clean and see how the group size came down. At first the group was something like the size of a playing card at 75m. After 25-30 rounds and a good clean it was shooting 1 - 1.5' groups, which I was very suprised by.
Hope that's of some use.
