17 hmr

[CarbonMTN]

I recently got the Henry Varmint Express (17hmr) and I love it, just wish it had a threaded barrel for it. Would shoot it 10x more if I could put my muffler on it. but the rifle made me fall in love with the 17 HMR so now I want a 17 HMR that I can put my muffler on.

I know the wind plays a HUGE factor in the light HMR but could it be used as a true plinking round like the 22lr is or is the best plinking round still the 22lr because its bucks the wind better and they dont make match 17HMR yet.

is the 17HMR still a small small market and wont grow beyond the small game hunting cartage that it is?

 

[Cowcatcher]

Its not available in as many rifle platforms but I prefer the 17wsm over the Hmr. Just food for thought.

 

[Near miss]

HMR is good for straight flight path.

Pretty much all other features it loses to its sibling calibers.

22LR - long range accuracy (mid-match grade ammo)
22LR - plinking cost (low grade ammo)
22wmr - long range power, cost

17hmr is not accurate. You can get an accurate lot, but that applies to other rimfire calibers too. It does have the potential if the manufacturers only had the motivation to improve quality.

I have also read that the hmr chambers vary quite a bit between manufacturers.

Any words of wisdom from @justin amateur ?

 

[346ci]

I had a Savage for a short time, even sent it off for a cut/thread. It wasn't impressive, fairly loud using a can also. Sold it and stayed with .22LR.

 

[hlee]

I don't think it's fair to say that the 17hmr is inherently imprecise as a cartridge or chambering, but it is held hostage by the quality of the ammo. Hornady 17gr shoots lights out in my bolt gun, but as mentioned, you still must contend with lot to lot variability. Side note, all 17hmr ammo is made by CCI and rebranded for the other brands. At least this was the case 8-9 years ago.

As to how loud 17hmr is when suppressed, it's supersonic so I'm not surprised it is louder than a 22lr. And, in a semi auto the action is surprisingly loud. TBAC metered an AR10 closing on an empty chamber at 115 dB. That's not a 17hmr sized action, but I'd bet the action slamming around is louder than you think.

If I could find a local smith that wasn't looking to fund his kids' college on muzzle threading, I'd have my 17hmr threaded. I could nearly buy a new rifle for what the criminals around here want.

 

[steve123]

For hunting inside 150Y 17hmr is fine. It's the long range capability that is the problem, this is due to large extreme spreads and all the other problems associated with mass produced ammo. Well go read Justin's 50 rounds at 200Y thread. Also a 17gr bullet doesn't have much energy left at the longer distances, and it's not easy to see where you hit in grass, etc, sometimes. But you can still have fun with it, just don't expect 17hmr to be what it isn't.

I also had a 17hmr once and sold it but I loved the extremely low recoil, that to me is it's #1 desirable trait!
I kept my 22mag but I don't shoot it at long range much and I like the thwack it has. BTW a HK300 is my favorite rimfire semiauto for many reasons.

My solution was to create a reduced load for my 20-221AI Fireball wildcat. It has 8fps SD at 2300 fps with 32vmax and it does .4" at 100Y often, 1" at 200Y sometimes, and has done one splat on steel at 300Y the size of a golf ball. All when there isn't much wind of course. By 400Y it's getting a bit iffy but I can still hit medium sized steel in light winds. If I want to get more serious I use my normal load which sends the same bullet at 3735 fps. My barrel is only 21" but if I had a 26" barrel and used AA2200 I could get 4000-ish fps with a 32, or 3700 fps with a 40 grainer. This is a wonderful do it all sub 500Y varmint/steel cartridge!

The thing is is that this reduced load is flat out a blast to shoot! I like it more than the regular load and use it much more often.

You could use the same concept with reduced loads but use a 17HH or 17 fireball.

 

[Cowcatcher]

For hunting inside 150Y 17hmr is fine. It's the long range capability that is the problem, this is due to large extreme spreads and all the other problems associated with mass produced ammo. Well go read Justin's 50 rounds at 200Y thread. Also a 17gr bullet doesn't have much energy left at the longer distances, and it's not easy to see where you hit in grass, etc, sometimes. But you can still have fun with it, just don't expect 17hmr to be what it isn't.

I also had a 17hmr once and sold it but I loved the extremely low recoil, that to me is it's #1 desirable trait!
I kept my 22mag but I don't shoot it at long range much and I like the thwack it has. BTW a HK300 is my favorite rimfire semiauto for many reasons.

My solution was to create a reduced load for my 20-221AI Fireball wildcat. It has 8fps SD at 2300 fps with 32vmax and it does .4" at 100Y often, 1" at 200Y sometimes, and has done one splat on steel at 300Y the size of a golf ball. All when there isn't much wind of course. By 400Y it's getting a bit iffy but I can still hit medium sized steel in light winds. If I want to get more serious I use my normal load which sends the same bullet at 3735 fps. My barrel is only 21" but if I had a 26" barrel and used AA2200 I could get 4000-ish fps with a 32, or 3700 fps with a 40 grainer. This is a wonderful do it all sub 500Y varmint/steel cartridge!

The thing is is that this reduced load is flat out a blast to shoot! I like it more than the regular load and use it much more often.

You could use the same concept with reduced loads but use a 17HH or 17 fireball.

Have you ever messed with a 17wsm?

 

[ccasanova]

It’s a fun round, has its place. 22lr suppresses better, obviously, but hmr suppressed isn’t bad. Jr popped this rabbit at 100yds, headshot, first time he’s fired that rifle (Tikka T1X). I had my dad shooting clay pigeons at 200yd the other day, after the third or fourth shot he shook his head and said he must be off today. I told him, no, he hit it dead center every time, it just punched through without breaking. He held on the outer edge and busted it on the next shot, proving me right.

 

[ccasanova]

Alexander Arms makes a 17hmr upper I’d love to try. I think I’d be fun in a semi.

I’ve also killed #125 hogs 1 shot in the ribs drt with the 17gr hmr. I don’t recommend it for that, but I can say it happened.

 

[stello1001]

Alexander Arms makes a 17hmr upper I’d love to try. I think I’d be fun in a semi.

I’ve also killed #125 hogs 1 shot in the ribs drt with the 17gr hmr. I don’t recommend it for that, but I can say it happened.

I have a cousin that hunts and sells wild pigs for some side income. He has taken an unknown amount of pigs and all with his 17HMR. That's what he likes to use. Now, these are all head shots and nearly point blank range but still. It's a great little cartridge and depending on what you're after, it can make for a great lil hunting package.

 

[Prebanpaul]

I kill 100’s of ground hogs a year. 0-200 it smokes them. Over 200 it does not reliably open. Can you kill them yes. I have killed over 300-400 from 200 to 320y. They do run off. I have shot a sporting clay @500y with one. Get an 18 inch barrel.

 

[justin amateur]

Near Miss, as long as the 17 hmr is used for varminting it's a handy little cartridge.
Never intended to be a precision round, just hunting and meat spray.

Talked with Dan Lilja about the chamber dimensions when I first became interested in the cartridge.
I picked up a barrel for my 455 when he started offering them. Per Dan, there are no match chambers for the 17 hmr.
Too many variations in cartridge measurements from CCI and Winchester, the only makers of 17 hmr ammo.
So the chambers offered have to be cut to sporter dimensions to allow for manufacturing slop at the ammo plants.
As with all rimfire production, some days the product coming off the assembly line is better than others.
Welcome to the rimfire lottery.

 

[steve123]

Have you ever messed with a 17wsm?

I haven't because it's still plagued with the same mass produced factory rimfire problems as the others but for most applications I bet does well.

It's a pain but with the reduced load, and by me weighing to the kernel, I can keep SD's down for long range use in my 20-221AI. I'm just picky this way. I did this not for hunting but to shoot at the rimfire steel at my friends place. My "only" problem is judging wind correctly, not worrying that the vertical is 5" at 200Y like what is typical with the higher quality rimfire ammo. So if I miss it's me. IN other words my $3100 22rf match rifle with tested ammo is barely capable of hitting a 5" plate at 200Y every time ("if that ???") but with the 20 cal I can hit the same splat mark every time.

I see the 50 round groups in Justin's thread at 200Y and I can't stand it, lol. Man I've wasted a ton of good 22 ammo chasing my tail (rather save it for match use). No dig on Justin but I couldn't do what he does. I am glad for his work because it confirms what I had already learned along the way.

Then when one considers that 6mmPPC bench shooters often get 5 shots touching at 200Y. I know it's not apples to apples but still...

 

[Cowcatcher]

I haven't because it's still plagued with the same mass produced factory rimfire problems as the others but for most applications I bet does well.

It's a pain but with the reduced load, and by me weighing to the kernel, I can keep SD's down for long range use in my 20-221AI. I'm just picky this way. I did this not for hunting but to shoot at the rimfire steel at my friends place. My "only" problem is judging wind correctly, not worrying that the vertical is 5" at 200Y like what is typical with the higher quality rimfire ammo. So if I miss it's me. IN other words my $3100 22rf match rifle with tested ammo is barely capable of hitting a 5" plate at 200Y every time ("if that ???") but with the 20 cal I can hit the same splat mark every time.

I see the 50 round groups in Justin's thread at 200Y and I can't stand it, lol. Man I've wasted a ton of good 22 ammo chasing my tail (rather save it for match use). No dig on Justin but I couldn't do what he does. I am glad for his work because it confirms what I had already learned along the way.

Then when one considers that 6mmPPC bench shooters often get 5 shots touching at 200Y. I know it's not apples to apples but still...

I hear ya. I don't really use my 17wsm for precision shooting either but I have found the factory ammo to group well. I'll run it over the chrono sometime to get sd's n such. I'm confident killing armadillos consistently at 300yds with it and my longest coyote (only one I've shot with it) was 275yds dead right there shot in the throat.
I'll post a picture of a 10 shot group at 100yds below fwiw.

 

[justin amateur]

Dig away Steve. Y'er allowed to poke fun at my less than stellar 200 yard rimfire results. I do.
I kill a box or two of rimfire every trip to the range, before setting up my 223 F-Class.
Why waste my hand loads on warm up when rimfire lets me remember what I'm supposed to be doing.

 

[CarbonMTN]

I hear ya. I don't really use my 17wsm for precision shooting either but I have found the factory ammo to group well. I'll run it over the chrono sometime to get sd's n such. I'm confident killing armadillos consistently at 300yds with it and my longest coyote (only one I've shot with it) was 275yds dead right there shot in the throat.
I'll post a picture of a 10 shot group at 100yds below fwiw.
View attachment 7183710

Whats the rifle you shot this group with good sir?

 

[Cowcatcher]

Whats the rifle you shot this group with good sir?

Savage bmag heavy barrel in a Boyd's laminate stock. I'll be honest, there are several things I don't like about the function of this rifle but it shoots good in my opinion. I've thought about trying Rugers option but haven't. Volquartsen is an option but I'm not putting that much money into a rifle to beat around on the four wheeler.