Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Is the 17HM2 dead, dying, or ripe to be rediscovered?

I will be surprised if the 17 HM2 ever comes back and gets off the ground

bea175 - +1. Sad it died stillborn stuck in the 17HMR's shadow.
BUT,if it ever does come back I've a H&R barrel for it. Homesteader

In the good 'ol days at $4.00 for 50 eley, it was the greastest gopher round ever.
At $10 for 50.....HMR and/or Mini-Mags.

Agreed, at $10 per box of 50 they aren't the bargain they once were. Maybe Aguila will make them to Eley-specs some day. Until then, I have around 8K rounds of Eley on the shelf.

Last brick of Hornady M2 I bought was about six months after Obama's reelection, and was $59.00. Would be happy at that price, especially since 5-shot groups average under .4" at 50 yards from my CZ.

Mine were Hornady from some bullet outfit in the Bitterroot.
$70 about a year ago.
Found them in a freak internet search.

That's not bad either. It's certainly less than .17 HMR is going for now. I've gotten some good deals on HMR over the Internet, but the best was a around $115 a brick (most stores are at least $12.99/50). Haven't seen any for $100 a brick for several years, and that was case price.

I hear bulk paks of floor sweepins' (HMR, Mini-Mag) are available close to the JOC Museum......
I hear.

$59 retail is a heck of a price, as the current common wholesale price is $6.88 per box of 50! The CCI and Hornady brand 17HM2 has never shot as well for me as the Eley and Remington brands. My 17HM2s are Marlin (x3) and Savage (x3) with factory barrels, a Remington 581, a couple of Ruger 10/22s, and a Savage with reworked Green Mountain barrels, and a 10/22 with a lined factory barrel.

260, sounds like you are really in to the 17HM2s???

260, sounds like you are really in to the 17HM2s???

Yes, except for a handful of cartridges, there are multiple firearms for each cartridge that I shoot.

260Remguy: I only tell of this incident on rare occassions because it sounds to good to be true - but I swear it is.
My good friend and retired gunsmith bought a heavy barrel CZ Rifle in caliber 17 Mach2 about 5 years ago now.
He had a big Cabela's brand variable scope on it (4x16 power IIRC).
And he tuned up the trigger a bit.
He was doing ammo accuracy testing with it one day and I happened to be at the range that dead calm day with him.
He was shooting that little 17 at 100 yards with Eley ammunition when he calls my attention to his target.
As I looked at it through my 40 power range scope I burst out laughing the 5 shot group he produced there at 100 yards turned out to be just over .25"!
NOT .26" but just a hair over .25".
I measured it myself with a steel rule (.01" graduations) once we got out to it.
To this day I think THAT grouping is the best I have ever seen shot or shot myself at 100 yards with a rimfire - and believe me I have seen and shot a lot of them.
The story continues - my friend was SO impressed (as was I) with that grouping and other groups shot by that CZ that he tried to buy another one. Sadly the next CZ heavy barrel in 17 Mach2 he purchased came to him with a ruined barrel - it appeared to be pitted and rusted/discolored and it would not shoot well at all.
He opined that the bluing solution had gotten into the barrel or it had not been properly cleaned before bluing?
He sent the Rifle back to CZ and they agreed the barrel was toast and relayed to him that unfortunately they had quit making that model in 17 Mach2 by then.
They also had no spare barrels either.
They did offer him any other caliber they made in that model and he opted for one in 17 HMR.
It shoots very well - so he's happy but has no fall back 17 Mach2 CZ.
Back when my friend discovered how well the first 17 Mach2 shot with the Eley ammunition he began searching his mail order and other sources for 17 Mach2 Eley ammo.
He found and bought 10,000 (ten thousand!) rounds of Eley from a mail order outfit, and including shipping he got it all for under $4.00 per box of 50!
Again I hope the 17 Mach2 is NOT dead and ammunition will begin to come around again SOON.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Who makes a rifle for it anymore? Probably Savage and Cooper, so junk or high end. I haven't seen ammo for it in years on the shelves. If I owned one I would try to buy every round I could get because IMO it's going to be like the 5mm soon.

I have an Anschutz 64 in 17HM2 that I will be selling....

Both my Marin and Savage 17HM2s shoot great groups. Don't own a Cooper Jackson Squirrel, but wouldn't mind owning one if the price was right.

Almost any 17HM2 rifle can be easily rebarreled to .22 LR, so if 17HM2 ammo ever goes out of production, there is a reasonable alternative available.

When you settle on a price, send me a PM.

260Remguy: One of my Ground Squirrel Hunting partners had a Ruger Mark II heavy barrel stainless pistol converted to 17 Mach2 and I have shot it several times.
It has an expensive red dot sight on it and is an absolute blast to shoot!
Its accurate reliable and deadly on Gophers!
If it were not for the "ammo shortage" I would have followed exactly in his footsteps and had one made (re-barreled) for myself.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Reelman: I hope you are wrong regarding the future of the 17 Mach2!
Bill in NE: I bought a heavy barrel Anschutz in 17 Mach2 early this year.
It is the Model 1502 and has a very Varmint/field shooting friendly wide forearmed stock.
The trigger is superb and the accuracy wonderful.
In other words if you are as happy with the accuracy of your Anschutz as I am with mine then if I were you I would "gamble" on keeping it.
Part of the reason (I think!) that I got such a good deal on this nifty Rifle (and some ammo that came with it) is because the owner had died and his adult son was worried HE could not get ammo for it so it went up for sale?
NO ONE... is more aware of the difficulty/expense in obtaining 17 Mach2 ammo currently than "I" - I just think the ammo will burp up every now and then from the factories so's I can replenish my stocks.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Even if 17HM2 ammo is available from CCI/Hornady, it is unlikely that Eley will ever make it again and Eley was the yardstick by which all others are measured. Of course, if JB can shoot 0.40" groups with CCI/Hornady, there isn't any reason another competent shooter with a good rifle can't do as well and 0.40" is certainly "minute of squirrel" accurate.