Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Ruger American 17HMR

Had a chance to handle my buddies Ruger American 17hmr with the 18” cerakote barrel and Go Wild camo stock. Pretty neat little gun.

Anyone have much experience with one? He added a Mcarbo trigger spring I believe.

Mines good to go so far. Got my trigger to 1# with a random spring I had & by removing the little flipper lever. Other triggers may or may not react the same. I also have same gun in 22LR & it's trigger will only go to about a pound & half. But that's OK with me.

I haven't checked longer range accuracy yet but it feeds & ejects properly & without fuss. And that's a huge plus with me.

Have the predator version and like it quite a bit. Shoots very well and have never had a problem with function

I had one for a few years, it was accurate enough - around 1/2" for 5 shot groups at 50 yds and 1" to 1-1/2" at 100 yds.
I liked the ergonomics of it and I liked the trigger after a spring change. Mine was the standard model with a 22" barrel and the regular black synthetic stock. The stocks fore end flimsiness is the weak link with the Ruger IMO.

The 17 HMR is wind sensitive, more so then the ballistic tables would have you believe. Ammo is pricey unless purchased on sale. It is a great cartridge for gophers (ground squirrels) but I can't see its niche outside of that.

drover

I have Americans in 17 HM2, 17 HMR, 22 LR and 22 Magnum. The HM2 is one of the Whittaker Special runs. It's a dud. Split brass, FTE, 3 MOA at 50. The HMR and 22 Magnum have occasional FTE, but are otherwise pretty good, not great. Every other HMR that I have fired has been more accurate than this one. The 22 LR Target has been 100% reliable but isn't as accurate as it should be.

UNCCGradd: I have some Ruger American rimfires and enjoy them all.
My Ruger American in 17 HMR is the heavy barrel laminated stock model and is impressively accurate - it has a Weaver V-16 (4 to 16 power variable) scope on it.
It is one of my all time favorite 17 HMR's! The Ruger rotary magazine is unsurpassed in the rimfire magazine arena.
My other two Ruger Americans are in 22 L.R. and have Leupold variable scopes on them in 2x7 power and 3x9 power respectively. They shoot rather well with quality hollow-point (Hunting type) ammunition. I have been thinking of upping the power range on both those 22 rimfires.
I really like my Ruger American rimfires and hope you will be happy if you decide to get one.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks guys, I don’t currently have a 17 so it fills a void. Not that I really have a need but it would be a fun shooter for the kids. It really does seem like the Ruger rotary mag is the best setup for compactness and capacity when it comes to the rimfires

I have tried to like the Ruger American rimfires, but the 3 that I've had have been less accurate than the Marlin 800, 900, and XT series rifles and the Savage 93s, 93R17s, and Mark IIs that are chambered for the same cartridges.

Like Paul Barnard, my Ruger American in 17HM2 is by far and away the least accurate 17HM2 that I've owned and the 17HM2 is one of those inherently accurate cartridges.

I have one that will easily put 3 into 1/2" at 100 yds.
Also have a Tikka LH 17 HMR that is at least that accurate as well

I've had a CZ .17 HMR since they appeared, which generally put five of the standard Hornady 17-grain V-Max load into 1/2" or so at 100 yards.

Made the "mistake" last year of letting Eileen shoot it on ground squirrels, rather than the Anschutz .22 LR she's been using for years. She wanted one, and Capital Sports in Helena had a couple of RARs, the standard model with black stock and sporter barrel, so bought one of 'em. It shoots just about like my CZ. (Kinda thought it might, since I bought a RAR .22 Magnum there around a decade ago, which turned out to to be the most accurate .22 Magnum I've ever owned. It also isn't picky about ammo, like some .22 Magnums.)

Eileen also REALLY prefers the Ruger magazine, because the Anschutz mag was a PITA....

Mine doesn't extract worth a crap.

Are you guys having extraction issues with all 4 chambering or primarily the HMR?

I have the predator version in 22lr, 22 mag and HMR and don’t think I’ve experienced a single issue

The LR has had a fair amount of rounds thru it too. Followed by the 17 then the mag

My LR hasn't had any extraction issues. FTE is common in the 17 HM2 and occasional in the 22 mag and HMR.

Not only is my Ruger American 8375 my least accurate rifle chambered in 17HM2, it has extraction problems and regularly splits cases. Needless to say, this rifle has been a big disappointment and would have turned me off to the 17HM2 cartridge if it had been my only exposure. You assume that Ruger's quality control measures wouldn't allow a whole series of non-cataloged limited run rifles to leave the factory with the common problems that this run of rifles seems to have.

I have thought about reworking a GM 96/17 barrel for it, but I'm happy with my Anschutz and Marlins in 17HM2, so the Ruger got cleaned, packed back into its box, and set on a shelf.

Certifiable: No fail to function issues with my Ruger American rimfires.
I try to keep my guns clean but there are times when they get shot a lot between cleanings?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Had one for a while, and it was OK. Eventually sold it and a bought a CZ, it's a LOT more OK.

I have the standard model, blued rifle. It is more accurate than I am, and has been reliable for hundreds of rounds.
Just yesterday, at the range, it failed to extract the first cartridge fired. Perfect after that for the rest of about 65 rounds fired.

A friend and I bought identical RAR Predator rifles in .17 HMR when they first came out some years ago. Neither one would feed reliably and both gave constant and severe problems with extraction. We returned our rifles to Ruger and they sent us both different rifles which did work properly. My understanding is that some of the first production guns had bolt faces that were machined slightly out of line with their barrel chambers (or perhaps vice versa), which caused binding of the cartridge when it was chambered, leading to severe feeding and extraction difficulties.

Our replacement rifles have been fine, so evidently the problem was confined to a batch of early rifles.