Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 17 Mach 2.... ?

Thinking i would like to play with one....Anyone shooting one religiously or ?

I had one in a CZ 452 varmint a few years ago.

plenty accurate fairly quiet also. shot a lot of squirrels and such with it but overall just kind of left me unimpressed and ammo got hard to find so the rifle went down the road

Accuracy in the bolt actions vs. semi's or not so much ?

Probably my favorite squirrel rifle. Absolutely electrocutes them, but not overly destructive if a body shot is taken.

I have a CZ452 American in a 17HM2 and with Eley ammo it's wickedly accurate, or at least that's what the dead ground squirrels would tell me if they could still talk. Thankfully I have cases of that 'magic' Eley 17HM2 ammo, so those gophers had better keep their heads down.

Love that round. I have 2, a Sako Quad and a CZ 457.
The Sako I've put a 22lr. back on when I got the CZ. The CZ has a Lilja Varmint Taper barrel on it and is incredible accurate.
My favorite round to shoot out of both of mine is the 20gr. sp made first by PMC and now Aguila.

I've got a CZ 452 chambered for it. It is far and away the best tree squirrel rifle I've ever had

I love the MachII. It is extremely accurate.
I have several :
*) Winchester 1885 single shot , falling block, vey accurate.
*) 2 Sako Quads With the Burris Dedicated scopes ( which Elk Ivory acquired for me , very thankful.)

*) The most accurate at all , if one can tell the diff, a 1700 series Annie , heavy BBL, with a Burris scope . Kinda heavy but scary accurate. Want to kill something a little bigger .....shot it in the eye.

Do not have any experience with semi's.

love mine....

Everyone likes a little pussy ....in the morning.

The 17HM2 is my favorite cartridge for shooting fox squirrels and might well be the best cartridge ever designed for shooting tree squirrels.

I have several rifles chambered for it, both factory and parts guns. Even the least expensive Marlin and Savage is close enough to the Anschutz 1502 accuracy wise, with the right ammo, that the average shooter probably wouldn't notice the difference.

From my POV, The 17HM2's biggest weakness is that the long discontinued Eley ammo was match grade accurate and none of the CCI and Hornady ammo seems to be quite as accurate in any rifle that I shoot it in. That isn't to say that CCI and Hornady ammo isn't accurate, just that in most cases it isn't quite as accurate as the Eley. The most recent 17HM2 ammo that I've purchased, CCI with a yellow tipped bullet, is the most accurate ammo from CCI or Hornady that I've seen. Close to the Eley, but still not Eley accurate.

The 17HM2 is a niche cartridge that shines within its performance window, but it will never be as fast as the 17HMR and many people judge these two cartridges by their velocity numbers alone.

The only semi-auto 17HM2 that I've shot have been Ruger 10/22 conversions that balanced on the knife edge of safety. If you want to do more research, there is lots of 17HM2 information, both real and imaginary, on RFC.

Great squirrel round. Have a Marlin that is scary accurate

I know where a marlin 717? semi auto is for sale, is it worth 5-600 hundreds bucks they want for it?

Elkivory: I currently own and shoot 4 (four) heavy barrel Rifles in caliber 17 Mach2 - and it IS nearly a "religious" experience enjoying the fun and accuracy and lethality this tiny little imp of a cartridge provides me.
My group of heavy barrel 17 Mach2's consists of an amazingly accurate Anschutz 1502, and an amazingly accurate Kimber SVT (Silhouette/Varmint/Target with Leupold 6.5x20 EFR scope), a Marlin 917 M2S and a humble but still very accurate N.E.F Handi-Rifle Sportster.
I have also shot, to a great extent, my friends Ruger MK-II pistol that was converted to 17 Mach2 - a more fun pistol would be hard to come by!
All the above are just great fun to shoot and again are amazingly lethal on small game and Varmints (both feathered and furred). To date I have killed one Badger (large boar) with the 17 Mach2 and it was dispatched with one shot to the Adams Apple area at 80 yards.
I have several "spots" to Hunt Ground Squirrels near ranch houses and the 17 Mach2 is used here exclusively as it is rather quiet and the 17 Hornady projectiles I use do NOT ricochet!
The only drawback to the 17 Mach2 is the current PRICE of 17 Mach2 ammo - my local gunshops have it on the shelves at $10.99 per box of 50.
I am so thankful I put in a lifetime supply of Hornady 17 Mach2 ammo back when it was MUCH cheaper than it is now.
I say go for it (17 Mach2) - with gusto.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

260RemGuy: I concur on the amazing accuracy that can be obtained with the ELEY 17 Mach 2 ammo.
Back when it was available I sighted my Kimber SVT heavy barrel Rifle in with it and the short lived accuracy with that gun was profound!
Sadly once I discovered it (the ELEY 17 Mach2 ammo) then they soon quit making it.
I have relayed this instance on this forum before when the topic of 17 Mach2 accuracy comes up.
One still winter day several years ago my friend and I were sighting in some rimfire Varmint guns prior to the spring season.
My friend was shooting a heavy barrel CZ in 17 Mach2 with a 6x18 power scope on it.
He was using the ELEY ammunition and I measured one of the five shot groups he shot there at 100 yards that was just a hundredth or two above .25"!
I offered to buy that CZ Rifle right then and there, even though I had serious mental aversion to its bass-ackwards safety.
No sale.
Long live the 17 Mach2.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I had two CZ 17Mach2's. They were fantastic shooters with the Eley ammo. I sold them both after Eley stopped loading the ammo because I was worried about the long term availability of other brands.

A number of years ago I had the good fortune to buy several cases of Eley mach II from a GS in EauClaire , WI at their cost.It was not selling at the time .

Later I started to acquire the rifles. I did the same with .17 Whizzum.

I had a couple of the 452s in 17HM2 and 22LR. While they were accurate rifles, I never warmed up to the stock geometry and the backward safeties, so although it is unusual for me to sell guns, rather than having them gather dust on a shelf, they went away. The Anschutz 1502 and Marlin 917M2S get most of my 17HM2 work, with the Anschutz being a little more accurate and the Marlin is stainless so it gets the call when the weather is anything less than perfect.

I will say for the record that the only 17HM2 that I've owned that wasn't a particularly good shooter was one of the non-cataloged run of Ruger Americans that SAS had made up for Whittaker Guns in Owensboro, KY, back in 2019. It certainly wasn't Darrick's fault, but since I wasn't the only person who had a problem with a rifle from that run, it appears as though Ruger just didn't get those rifles right.

Regards:

Academy currently has Hornady on sale, $7.99 / 50:
https://www.academy.com/p/hornady-v-max™-17-mach2®-17-grain-rimfire-ammunition-50-rounds

I have a Volquartsen Summit straight pull carbon barreled 17hm2 and a CZ 452 American.

I shoot Eley and Speer ammo.

Favorite rifles.