Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Finally shot my new Ruger 77/17 Hornady .17 Hornet!

Ok guys- This is my first review of a rifle... had a lot of fun putting it together and I would appreciate feedback!

Action- Ruger 77/22 hornet
Stock- factory brown laminate stock bedded to the action and inletted for a .920� bull barrel
Barrel- 20� fluted Lilja 9 twist
Rings- factory ruger rings (lapped)
Weight- 8lbs with rings and Vais muzzle brake
Gunsmiths- Shawn and Brady of Straight Shooter Supply in North Bend Oregon

The Cartridge-
I have never been excited about a cartridge launch before but for some reason I have been �stung� (hah) by the new hornady .17 hornet. .17 HMR is my favorite small caliber so I knew that the new hornet would be an excellent addition. The cartridge is a .22 hornet necked down to .17 and given a modern shoulder. Muzzle velocity for this hot little number is 3650fps with approximately 10grs of powder. The small but efficient powder charge gives this caliber great velocity, near zero recoil and less noise than a comparable centerfire. Ammo runs $16-$19 (street price) for 25 rounds which makes it cheap to shoot if you don�t reload, and because it doesn�t use much powder- reloading is inexpensive as well.
[img:center] IMG_4305[2] by pslyke, on Flickr[/img]

.17 hornet vs .17 HMR


Custom Rifle-
I was excited about this hot new caliber and unwilling to wait for a factory gun that I wanted. I thought it was a great opportunity to try out a custom built rifle and I can now say that I am a convert. I can truly appreciate a well-built rifle that has the exact look and specifications I want. My gunsmiths were Shawn and Brady of Straight Shooter Supply in North Bend, Oregon. They were excited about this new cartridge and were quick to purchase the required tooling for the chamber, etc. as they know it will be a hit with their customers. They were very responsive to my requests and had an excellent turnaround time for my project. Thanks guys�I love my gun!!

[img:center] rifle by pslyke, on Flickr[/img]
[img:center] fgds by pslyke, on Flickr[/img]
[img:center] IMG_4459[2] by pslyke, on Flickr[/img]
Ruger�s action-
I chose the Ruger action because I am fan of their proprietary integral scope rings/base combo and their rotary mag. I have sighted in my Ruger 30-06 exactly once and it has never lost its zero after many seasons of hunting. I am also a big fan of the rotary mag which fits flush in the stock and has proven to be 100% reliable in my .22lr and .22mag rifles. In the Hornet configuration, the mag holds 6 rounds plus one in the chamber. The new 17 hornet rounds feed beautifully through Rugers� mag and I had no failures to feed or extract through my testing. A little more care must be taken when loading these mags compared to your 10/22 mag as the rounds occasionally get somewhat �wedged� on their way to be seated�Tapping the mag on the bench properly seats the rounds and you can continue.

How�s it shoot?
This rifle is more accurate than I am. The trigger is tuned to a crisp 2lbs and the shots go right where I put them. I kept trying for that stellar five shot group but would undoubtedly flub one of the shots. I was using a bipod up front and a sandbag rear. Best I could do is an enlarged hole for 4 shots at 100 yds. This is an easy and consistent .5� shooter. People may think that the muzzle break is a bit overkill on such a small cartridge, my response is- it works and I like it! No, the recoil is not �ferocious� but half the fun in having a varmint rifle is throwing a high power scope on it and watching the action through your scope. The picture shows a leupold 4-12 but have since put a Nikon 6-18 on it and with the break on I get the same performance as my .17 hmr- zero movement of the crosshairs at 100yds. With two mags loaded, you have 12 rounds at the ready to put the hurt on the varmint fields.
[img:center] IMG_4432[2] by pslyke, on Flickr[/img]
3 shot .226" group
This rifle is an absolute blast to shoot and it makes even me, a fairly lousy shot with poor eyesight, look like a pretty good shot! I will try and get more shots of groupings up this weekend and hopefully a report on the effectiveness of the round

Cool. Congrats on the new toy!

Looks like you have a great medium range ground squirrel rifle. Congrats! Enjoy.

I REALLY LIKE your build! And more to the point it really SHOOTS too! Mega congrats from here, friend. I might have to get my hands on one of those.

Also, great rifle report, would not have guessed it to be your first at all. Well done sir.

What does the barrel porting do on such a small rifle?

Sweet rifle there, good luck with it1

Think it looks pretty damn sweet and the brake (needed or not) looks great.

Cant argue with that Yet to be perhaps a little outspoken I am in the boat that would choose to install a muffler over the brake route, every time if I lived in a silencer friendly state. Most states are muffler friendly these days. All this despite the expense involved with the silencer and tax stamp.
Just better for my ears and another way to be a good neighbor keeping the bark down to a minimum IMHO

Still have to admit the ported barrel looks way cooler Glad to see she is shooting very well for you. Thanks for sharing!