Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 17 WSM floundering?

The Savage may be ugly, as so many here claim, but a friend bought one early this fall. He had to wait about six weeks after a local store ordered it, and somebody offered him more money than he'd paid for it, so he sold it and ordered another.

My brother was gonna buy one last weekend at the Dick's in Loveland but had seen no rounds there or several other gun places. Scared him off the buy.

He don't care if its ugly only that its handy to slide out a window for varmint work at his deer lease up by the North Platte. And he wants a harder hitter than his HMR.

Suggested the .17 Hornet but said he hadn't seen rounds for it either.

I supect ranch folk are snapping up all the .17 fodder and most avilable rifles because its effective and easier on the ears.

Betcha TC will crank out some pistol and carbine bbls for both. NEF/H&R will surely have Handis out.

I reckon I will have to try the .17WSM.............but it won't be in a Savage.

I want one in a cz.

I would buy the Savage if they offered it in Left Hand

I just bought a Savage "B" mag in 17WSM. It shoots good and is within 1 moa at 75yds (have not shot it at 100yds.) I have not killed a critter but I have no doubt that it would vaporize a crow and kill a coyote or hog easily. The rifle is ugly and the rotary mag on mine does not feed reliably. If a nicer rifle is produced, I will sell this one (paid $329 shipped, no tax) and buy it. Report is about like a 22mag. A lever action with a tubular mag would be nirvana.

Maybe Browning will chamber it in the T-Bolt

yeah....that would be good too.....

One thing I have noticed is that anytime a local store gets .17WSM ammo in, it disappears fairly quickly. Either people who have a rifle like it a lot, or profiteers are snarfing it up.

Probably the answer is both.

Yes, I bought two boxes at WalMart for about 15bucks each before I had even seen the rifle that shoots it! Rifle looneyism at its best. They haven't had any since so I shoot it most carefully. It is a wicked looking little round.

I seem to recall my brother buying a Savage 93V or something similar in 17 HMR when they first came out. I thought he was crazy because they where the only ones making a rifle I had seen and it was pre-acutrigger. I ended up buying it when he needed cash and couldn't find ammo for it so I sold it. Thought it would die out but it has hung in there so may be this will too.

While I don't care for the styling of the Savage B-Mag rifle, The guys I have talked to that have one are happy with the accuracy. Ammo availability remains a problem, but that is true of many cartridges right now. I hope the 17WSM ultimately becomes a successful cartridge.

Long ago I owned a nice kimber in .17Rem.
Wow, did that ever take ground squirrels apart. However accuracy rapidly fell off after 25 rounds, and pressures spiked. Cleaning and cleaning in the field while gophers are running all over the place is not my idea of fun. I sold the Kimber.
Up north in the Arctic the Inuit thought it might be cats pyjamas for seals and the small Perry's caribou. It killed them real well but not any better then the .222 or 22250. Wind drift was terrible with the tiny pills.
Accuracy fall off and stuck cases due to pressure spikes. Inuit at least those days never cleaned their guns. The .17 cal was a very short lived phenomena in the north.
Inuit soured quickly on it and got rid of them
If you like a hot rod 17, well prepare for a lot of cleaning in the field. Otherwise go up to the hot 22 cals.
There is no free lunch in life. That tiny bore fouls up pretty quick.
I suppose if you get a high quality lapped match grade barrel, it would not foul as fast and clean up much faster. I would not expect too much from a Savage barrel.

The ammo is meeting the velocity claims. Price is fairly attractive, and available hereabouts. The moderately priced rifles are turning out to be very accurate. Seems like a pretty good recipe for success.

"If you like a hot rod 17, well prepare for a lot of cleaning in the field."

About 28 years ago I got the 17 Bug... had to have the .17 Mach IV (Remingtons 17 fireball). Had heard all the 'have to clean after 20 rounds' info back then. The average I fired on a squirrel hunt was around 40 to 50 rounds and never had a fall-off in accuracy, always cleaned it after a hunt, then only because of the common wisdom that your accuracy would fall apart. The 17 mach IV and by default I assume the 17 Fireball are only doing something like 3,800 fps... which I would not rate as a hot rod.

YMMV and apparently some folks' did,

Jerry

I think what Savage has done with regards to this cartridge and what they did with their builds with the 17 Hornady Hornet, future ammo companies should look to other rifle manufacturers for a better commitment to quality than Savage has given to these two new offerings. I'll be at the Shot show and see what BS excuses they have. G