Have any of you been able to get your hands on one of the new Savage 17 hornets yet? Curious what your all's thoughts are on the caliber.

I am going to hold out until Ruger gets off the pot....

I've a G2 Contender I had MGM make up a barrel for.
Love the cartridge. Very modest on the noise and recoil while making feathery things go poof and woodchucks just seem to shut off.

My god father got to impatient waiting for the Ruger's to come out so he ordered 2 77/22 Hornets and he is having both of them rebarreled to 17 hornet for him and me. In the end, im sure he is spending WAY more money having them built than waiting but thats what being a rifle looney is all about right?

FVA,

Are you happy with that barrel? What was your wait?


Thanks,
Travis

Dang straight

Travis,
Yes I am.
I spec'd a .650 muzzle at 23" and bought a carbine forearm as I didn't care for the weight/balance of the G2 cylinder length barrels.

It is a Green mountain barrel. There is a Shilen upgrade available.
It wants to stack bullets if I do my part and haven't seen any fouling issues so far.
I've shot three shots across the chronograph and they averaged 3580 fps.
The wait was about three weeks just like they told me when I ordered.
Imagine that.
Frank

It's probably got to be one of the worst product launches of all time.

They've been advertising the ammo for the better part of a year. I haven't even gone looking for it, but I've scene ammo on the shelves since May.

And NO rifles available yet??


Apparently CZ will have one out shortly. I kick myself that I let a Ruger Hornet go down the road a year or so back. Have a CZ that I kept over the Ruger, but would have liked to rebarrel the Ruger.

That's good to know Frank. Those are good speeds for that little case ain't they?

My poor TC just sits. I might do the same thing.

I doubt that thing will foul any worse than any other centerfire. Cool rig.


Travis

Thanks
The short length of the Contender coupled with the moderate report and range of the 17 Hornet make for a good tractor rifle.

I don't know about THAT, anything Remington does seems to be planned to fail, especially their intro of the .17 Fireball, which is practically dead already, AND they aren't doing a run of brass for it, the .17 Remington, the .221 Fireball, or a few others, for quite awhile, and a lot of distributors are already OUT of brass for them.
Helluva note to intro a new cartridge/rifle combo, but not provide cases/ammo for them, ain't it?
At least Hornady has the ammo out there for purchase, something Remington failed miserably at.

Yeah, dies and brass are readily available although you can buy loaded ammo for just a bit more than brass if you look around a bit.
Even if rifles are slack in getting out I don't think it will hurt the 17 Hornet in the long run. It is that good of cartridge. It is here to stay.

Oh yeah ... they said the same thing about the HMR .....

It just doesn't impress me much. I think the .17 Fireball is a much better and more efficiant cartrige. Wish Rem. would have got off the pot!

More Efficient? How so?

Been shooting the 17 Ackley Hornet for years, which is basically the same cartridge, and it has to be the most fun cartridge I have ever shot. It is certainly an over achiever. Easy 250 yard woodchuck round that has a mild report and doesn't recoil at all. Watch the chuck just tip over and then maybe a twitch of the tail. Crows disintegrate. Great fox round, pinhole in and no exit. We have two and I will pick up a CZ when they come out.

Have a 17 fireball as well. Great round but it doesn't touch the 17AH in the fun category.

Yeah right.



Travis

.17 Rem does the same thing and has been factory produced much longer.



Travis

It intrigued me as a round that might be good for thin skinned bobcats, but what good is it if you can�t find a gun that will shoot it? Savage has been advertising their guns, but I�ve had one on back order for a long time. It seems that it is common practice for manufactures to advertise their products long before they are actually able to deliver.

Just relax a little, they'll be available soon enough. A feller over on www.saubier.com has already seen a couple in his local gunshop, so they're just slow filling the pipeline.

Like a couple other here, I'm waiting on the CZ. If CZ changes it's mind and doesn't make it, I have an old Hornet that is easily rebarrelled.

Their marketing seems to be working...grin


Travis

Marketing like this seems to me to have started with Browning, then everyone else caught on yesars ago....they create the demand....THEN they create the supply....keeps their distributors and dealers from getting hung with inventory.


Loses some customers in the meantime though....

I think you guys got all that right. I wonder if most companies start marketing before they actually start manufacturing.

From what I could gather there was a good supply of S&W Shields available at the time of announcement, but after the first wave it seems that they are not that easy to come by now, either. That may be intentional too.

Of course they do, it creates a pre-production demand, and ensures that the initial production run is sold, so they won't lose quite as much if it's a dud. A helluva lot of new gun intros die quickly.