Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 17 HMR slowly dying?

Negative ghost rider!!

I have one in a Savage and find that I use it for a "hunting" rifle instead of a plinking rifle.

I've seen much more supply of the 17HMR in my area and the prices are now down under $10 for many brands. For me it has extended my rimfire hunting range from
75 yards out to 150 yards and the accuracy is superb.

I think it's here to stay while the 17 Mach 2 is hard to find and limited in choice when found.

If anything I think it has just become a mainstream everyday cartridge. It is always going to be around there is no need for hype or aggressive marketing. The loads have been whittled down to the popular ones that sell. Like anything popularity and selection will vary some by location.

Overall I think rimfires, of any flavor,are not as popular as they used to be. I think with the pricing of ammo and and the guns themselves the AR 15 has become the new "rimfire" for a lot of people. Seems more and more people are skipping the rimfire step when they get into shooting.

For me rimfires will always have a place. I love my various 17 HMRs, have plenty of ammo hoarded. Don't see it ever dying, but will continue to buy ammo when prices are good.

A while back I bought a cheap Ruger 17hmr and a bunch of different kinds of ammo to try. I stopped trying at #4, the A17 CCI ammo in the Ruger shoots better than we can. https://www.targetsportsusa.com/cci...armint-tip-200-rounds-949cc-p-58562.aspx
I see this ammo is on back order, dang it I should of bought a few more cases. The 17hmr doesn't have the killing power of the 22 mag but there's no comparison accuracy wise.

Not around here.

Hmm, around here 50 rounds is still less than a box of 22 Mag. About $13 to $14 a box and more available. Can't buy 50 rounds of .223 for that and, even when I could, I found I was grabbing the .17 HMR instead. That said, I used mine primarily for prairie dogs and haven't shot any in a while. I find the .17 HMR too much for edible game, but that's true for the .223 as well.

What I liked best was that during the Obama yeas,, when you couldn't find any .22 LR, .17 HMR was everywhere.

I'm just getting into Coyote calling and may try the .17 HMR again.

The market niche might be saturated, IMO, anybody who likes the 17HMR already has one or more and is only buying more if it is an upgrade or a great deal.

I have a few rifles chambered in 17HMR, but shoot those in .22, .22 MAG, and 17HM2 more. I'm a big 17HM2 fan and don't need a .17 caliber rimfire to do more than it does except when I go pdog shooting and want to shoot them from 0 to 150 yard in reasonably calm conditions.

For purely casual shooting, I'd much rather spend the cost of a couple of boxes of 17HMR ammo on 3 or 4 times as many boxes of .22 LR ammo to run through one of my 10/22s.

Not when it's $8.97/box huh buddy ....that's for the good Hornady ammo, I've seen winchester for as low as $6.99/box recently, but I've found the winchester stuff doesn't shoot as well. Now's the time to be buying the chidt... I mean all kinds of ammo...

I don't see the 17 HMR going away. It works.

I just bought some at our local BiMart store....for $7.00 a box of 50... 20 grain bullets...

It is just you. I can think of 5, maybe 6 stores within a half hour where I could pick up 1000-2000 rounds per store if I were so inclined.

Tom

In my opinion, I say NO. I finally did buy one and I really like it. No problem finding the ammo most places I've looked, too.

Just something different for an old retired rimfire shooter! Long live the .17 HMR round!

Brittman

17 HMR and 17 WSM aren’t going bye-bye anytime soon...The only problem with the WSM is lack of good rifle options.

The Ruger M77/17 is the best for a bolt gun. Savage Bmag for inexpensive/cheap. Winchester has a single shot falling block 1885 that’ll set a guy back $1k or more...

Franklin makes a good semi auto in an AR platform that some people say is the cats balls, and of course there’s the high end Volquartsen semi’s that are extremely well built, heavy like a bench gun, accurate like a bolt gun, but almost double the price of the Winchester 1885...

That is your sampling of 17 WSM. If you start out with the WSM, you might not touch a 17 HMR since ammo prices between the two with sales are the same price.

17 HMR has a pretty decent selection of rifle makers. Here’s the only rub IMO. You can spend $197.00 for a Savage 93FV bolt gun and ring out of it the same accuracy you’ve likely to get from a Cooper Rifle. Ask me how I know...

I’ve owned more than six HMR rifles and literally smoked three barrels of the six over 20 years. My Cooper was $165 to replace with a new barrel shipped IIRC. The other two were Savage 93’s. They got scrapped once the barrels started making “keyholes”.

Will the 17 rimfires ever surpass the 22 LR?...Yes, when pigs start flying. But, the 17’s are different, they shoot a lot flatter than a 22 LR or 22 Mag which for me reproduces in a small way a feeling of shooting a CF rifle.

The 17’s are not a go too for smacking a hard headed possum, raccoon or coyote IMO. That’s 22 LR or 22 Mag work. But for shooting really small varmint ground squirrels and alike, it’s more fun at more distance than you will consistently get from a 22 rimfire.

17g hollow points are typically the ammo for a HMR. 20g solids for those who want to eat the squirrels. 17 WSM is usually 20g or 25g HP

Try one on for size...It’s a small investment in capital output or pocket change for a new or used WSM or HMR. Give either one a go. 😎