Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires What happened to the Hornady 17 HM2 cartridge?

First, I admit, haven't followed it at all. But thought replacing the barrel on my 77/22 with a barrel in 17 HM2 would be interesting for squirrel, the only small game I hunt anymore. Looked around for a replacement barrel, nothing, looked around for ammo, very very limited. I'm also not a computer search guru, but usually can find stuff. Guess I'll be sticking with 22LR.

Not too many manufacturers making them any more. Savage is. It's a fantastic round that never quite caught on. It was plagued with split neck issues that to this day are still common. Since it never caught on heavily the aftermarket likewise didn't

Neither did hardly anyone else. That's what happened to it--nothing.

The local Sportsman's Warehouse store has 17HM2 ammo on their shelves, or at least they did a few days ago. CCI is still loading 17HM2 ammo and labeling it under their name and Hornady's. But I bet given the current ammo panic, all of CCI's rimfire production is dedicated to the most popular cartridges like 22LR and 17HMR. So, it may be a while before CCI makes another run of 17 HM2 ammo. If you're looking for info, parts, etc. for most anything related to rimfire guns, I suggest you visit the website: Rimfire Central. IMO, that's the site most often frequented by most of the rimfire aficionados.

I wanted one early on, but ammo was hard to find at the time so I lost interest. Interestingly enough, it's about the only rimfire on the shelves nowadays locally.

One of the best squirrel hunting rounds ever produced IMO!! Bought lots of Eley, Remington and even Federal back in the day. Installed a custom barrel on my Sako and wow!! Out to 125 yards most of the time they were in trouble. Still believe in my statement! Twitch

When necks started splitting they quit making them for a while. It killed it.

Tried one of SAS’s special run Rugers. Don't think the current ammo is as good as it used to be, so sold it and the ammo off without serious loss. No splits, just not worth the trouble compared to .22LR.

The best tree squirrel cartridge ever made!

Out to 100 yards you have a flat shooting gun that shoots as well as match grade 22 ammo.

It's a small niche, but I'm glad I have mine and about 5 bricks of eleys laid back for mine. I grab it every time I go squirrel hunting

I have a cz 452 American 17hm2 with a 3x9 Leupold. I take 75-100 squirrels a year with it here in the Missouri bootheel. Never had any split cases myself but have seen some of the 15 gr with cracked necks out of a Marlin. I love it. Will keep it forever.
Watch out for rimfirecentral, there's a lot of one upmanship over there. I'm a member myself.

Green mountain used to produce a 17hm2 for a 77/22. I have one somewhere. If I find it I will PM you. It is a sporter contour and fluted but short. 16-20” if I remember correctly. Check with green mountain and see if they still make it.

I have a GM barrel in 17HM2 I bought and never used. I think that it is around 20", a blued fluted sporter contour that was made for a Ruger 96/17. If you're interested I'll hunt it up, but I don't know how much different the barrel shank specs are between the 10/22, 77/22. and 96/22.

Count me as a 17HM2 fan. I have a really accurate Anschutz 1502 and a nearly as accurate Marlin 917M2S that I hunt fox squirrels with. I bought one of the Ruger American Rifles that SAS had made up for Whitaker's as I was looking for a lighter rifle, but have been disappointed that it doesn't shoot as well as I had hoped. I think that the Eley and Remington ammo was generally more accurate than the CCI/Hornady, but the CCI/Hornady does OK. There is no doubt in my mind that the 17HM2 is the best round for hunting tree squirrels yet to be in an accurate rifle.

If there were more serious tree squirrel hunters, there would be a greater demand for the 17HM2, maybe even enough demand to prompt Eley to make ammo again.

Mostly anemic and uninteresting.

It is by far the best squirrel hunting cartridge that is made. It is alive and well here. I have 5 rifles now and another one on the way as we speak. Lots of ammo around here. And I have a nice stash of it as my boys like to go through it. Lol. It is one of my favorite cartridges. We like to chase the Curr dogs around and knock out those bushy tails out of the trees.

It is a fantastic varmint round.

It was very popular among varmint shooters right out of the gate. But it has ridiculous pressure spikes and a lot of semi-autos were recalled accordingly.

If you can get one in a bolt gun or single shot, and lay in a good supply of ammo, they are well worth the effort. But I will add that it is awful in high winds and some modern 22LR gives an equivalent "pop" on a rat or rabbit.

They are insanely accurate. Typically.

The 17HM2 seems like it would be the perfect round for shooting iguanas at long range down your way or for shooting armadillos in the southwest.

I have 6 rifles chambered in 17hm2, all bolt guns with good scopes. It's an amazing ground squirrel round and I shoot 3-5 thousand squirrels with it every year. In dead air, you can hit them at 150 yards, however wind impacts the trajectory and you need to learn the art of holding into the wind.

It would be dynamite on iguana but it would be too loud for the places I hunt.

It's pretty schitty for long range IME. But it is a sure thing 75yds and under.

I've shot fox squirrels at 100 yards or so when they were out in corn fields harvesting ears that didn't make it into the combine's feeder house. Where is was safe to do so, I've shot black walnut out of the trees that they grew on out to 125 yards, but I needed a little hold over past 100 yards.

I was thinking that a suppressed 17HM2 would be safer than a suppressed .22 LR because the 17HM2 bullets are fragile and not prone to ricochets.

many dedicated squirrel hunters love it....