Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Browning 17 HMR ammo - Help please

I am looking for some "real-world" information on Browning 17 HMR, 17 gr polymer tip ammo. The box list the velocity as 2550 fps, Hornady 17 HMR 17 gr lists the same velocity on their box. My 17 HMR rifle groups Hornady 17 HMR 17 gr polymer tips exceptionally well. I suspect that the Browning may be the same ammo under a different label, but if not it really doesn't matter as long as it groups well.

Has anyone done a head to head match-up of these two ammos?

I have an opportunity to buy a few bricks of it at a very reasonable price but would really like some feed-back before making the purchase. I have until Thursday to make the decision so please share the good and bad experiences.

Thanks - drover

No experience with the Browning ammo. I thought it was normally made by Winchester. That said, in this environment if the price is right I'd buy it and if it doesn't shoot, I doubt you would have trouble recouping your investment in reselling it.

Can't help either, but as said above - break the box and market the cartridges one at a time.

Thanks for the replies. From the replies I have received on a couple of other forums it does appear that Winchester manufactures their own. I am sad to hear that given my experience with recent Winchester 22 LR ammo I am doubtful that it will be up to the accuracy of the Hornady, more than likely that is why it is being offered for less than the current going rate.

Recouping my money my money would be difficult because of shipping, I am 150 miles from the nearest UPS store and the local contract counter will not accept ammo for shipment.

drover

CCI makes a lot of rimfire ammo for a lot of companies. I would suggest you might want to ask Mule Deer to see if his CCI contacts could help out.

I believe UPS will pick it up at your house if there is no other way to ship it.. call them..

Some years back, Winchester Ammunition began producing their own Hummer ammo, unlike all the other “manufacturers” who relied on a lone source (CCI?) for theirs. While Winchester Ammunition isn’t owned by FN/Browning like Winchester Firearms, some of the Browning .22 ammo at least is identical to the WA offerings, so it’s possible the Browning .17 is WA as well, but not certain.

Under present conditions, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy whatever you can, especially if the price is anywhere near normal, and double especially if you’re running low. Hummer ammo seems as short as everything else. I was thinking of acquiring a .17 barrel, but decided against it when the ammo dried up.

I've shot CCI w/ TNTs, Winchester Supreme w/ a tipped bullet, Federal tipped and Hornady tipped. The all pretty much shot the same except for the CCI TNTs which for whatever reason don't shoot as tight as the tipped bullets. But then again, I've never been able to get most Speer bullets to shoot well.

I believe all .17 HMR is loaded with Lil Gun which made the .17HMR possible. All the loads are either loaded with TNTs or V-max and tend to hit the same POI once zeroed with the TNTs opening the group a bit.

Thanks for the replies, I will decide tomorrow whether to purchase it or not. It is not a "have to have them" thing but given the uncertainity of what is going on now and in the future makes me lean towards buying it even if it doesn't group as well as the Hornady.

I guess that if I buy it even though I don't really have a use for it until a future date that would make me a hoarder. LOL

drover

Drover: About a year and a half ago one of my Ground Squirrel Hunting partners got a deal on several bricks of Browning 17 grain 17 HMR ammo.
It shot well for him (CZ heavy barrel) and I can get off an E-mail to him to see if he "compared" those two.
He was not able to travel to Montana this past spring so I am not sure if he is still using it.
I say, "reasonable price" then buy it - buy ALL you can!
One of the gunshops here in Montana had Hornady 17 grain 17 HMR ammo in stock 4 - 5 months ago and sold it for a pleasing $12.99 a box (no sales tax in Montana!).
About 2 months ago they raised the price to $17.99 a box and I thought to myself "they will NEVER sell that huge stock of ammo at that price"!
I was wrong.
I went to that shop last Friday and they had sold EVERY single box of that ammo!
Best of luck to you, what ever you decide on.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

You don’t have a use for it right now, but will before you know it.

The TNT is 20 grains not 17 grs...

Secondly, I read somewhere official.. Speers or somewhere, that several of Speers/ CCI 17 HMR ammo is loaded with bullets that were intended for handgun use... I learned this by inquiring, because I had picked up some that shot all over the place...

can't remember if that was with XTP bullets or the TNTs....my Ruger 77/17 was one of the first ones shipped to Oregon... and I bought it like 15 minutes after they had unboxed it...paid less the $450 for it...it digests about any 17 grain load regardless of whose name is on the box...
to include some of the Browning.. our local Bi Mart Stores has it on the shelves periodically, at a lower price than the others at that...

I normally buy HMR ammo at 2 boxes at a time...the Browning and Winchester stuff shot just as well as CCI or Hornady brass...

Rumors still float around tho, that ALL 17 HMR is still coming out of the Speer factory....

off course this is before the entire Biden Plandemic hoarding started up again....

Yep - ground squirrels will start popping up by mid-March, 400 or more rounds per day are not unusual in the spring and early summer. Most of it will be 22 LR but at least 35% will be 17 HMR.

drover

I can't speak for the 17HMR specifically, but all the Browning ammo that we got from Browning at the store was from Winchester/Olin.

I purchased the Browning 17HMR ammo yesterday, the bullet looks identical to a V-Max except for a grey tip rather than a red tip . Luckily today was dead-calm, although a bit chilly, so I took the opportunity to do a head to head test at 50 yds and 100 yds between the Hornady 17 gr and the Browning 17 gr. They appear to be the same ammo, the drop, elevation, and grouping virtually mirrored each other, I am positive that I could alternate them and never be able to see the difference between the two.

The only thing that would make me happier would be that if the gophers were up - Oh well, it is only about 2 months away.

drover