Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Looking to buy my first magnum rimfire rifle

Not a bolt gun, but my Marlin 57M is pretty darn accurate. It is, however, outshot by my Marlin 56 in 22lr. They both shoot as well as most bolt action sporters. Better than a lot of them. The 56 will darn near shoot the same hole at 50.

+1

My Marlin 883S will shoot eggs at 100 yards all day long with many brands of ammunition.....I just have to do my part!

I got curious yesterday about some particulars on the 17 & 22mag. Well, one thing led to another & 3 hours later(slow reader) I put a lot of old beliefs or info(if only mine) to rest.

Rifle info. No handgun numbers. Ballistic chart from JBM with hypothetical advertised velocities & BC's.

Just like the 22rf, the mag & 17 looses velocity with a too long barrel. Seems they're happy at about 19 inches, with very little gain or loss within +/- 3".

"That little 17 gr. bullet gonna get blown into the next state by just a gust" NO. The 17 gr. 17 in a 10 mph crosser moves 14.4 moa @ 300. A 30-35 gr. 22 moves approx. 16.9 moa. That's a lot for either, but a bit surprised the HMR beat the WMR by that much.

With a 100 yard zero, the 17/17 drops 12moa @300,. The 30/22 drops 18. Appox., +/-, give or take, yada yada.

And about the only I would have guessed correctly is that the mag does have more energy @ 300. 63#ft vs the 17's 40.

Playing with different bullet weights in both will obviously change some numbers, but it's not a tough decision for me to choose the 17 for small varmints & such.

But having rifles in both would probably not a bad thing.

For magnum rimfires I started on a Savage B17 in 17wsm, accuracy was extremely disappointing so I sold it. Next picked up a marlin Xt-17 heavy barrel synthetic. Shot well enough but if you looked at the stock wrong it would flex and sling shots, still have it as a backup. Got a smoking deal on a Ruger precision rimfire and I’ve been very happy with it for the last few years. Most my buddies all have savages (mostly 93r17 bull barrels) that shoot very well asides from the original thin barrel synthetic A17.