Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires What’s The Scoop On These 17 Rimfires???

For starters, I’m not just old, but “old school” also. I have never had any exposure to these 17’s and would appreciate a short tutorial on them, such as comparative ballistics to a 22 Magnum, which one is superior in the 17 ranks, are they here to stay or are they fading away, accuracy, or just anything to educate me. I’m considering purchasing a rimfire for just target shooting and maybe popping a varmint if it presents itself.

Thanks for any thoughts.

They're not going anywhere at least the 17HMR isn't. Mach 2 is on the decline but it's probably the best squirrel rifle ever made . 17 hmr works great on groundhogs to close in coyotes, but it's a little much for edible small game. The 17 WSM is pretty quick, great groundhog gun inside of 200 yards as well as a predator calling gun for saving pelts.

You need to define what type of "varmint".

IMO the 17HMR is an outstanding cartridge for shooting ground squirrels, they give good blow-up on them and are effective out to 150 yards or so. But in looking at your location I doubt that they would be what you are thinking of. As far as target shooting the 17HMR's I have owned grouped around 1" - 1-1/2" at 100 yards as long as it was calm, they are wind sensitive little rascals though.

For anything besides ground squirrels, coyotes, raccoons, etc., I would choose the 22 Magnum. From my experience, and observation of others groups, the 22 Mag is not quite as accurate. But neither are what I would call good target shooting rounds.
If I were wanting to just target shoot I would purchase a good 22 LR, it is much less expensiive than either the 17HMR or 22 Mag, and a better selection of target grade ammo.

I was at the local range the other day with a friend and he was shooting a 17HMR and a 22 Mag. He had a wheel type spinner (think of a waterwheel in raceway) the blades on it are 1/4 inch steel and was shooting it at 100 yards, when shooting it with the 17 HMR the blades would have splatter all over them with no indentation in the metal, when he shot them, with the 22 Mag it would indent and bend the metal a bit. That was the most graphic illustration I have seen on the difference in hitting power - I wish I had taken some pictures.

drover

Stevens223: I was "the first kid on my block" back in 2,002 to get a 17 HMR Rifle and it was love at first use!
I have killed all manner of Varmints and small game with my various 17 HMR's including Coyote, Fox, Badger, Wild Turkey, large Porcupines and Rock Chucks.
I use my 17 HMR's primarily for Colony Varminting and it is superb at that.
Accuracy in my several heavy barrel 17 HMR's is excellent plus (dittos for my scoped Smith & Wesson revolver Model 647).
I also have three heavy barrel Rifles in 17 Mach2. I have a lifetime supply, now, of ammo for these three 17 Mach2 Varminters. Accuracy with these Rifles is also commendable.
I am seeking another Varminter in caliber 17 WSM as I have shot several of my friends Rifles in this caliber and it performs VERY well afield.
I would recommend the 17 HMR for your uses.
Can't predict the future for you on "lifetimes" of the 17 rimfires - in todays market with todays manufacturers - no one can.
Best of luck to you with whichever you choose.
Long live the 17 rimfires!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I love my T1x in .17 HMR BUT if all you’re doing is target shooting stick with a .22 LR.

Ammo is easy to find and a third or less of the price of .17 HMR.

If you do but a .17, find a T1x, mine is scary accurate. I kill nutria and squirrels out to 150 regularly, 200 if there’s no wind.




Nutes can get pretty substantial.










P

Having a very accurate .22 Hornet and lots of components has kept me from getting a .17 HMR (and WSM), but if the barrels ever become easy to acquire again, I may get one for my CZ 457; a pretty cheap option as opposed to another gun.

Had a .17 Mach 2 1911 conversion years ago, possibly the most accurate handgun I’ve ever fired, but it had a couple of issues so it went away. Wish I’d kept all that good ammo, especially the Eley!

I pretty much agree. I've found the 17HMR to be a far more accurate round than the 22WMR at 100 yards, but do prefer the 22WMR for larger varmints. Especially when I'm shooting at shorter ranges.

Pappy348: One of my close friends and Varminting partners put together an amazingly accurate Ruger MK-II in caliber 17 Mach2!
I forget the name of the barrel maker but it was a heavy long stainless barrel complete with a registered" silencer - he has a Leupold 2.5x8 variable pistol scope on it and it was a Ground Squirrel killing machine!
I have shot it many times and am tempted to "put one together" myself (I would not go through the time and trouble of getting it "silenced" though).
It functioned VERY reliably with the tiny 17 Mach2 Hornady ammo.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Timbo & Drover: I agree wholeheartedly on your contentions regarding the 17 HMR's somewhat/slightly better accuracy than the 22 Magnum - but I disagree completely with your assessment of lethality in the 22 Magnum being better.
With todays "improved" Hunting projectiles in the various 22 Magnum offerings it has improved over itself greatly in the last 62 years but the 17 HMR in my many and varied uses is the more lethal on more creatures - hands down.
Lets take Badgers as a known "tough to kill" Varmint - I have seen MORE one shot kills on Badgers with the 17 HMR in the last 20 years than in the last 62 years with the 22 Magnum!
Badgers are TOUGH to kill.
With careful shot placement the 17 HMR is an amazingly efficient and lethal harvester of small game, predators and Varmints - been there done that!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I agree with VarmintGuy.

One of our sons bought me a .17HMR a couple of years ago and 400 rounds of ammo and I have been impressed ever since. I used to hunt a lot of rock chucks and coyotes down in the Twin Falls area of Southern Idaho and my buddy and I had a battery of .223, 22-250(2) and a .204 along with a couple of tricked out 10/22's. When the range that we were shooting was 80 yards or less we would use the 10/22's with some big HP rounds and found that a good hit could anchor a big rockchuck but a sub standard hit would have them crawling off into holes to later die.


Once we got to 85-100+ yards we would switch over to the centerfires but a super accurate 22-250 at 125 yards is not a great challenge. We would shoot out to about 400 yards, depending on the canyon winds, and that was a long shot back then. I would like to revisit that area this spring with my 6.5Grendel.

What the .17HMR did for us was provide that HUNTING rifle for 75-150 yards on those chucks and added back some fund and giggles. My experience is that the .17HMR is a whisper more accurate that the 22Mag. It has it's utility for me, as a hunting round more so than a plinking rounds and is a ball to hit small stuff at 100-125 yards. It is a loud sucker though and does require good ear protection.

There's no badgers in my neck of the woods, but plenty of larger east coast coyotes. I've never done a long term study, but just prefer a heaver 22WMR bullet that doesn't blow up and penetrates more deeply. Either is find with head shots, but sometimes a quick shot in the chest is the best you can hope for.

I would say the thing that is being missed in the conversation is that a badger is a much heavier muscled animal than gophers or rockchucks. My experience with the 17HMR on badgers has been less than satisfactory. Especially with a shot into the front of the animal where it is heavily muscled, the thin jacket of the 17HMR has a tendency to blow up just beneath the surface rather then penetrate before blowing up. I have actually had more success with quick kill on badgers with 40 gr Mini-Mags than I have using the 17HMR 17 gr bullets.

The 17HMR is a great gopher round, although expensive in comparison to a 22 LR cartridge. I finally sold my 17HMR and use my 22 LR for gophers out to 100 yards (not a difficult task with a ballistic drop reticle scope), or a 223 for longer shots on gophers and badgers.

drover

If you’re looking for a target rimfire, the clear answer is to get a quality .22.

If you’re considering varminting, you can also get impressive accuracy from quality rifles chambered in the HMR.

@100

I totally agree. It's been beat to death, but some guys just have to go out and see if what you are saying is true. Eventually they will come to the same conclusion.

Good post. I could have sworn we have had this same exactly question asked here a few times over the last 6 months. To answer the op's question about which 17 is superior, I'd have to say the HMR is. The HM2 is damn near obsolete as is the WSM. YMMV.. If I were really looking for a good one, I'd probably opt for this one:

Die hard 22 rimfire guy , but ladt year picked up a 17 mach2....great gun. Super accurate, and quiet. Great squirrel round as stated above

The 17 HMR and 17 HM2 have a much flatter trajectory than the 22 S/L/LR and 22 MAG, so hitting small target at 100 yards and beyond is easier.

My experience shooting varmints with them is more in sync with Drover than with VarmintGuy. After shooting a few 'cats, coyotes, red foxes, squirrels, 'chucks, and pdogs with the 17 HMR I decided that I didn't feel confident in it making quick kills on anything over +/-10 lbs. with body shots. In 2010 I gave a Marlin 917S to my adopted brother who lives in NH and after shooting it for awhile he went back to his Marlin 883S, as he said that while the 17 HMR was more accurate, the 22 MAG killed better.

When I got my first 17 HMR in 2004, a Savage 93R17BVSS, I was amazed how easy it was to shoot MOA or better with that inexpensive rifle and cartridge combination. I let some other guys who were at the range that day shoot it and some of them shot their first ever MOA group with it, prompting them to go out and buy a 17 HMR of their own.

I got my first 17 HM2 in 2008, another Savage, and after using is for awhile have come to believe that it is the best cartridge for shooting tree squirrels yet to be introduced. Since the trajectory is flat out to +/- 100 yards it makes killing squirrels easy if you and your rifle are capable of making the shot. The biggest negative about the 17 HM2 is that Eley stopped making ammo for it, leaving only CCI/Hornady, and I have yet to own a rifle that didn't shoot better groups with the Eley then with any other brand, so I hoard my stash of Eley and Remington 17 HM2 for hunting. That's not to say that CCI/Hornady doesn't shoot okay, just that it isn't as good as the Eley/Remington. Another positive aspect of the 17 HM2 is that my Marlin and Savage rifles shoot nearly as good as my Anschutz. The 17 HM2 is one of those inherently accurate cartridges.

If you're primarily going to shoot paper or plink, buy a good .22 LR. Even a relatively inexpensive 22 LR rifle can make good groups.

I had a H&R sportster in 17M2.
It was a laser. I gave it to my son, who sold it.
Should have kept it.
It was magic.