Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 17 WSM floundering?

or mostly already dead? What say you?

It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the only magazine rifle available for that cartridge is fug-ugly.

fugly guns, no ammo to be found.

personally, it seemed to me it was made for a non-existent niche that didnt need filled...

with the current ammo availability and firearm selections, i can wait to see what volquartsen comes out with at the 2014 shot show.

No ammo and no LH Rifles available so it has no interest to me period.

I think that the lack of vehicles for the cartridge is a major factor in the 17WSM getting off to such a slow start. Plus, if you read the mostly negative feedback about the Savage B-Mag on RFC, there seem to be a lot of design and QC issues that weren't adequately addressed or resolved before the design was put into production.

I look at the 17 WSM as a varmint shooting cartridge and think that a heavy barrel rifle would have been a better vehicle than the light/sporter contour barreled rifle that Savage has put into production. That, and the fact that the Savage B-Mag sells for about the same price as the Savage Axis and the 17 WSM ammo is more expensive than 223 ammo.

Jeff

The lack of a good mid-priced rifle killed it dead, just as many predicted. The B-Mag is ugly as sin, and Winchester/Browning has dragged it's feet putting out the over-priced Low Walls, leaving basically one choice for it, those fugly B-Mags.

If Ruger or CZ, or anyone else, had picked it up, it might have had a chance, but no one did. Sales are thru the roof with their current production lines, so there was no reason for anyone to tool up for another rifle.
The WSM cartridge would likely need a Hornet sized action, and with the demand for .17 Hornets already pretty high, there isn't production capacity for another rifle right now.
Winchester's timing was screwed up beyond belief, rivalling Remington's..................

For a very short time, Savage made some single shot 93s in 22 Hornet. I have never fired one or even looked at one in detail, but wondered how well that action would handle the pressure. The Winchester 43 seems to be a more substantial action than the Savage 93 and the 43s had a reputation for having pressure issues with the 22 Hornet and 218 Bee.

The point being that if the 93 action would handle the pressure of a 22 Hornet, it ought to handle the pressure of a 17 WSM.

Jeff

I never hope for any cartridge to fail, but I don't see this one being a success. Reminds of the 17 Fireball. People had to wait too long to get access to either rifles or ammo to shoot. Plus the rifle available for the 17 WSM is not very appealing. I am guessing it will go the way of the 5mm Remington Magnum. I wish they would offer a larger caliber rimfire like a 24 or 25 caliber which doesn't have to travel at the speed of light. Oh well.

5mm Rem. redux

I do see ammo on the shelf,walmart,gander mountain ,Dicks sporting goods and a few smaller shops,right around 15-16 dollars per 50 rounds

What was said above, chamber a decent rifle in it and some of us would buy it.

Chamber it in a pretty rifle and I think it would fly.

chamber it in .20 cal. and it would work.

Where's Cooper when you need them?

Volquartzen is working on a rifle for 17wm, last they told me was a couple months ago it was close to done.

Shooting prairie dogs takes a lot of ammo. There are times when I don't feel like reloading for my varmint rifles. The 17WSM cartridge look good to me, but not the Savage rifle. Winchester had the equipment make the larger case and all they had to do is neck it down to 17 caliber. I think its unlikely that other companies could make ammo for the same price. CZ and Ruger would have to change one of their short CF actions to RF and use a stronger fireing pin spring for the thicker 17 WSM case or design a new action. Its likely the 17 WSM will die off faster than the Rem 5 MM RF cartridge. Ruger and CZ or not filling the orders for the new 17 Hornet rifles. Why would the make 17 WSM rifles now ?

No comment on 17 wsm , However,a little plug for a nice 17 cal rifle I am putting up for sale - 17/223 , Douglas bbl,on an early 4 Digit (non-prefix)Ruger #1 w/ Alex Henry Forearm & 3200 Redfield scope . 4400 fps . Very accurate if cleaned frequently.PM me if interested . thanks

I'd buy a 17WSM rifle if I could find one other than the ugly Savage. As much as I'd like to try out this cartridge life is too short for ugly rifles!

I think we will see quite a few companies offering rifles at SHOT in a couple weeks. A Ruger 77/22Hornet just begs to be in this caliber with very little modification beyond a different barrel. I heard rumors that Winchester will be offering a rifle (in addition to the 1885 they already make). The savage is selling as fast as stores get them in but IMHO it is a POS rifle. Ammo is hard to get but not as hard as 22LR. And since it's on a dedicated assembly line due to it's .27 caliber case I would think Winchester should be able to keep up with this better than the other rinfires.