Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires The Forgoten 17M2

These were just a few of them I picked up. Will Hornady exchange ammo?



Other than the split cases it shot exceptionally great.







5 Shots @ 50yds







I re-crowned the barrel, bedded the action, and lightened the trigger to a crisp 1lb.





**Fun Fact: If you have Hornady 17M2 ammo with a lot # beginning with a K call them and they'll replace it. The picture of the ammo with the blown sidewalls is the reason you'll need to replace it. But you have to do so prior to 2015.........


Adam

love the mach2 also, and a lot of squirrels get treated pretty harshly every fall around here with my 17M2's.

looks like a 452varmint with 3x9AO EFR, if i am seeing that right? i have the same rifle, topped with a 4x12 Sightron SII. .

did you use a shim/spring kit for the trigger, or replace with aftermarket?

i gotta send hornady some ammo as well, glad you posted this, has been on my to-do list a long time but i keep forgetting about it...did they indicate turn-around time?

looks like a great shooting combo, do you do any hunting with yours?

I just bought this rifle, haven't hunted it yet. Tomorrow I will head out for some T-Day Squirrel.

I swapped springs and nothing else, it's a .027" spring the same length as the old. I used to use the Brooks or Yo-Dave kits until I tested this combo out.

As to the ammo, you only have until next month to send your ammo back, after that your SOL.

Adam

I had problems with the cases splitting badly in a CZ 452 American. It started off as a very accurate rifle and deteriorated quickly. I should have sent it to CZ for a rebarrel, but I was aggravated with it and just pawned it off.

The .17 Mach 2 was/is hindered by ridiculously overpriced ammunition. I never bought a box of it that was priced less than .17 HMR ammo. It makes an excellent flat shooting tree squirrel round, zero it at 100 yards put POI about 5/8" high at 50 yards; any squirrel inside of 115 yards no need to worry about holdover.

Ab_bentley: I have a pair of heavy barrled Varmint Rifles in caliber 17 Mach2.
I absolutely love both of them, and the round as well.
My main 17 Mach2 is a Kimber SVT. This Rifle has a heavy 18" stainless barrelled model and has a radical shaped gray and black laminated target/Varmint type stock.
It has an exceptionally good trigger and I have a Leupold 6.5x20 EFR variable scope on it with Du-Plex reticle.
Two brands of ammo shoot very well in this Rifle.
One is the aforewarned about Hornady ammo and the other accurate loading is the Eley 17 grainers.
I worry about the future of this usefull and accurate caliber.
I worry that ammo makers will cease production of it.
I don't know why - I just do.
So I am doing my best to lay away a lifetime supply of it for my Rifles.
This is the first I have heard about the Hornady flawed ammo lot - I know Hornady has had mucho problems with certain lots of their 17 HMR ammo - I have several friends that experience slit cases in the Hornady 17 HMR ammo both after firing it and BEFORE firing it.
And several friends have had hangfires and bullets stuck in barrels!
I will check my stores of 17 Mach2 Hornady ammo for the "K" prefix.
Thanks for the timely heads up.
Long live the 17 Mach2.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

In 2007, this is how I looked at the situation:
With a scope mounted 2" above the barrel and the rifle sighted in so
that the bullets only goes 1" above the line of sight:
1) 17HMR 2550 fps 17 gr bullet 1" below line of sight at 137 yards
2) 17HM2 2010 fps 17 gr bullet 1" below line of sight at 107 yards
3) 22WMR 1875 fps 40 gr bullet 1" below line of sight at 118 yards
4) 22LR 1640 fps 32 gr bullet 1" below line of sight at 99 yards*
*but goes subsonic around 70 yards and looses accuracy
This range is much longer than the 22LR, but costlier.
1) The 17HMR is 22 cents to 25 cents a shot.
2) The 17HM2 is 10 cents to 14 cents a shot.
3) The 22WMR is 12 cents to 14 cents a shot.
4) The 22LR is 4 cents to 10 cents a shot.
I bought a lifetime supply of 17M2 ammo when it was cheaper than Hornady would have charged for just the bullet.

I bought a 17M2 reamer.
I built a 10/22 with Majestic Arms 17M2 barrel with Lothar Walther liner, Power Custom handle, STS trigger, etc.
It has two major problems:
1) It will shoot two holes touching at 50 yards, and the third is a flyer. I have to wait for the barrel to cool.
2) Sometimes there are case head failures.



Wear your safety glasses at all times when shooting a 10/22 17M2.

Where am I now in 2014?
My best candidate for 17M2 conversion is this 1947 Winchester 75:

The barrel unscrews, the trigger is good, no collector value left in this $250 pawn shop purchase. Someone shortened the barrel and mounted a Bushnell phantom pistol scope.


This 1948 Win 75 shall remain unmodified like Dorian Gray.

Went for a hunt today, killed two nice greys at 90+yds. Neck shots on both of them. I love the M2, love it.

Adam

I shoot a Sako quad in 17HM2 - best squirrel round, far better than a 22

Adam,

Thanks for the heads-up. I just checked my stash of .17 M2 and found a brick with the K prefix.

I lucked out. All mine is L, M, F and J. But I had split necks on a couple Hornady's and a couple CCI's, both in HM2 amd HMR.... never had a split run below the shoulder.

Have two bricks with L11K09.

Assuming these are "L" lots. Correct?

I also have a bunch of Remington HM2. Anything a guy should know about them?

L is the lot #.


Adam

I love the little hm2. Bought several cases of ammo when they were cheap. Wish I had bought more. Great little sage rat rifle. I relined an old rem target master. It does just fine out to about 100 yds..

I haven't forgotten mine. It's about the best squirrel round I can imagine.

It rips squirrels into all kinds of pieces doesn't it? Fun little round. One of my favorites.

Remington 17M2 was manufactured for them by Eley...they shoot well in all several Mach2's i chase squirrels with.

i've never had a case split with eley or Remington that i can recall.

Apparently not all "K" prefix ammo is defective, so anybody who has some might want to test it before contacting Hornady.

I fired sample rounds from each of the boxes in my brick of "K" prefix serial # ammo, and none split.

I'm having a LH 581 rebarreled to 17HM2. The trigger and receiver will receive some work too. Can't wait. Should be available by when squirrel season opens here next May.

I tried to order some 17HM2 ammo from Graf and Sons and was told that Hornady would not take any back orders.

Finding ammo is already difficult and apparently, it is getting worse.

Does anyone know of a dealer who has any?

Thanks,

Steve

7x57STEVE: No, I do not know of a dealer or store that has any for sale right now - if I did I would buy it for myself.
I am going to be doing gunshows for the next few weekends in a row and if I come across some that is above my price range I will forward the info to you.
Good luck in your quest.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy