I have a Savage with a Leupold VX3 4.5-14 and it shoots lights out. It is so much fun shooting prairie dogs with it. All Dead Right There out to two hundred.
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Anybody hunting with a 17 Hornet and if so what's your take on it.
- Thread starter Ohlongarm
- Start date
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Nice Rifle and some fine shoot'n.I have the Ruger. It's awesome....
huntsman22
Well-Known Member
'longarms, I can't afford nice scopes like orkan so I've had a vortex viper 6.5-20 and a bushy 5-15 on my ruger. Both of which puked.... Currently has a LRTS on 'er. Yeah, yeah, I know. I could have bought once, cried once.....
I've shot and hunted with 17 HMR, 17 Hornet, and 17 Rem. All were excellent shooters, typically 0.5 moa, very little recoil, and low noise. They all killed, but I was never impressed with terminal performance beyond 75 to 100 yards on any of them. I like "red mist" on pdogs, and I prefer to hit larger varmints with something that has a little more authority. For me, .223 is about the minimum.
Theres no shame in a Vortex Viper... Best bang for the buck you can get.'longarms, I can't afford nice scopes like orkan so I've had a vortex viper 6.5-20 and a bushy 5-15 on my ruger. Both of which puked.... Currently has a LRTS on 'er. Yeah, yeah, I know. I could have bought once, cried once.....
huntsman22
Well-Known Member
maybe for you...... personally, I'd rather have stuff that works.
If you shoot factory ammo the 17 Hornet is a big step up from the 17 HMR or WSM. If you hand load I would suggest you get a 17 Fireball. I have owned a few of each and the FB has better brass, easier to load and produced better velocity and terminal performance farther out. I sold my 17Hs and have two 17 FBs. The 22 Hornet with hand loads is a better performer than the 17 H for killing larger animals and even for shooting gophers. All guns were CZ or Remington. I have worked on accurizing far too many Ruger 77s to ever own one personally, though some guys get lucky and end up with one that shoots okay..
I have a Savage 17 Hornet. It is a very efficient little cartridge. I like it but for me a 20 Practical in an AR has all but replaced it.
The only caution I would add is available brass. For bolt guns I have become a bit of a brass snob. My Hornady brass in 17 Hornet was not great. Some primer holes were pretty bad. Maybe the brass is better now?
I looked into getting some other brass and forming it but not much was available. Last I checked RWS was supposed to be the best Hornet brass. It would require a lot of forming to get from 22 Hornet to 17 Hornet and RWS brass was hard to find.
So I put it on the back shelf for awhile.
The only caution I would add is available brass. For bolt guns I have become a bit of a brass snob. My Hornady brass in 17 Hornet was not great. Some primer holes were pretty bad. Maybe the brass is better now?
I looked into getting some other brass and forming it but not much was available. Last I checked RWS was supposed to be the best Hornet brass. It would require a lot of forming to get from 22 Hornet to 17 Hornet and RWS brass was hard to find.
So I put it on the back shelf for awhile.
oldfortyfiveauto
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 413
The only scope I've had fail in the last 45 years was a Redfield 8x. My vortex's have all worked well.
Saubier is a great forum for all sub caliber information.
Privi 22 H brass makes excellent 17H brass and it is quite easy to form.
There is a sticky on how to do it easily at
Short form, run brass through a 17 H seating die with the stem removed then a FL die. If you have a 20 caliber die that makes a good first step but not totally required.
oldfortyfiveauto
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 413
Hornady brass tends to have a lot of split necks. Annealling really helps.
