Creedmoor shooter
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately prairie dogs are a bit scarce in the north east. I'd love to go do that sometime. 75% of my shots on chucks are under 150 so I generally choose rim fire.
Anyone have any luck with a good .17HMR?
- Thread starter midmo
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I too and from the north east and I'll be honest. I love my Ruger American 17HMR and it can kick the **** out of a chipmunk out to 160, where a 22 would be nowhere near as accurate (unless you dumped a crap load of money into it) but when it comes to groundhogs I definitely prefer my 22-250 or 6.5 Creedmore but obviously were reaching out 600 to 1000 yards on them furry bastard's!
Why do I love my 17 HMR!
For weeks and weeks I bosted to my father-in-law ( A retired sniper) how awesome this round was in comparison to the 22 LR. He himed and huld about coming over and when he finally came over, he sat down on my range and started to shoot it out to 165 and on his 3rd shot he turns and looks at me with a little bit of a smirk and confused look and says I'm hitting my hit at 165 yards, that just ain't right. He said I have shot 22 after 22 Magnum after 22 and after 22 Magnum and thought they all sucked and sold them,
(obviously wanting more accuracy then a rimfire could give him). He looked at me confused again and said this is rimfire? and said yes it's rimfire. His last response was ****, that's nuts.I'll be honest though I would like to give that other 17 a try
For weeks and weeks I bosted to my father-in-law ( A retired sniper) how awesome this round was in comparison to the 22 LR. He himed and huld about coming over and when he finally came over, he sat down on my range and started to shoot it out to 165 and on his 3rd shot he turns and looks at me with a little bit of a smirk and confused look and says I'm hitting my hit at 165 yards, that just ain't right. He said I have shot 22 after 22 Magnum after 22 and after 22 Magnum and thought they all sucked and sold them,
(obviously wanting more accuracy then a rimfire could give him). He looked at me confused again and said this is rimfire? and said yes it's rimfire. His last response was ****, that's nuts.I'll be honest though I would like to give that other 17 a try
Creedmoor shooter
Well-Known Member
I'm not gonna say the 17 hmr is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Yes it is better than a 22 (especially accuracy) but it has limitations. It gives you about 100 yards over the 22 lr in my experience. I've shot 22s side by side with my 17 out to 300 yards and the 17 is the clear winner in accuracy. I've taken crows and squirrels out to 275 with the 17. I've got a couple crows at 250 with the 22 but once again it won't anchor them. Consider using the 17 like you'd use a center fire for big game. You have to be conscience of shot placement. The only time I've had crawl offs was when I didn't put the bullet in the vital area. The 17 wsm is definitely a big improvement to the hmr. Increasing your range buy yet another 100 yards over the 17 hmr and 200 yards over the 22lr. However, until they can make a rifle other than the b-mag then I'm not interested.
Why haven't more manufacturers picked up on the 17wsm and produced a rifle for it? And pardon my ignorance but what is a B mag?
Creedmoor shooter
Well-Known Member
I have no clue why they haven't. I think the 17 hmr just has such a strong foothold that nobody wants to switch. The b-mag is savages 17wsm which is imo a pile of crap. From what I've seen the wsm is not as accurate as the hmr so that may be part of it. If someone made a nicer rifle in it then that would help
I wasn't aware the HMR was a tighter grouper then the WSM. That's possibly why they haven't jumped on the bandwagon with it. Is that WSM B-mag the same one they use in their savage 17 HMR's? Because my neighbor is having nothing but problems with his 17 HMR. With that said, he does have the lowest entry savage 17 they make.
woodnut
Well-Known Member
I have to agree with Creedmore shooter in only that there's a lot of HMR rifles and shooters to make the switch to the WSM. However, I own both a VERY accurate WSM and an accurate HMR. The HMR has become a closet queen because the WSM has more of everything good about the HMR. Savage makes(and I said this before) a very accurate heavy barreled WSM and I have a friend who has a stock Ruger WSM( ok, with a trigger job) that is very accurate and I have a very accurate restocked and trigger jobbed Ruger WSM. Ammo can be found to compete with HMR ammo. Shooting suppressed, you can hardly tell any difference in sound between the HMR and WSM. But the WSM is the harder hitting and flatter shooter. And yes, I also wish more makers would come out with a better rifle in WSM. HS Precision was going to, I saw and shot the proto type, but it became too expensive for them to believe they could sell it so they scrapped it. But boy oh boy was that prototype ever loving sweet!Same problem with Winchester's, too expensive.
B23
Well-Known Member
The WSM is definitely the King of the rimfires. I have a HB SS Savage Bmag that I restocked with a Boyd's Pro Varmint and even though there are certain things about this gun I find very annoying, it is the best shooting rimfire I own.
I can't say that I notice a great deal of difference with the WSM vs HMR when the shots are 100 yds or less but when you start stretching them out past 100 yds the WSM seems to hit quite a bit harder. I've shot a lot of sage rats with both and the HMR is no slouch but when you start picking them off at further distances the WSM really does a number on them. If I was using one for PD's or Yotes, I'd grab for the WSM every time.
The early skinny barrel Bmags got a bad reputation pretty quickly but the HB models that come in the different laminated stocks have mostly been shooting very well.
I can't say that I notice a great deal of difference with the WSM vs HMR when the shots are 100 yds or less but when you start stretching them out past 100 yds the WSM seems to hit quite a bit harder. I've shot a lot of sage rats with both and the HMR is no slouch but when you start picking them off at further distances the WSM really does a number on them. If I was using one for PD's or Yotes, I'd grab for the WSM every time.
The early skinny barrel Bmags got a bad reputation pretty quickly but the HB models that come in the different laminated stocks have mostly been shooting very well.
Creedmoor shooter
Well-Known Member
I'd very much like to get a 17wsm. I just wish the b-mag bolt operation was better
woodnut
Well-Known Member
Man, do I love your setup! Nice muffler on the end! Color coordinated.
I agree with what you said of the comparisons and that's been my experience,too. BTW, you may want to look into a cover for the muffler as in my experience in dog towns, those get very hot and mirage is terrible! Yep, even the rimfire WSM gets hot there!
I agree with what you said of the comparisons and that's been my experience,too. BTW, you may want to look into a cover for the muffler as in my experience in dog towns, those get very hot and mirage is terrible! Yep, even the rimfire WSM gets hot there!B23
Well-Known Member
Man, do I love your setup! Nice muffler on the end! Color coordinated.
You are correct, even on rimfires they get VERY hot. I run Elite Iron suppressor covers on all my cans.
woodnut
Well-Known Member
woodnut
Well-Known Member
This is my re-stocked Ruger 77 in 17 WSM. It is an awesome PD whacker and has whacked a few groundhogs as well. When you fire off a 20 grain pill at aprox. 3000fps, it will get the job done! I do recommend the scope bubble for any thing from 100 yds out.
