Impressed with my 17WSM.

[tnbndr]

I had a Volquartsen in .17 WSM, set up and took to SD one year for Prairie dogs. Confirmed kills at 310 yards (no wind).. That was a sweet rifle and I thoroughly enjoyed it but sold it and moved on to .17 MachII. I just enjoy closer shooting and protability.
I sold the Volquartsen with around 4000 rounds of ammo. Should have kept it, hindsight!!!

 

[B1s BmagX2]

Yep, those rifles were probably the best-built ones out there. What's strange is they quit making the 17 WSM and still make the 17 Mach II. At least the last time I looked. As far as the Mach II, I bought a Savage A 17 Mach II a few years ago. That was something I wish I could get a do-over on! I like certain Savage rifles, but not the A series. The rifle functioned ok but it's a bit cumbersome for a rimfire. I had it for a week and was lucky to get rid of it. Pretty worthless in my opinion, mostly because of the round. I shot one groundhog from about 75 yards and hit him with all 10 rounds at my disposal, and he still made it back to his hole!! The 17 WSM would drop "em" with one hit almost anywhere at that range. Lights out!! I just can't understand why Volquartsen would drop the WSM and keep making the Mach II?? I'd much rather shoot 22 LR than that feeble round. I always wanted a Volquartsen in 17 WSM, but on my budget, it wasn't going to happen. Maybe it's best since it's looking more and more like the ammo is going to dry up, and probably sooner than later.

 

[huntsman22]

There is still ammo out there, if a guy looks around. I've picked up 3000 rounds just in the last 2 months. Got these last month, and left 18 boxes of hornady 20 grainers for others. If they're still there next time, I'll scarf them up too.....

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Ya, I saw the Gunjoker prices! That's why I'm moving on to the Fireball. I Kind of agree with you on the Savage. The only Hornet option I found was the "walking varminter" and I'm not too keen on the way it's set up, bolt head, magazine, etc. I hear they have a lot of feeding issues. Overall, I like Savage. I've had great success with their products in most cases. The problem ones they handled asap, and they seem to always get it right the second time!! I have had other brands in the past that have had problems too, but sometimes it was a headache getting things straightened out without shelling out more dough to a gunsmith. I'm on a fixed income, (and boy it gets more fixed every day) so I really have to stay within a budget. I have one nephew on the farm that always gets the best, and I mean the most outrageous best! He mostly uses a suppressed Christianson arms custom 6mm Ackley he had built topped off with a $5000 Nightforce scope. He spent more on that than I get in a year and the groundhogs he gets aint any more dead than the ones I get with my Savage 110 in 22-250 with a Vortex Crossfire II. He can reach out a little farther, but that goes without saying given a 6mm over a 5.56mm. The craziest thing he's done recently is had another custom build done in .375 Cheytac! He used another Nightforce scope, I believe up to 48X. Says he wants to be able to hit those chucks at 2000 yards!!! Between you and me, I'm 75 and I can't even lift that rifle at over 60 pounds!!! Unreal.
And it only cost him $12,000 to build!!! My SUV aint worth that much. HA HA

Sounds like a little hunting lease needs to be drawn up. He has more money than he needs. Help him share it with you. He can look at it as a savings account for when he gets older. lol

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

There is still ammo out there, if a guy looks around. I've picked up 3000 rounds just in the last 2 months. Got these last month, and left 18 boxes of hornady 20 grainers for others. If they're still there next time, I'll scarf them up too.....

I would like to find some gross offerings such as these. But I am lucky to get a box or two at LGS in my state of Pa. And they run from $24.99 to $29.99 depending on maker. American Eagle beig the cheapest. If you can find it.

 

[B1s BmagX2]

I know there's ammo still available if you look for it. I found some about a month ago and I'll be darned if I can remember where? It was being sold in bulk, which in this situation is probably the best way to get the stuff, for what worked out to $20 a box. 500 rounds for $200, 1000 rounds for $400. I still have about 800 rounds left and if I just use it for chucks here in Ohio it'll last me a while. I just had to make a decision whether to invest in more ammo, which will still eventually run out if Winchester doesn't get off their butts, or use that money to start a new build. As I mentioned before, I have a 12-year-old Savage Axis .223 sitting in my gun vault. I got it for a budget build and replaced the original trigger, which was horrible since it wasn't an Accu trigger with a Rifle Basics, and tuned it to a 6 oz pull which seems extreme but I only load when I see my target. Made for a very accurate shooter. Then put it away. I got it back out 2 weeks ago, put a Picatinny rail on it, and topped that with a Burris Fullfield E1 I picked up at a gun show for $150. I ordered a Boyds Spike Camp stock. I have several Boyds stocks from the Spike Camp up to an At-One on my 22-250 and I kinda like the Spike Camp for a decent budget stock. Properly bedded it makes a good lightweight no-frills setup. I also ordered an E. Arthur Brown Barrel in .17 Rem Fireball. All in all it's gonna be my replacement for my B-Mag varminter which is now locked in my safe. I still am going to use my B-Mag modified "pencil" barrel as my walking rifle, so the ammo I have should last twice as long, I hope. I know the Fireball is a few notches above the HMR and I'm just not sold on the 17 Hornet since I reload a lot it's a little finicky about powder charge weights given the case size. Plus as I mentioned in an earlier thread the bolt face issues. I like the idea of being able to switch out different calibers and the Hornet is too limited.

 

[tribb]

Ammo support seems to have dried up. I've purchased WSM for as little as $11 a box. But that was 3-4 years ago. Luckily I bought enough to keep me going for a while. (target shooting NOT!) But it is crazy out there. I found it today, 6/2/23, on ammo seek for,,, are you sitting down??,, $80 a box!! That's 50 rounds for 80 frickin dollars!!! I contacted Winchester a few months ago, as I stated in a previous thread, and the excuse was military ammo production increases? Sounds like BS to me. Frankly, I don't see the connection between center-fire ammo and rimfire production. They have plenty of 22lr, 17Hmr, and even 17 Mach II available. Maybe they are out of the 27 cal blanks? The case they use is based on the construction 27 ramset, but thicker. So I sent them another email today. I'll see what the excuse is this time.. GRRRRR. PS. Conspiracy theory. Maybe the government doesn't like the idea of an "untraceable" rimfire round that is capable of centerfire ballistics?? HMMMM. Ya, that's pretty far-fetched, even for me!

Would not surprise anyone I'm sure

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Ammo support seems to have dried up. I've purchased WSM for as little as $11 a box. But that was 3-4 years ago. Luckily I bought enough to keep me going for a while. (target shooting NOT!) But it is crazy out there. I found it today, 6/2/23, on ammo seek for,,, are you sitting down??,, $80 a box!! That's 50 rounds for 80 frickin dollars!!! I contacted Winchester a few months ago, as I stated in a previous thread, and the excuse was military ammo production increases? Sounds like BS to me. Frankly, I don't see the connection between center-fire ammo and rimfire production. They have plenty of 22lr, 17Hmr, and even 17 Mach II available. Maybe they are out of the 27 cal blanks? The case they use is based on the construction 27 ramset, but thicker. So I sent them another email today. I'll see what the excuse is this time.. GRRRRR. PS. Conspiracy theory. Maybe the government doesn't like the idea of an "untraceable" rimfire round that is capable of centerfire ballistics?? HMMMM. Ya, that's pretty far-fetched, even for me!

Possibly Winchester needs to hear from more people wanting the ammo. It would be nice to have a day where all the 17WSM owners bombarded them with request.

 

[comfisherman]

Three or four weeks ago the squeaked out limited 15 grain lead free... that were slated for spring varmint release. Guessing the others are in the pipe line, just delayed.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Three or four weeks ago the squeaked out limited 15 grain lead free... that were slated for spring varmint release. Guessing the others are in the pipe line, just delayed.

How do they typically shoot ? I haven't gotten my hands on any of those.

 

[comfisherman]

Don't have a current run lot #. They shot the worst from the b mag and volquartsen, hard to quantify groups as we didn't mic many of them. I'd say visually they were about half inch larger diameter compared to the 20 grain winchester that shot best in both rifles.

I ordered a case of the current 15s to my folks place as shipping isn't possible here, but won't have a report till before Thanksgiving.

*Took the time to look but didn't see date of mfg codes. In 21 I purchased 4 boxes of 15 grain lead free, and it looks like 2 boxes hornwdy 20, in 22' it looks like I pieced together about half a case of hornady 20s around April, then saw no new production till last month.


I'll be perfectly blunt, the gaps between production and the helter skelter runs, I'd treat each batch essentially as new formulations. Very little chance that with a year gap between each run that everything will be the same as it was. Until they get shot I'd not use previous experience as a metric.

 

[WoodTRD]

I thought one of the benefits of 17WSM was supposed to be that it used a nail gun blank as the starting point, and should be unaffected by demands of other centerfire and rimfire stuff. Hopefully it isn't just because the demand isn't there. Glad I bought a case at $10/box a few years ago now, but I don't have what I consider a "lifetime supply" built up yet either. I'd much rather just know I can pick up a couple boxes as needed at least, or find it cheap and buy at least a few more cases!

I still wouldn't mind one in a semi auto for squirrel season hogs.

 

[dirtclod]

The 17 WSM does use a 27 cal nail gun blank made by ATK (CCI), then shipped to Winchester for final assembly. Talking with people at CCI, the demand for the blanks (construction) is at an all time high also.

Why sell it to Winchester when they can sell all they make themselves?

I think we will never see $10.00 a box pricing again, hopefully $20.00???

I have quite an investment in 17 WSM rifles, so I hope it remains affordable! What ever that is today??

 

[WoodTRD]

The 17 WSM does use a 27 cal nail gun blank made by ATK (CCI), then shipped to Winchester for final assembly. Talking with people at CCI, the demand for the blanks (construction) is at an all time high also.

Why sell it to Winchester when they can sell all they make themselves?

I think we will never see $10.00 a box pricing again, hopefully $20.00???

I have quite an investment in 17 WSM rifles, so I hope it remains affordable! What ever that is today??

I can live with $20, as long as it's at least somewhat available and decent quality for years to come. Didn't consider that nail gun blank demand may also be through the roof. I'm sure the agreement requires excess production capacity past what is eaten up for the original intended use. Really wish more manufacturers would jump in with quality bolt guns but I don't really see that happening in this market. It's an awesome little cartridge for what it is, and legal to have in public woods here any time squirrel/rabbit season is open. Whacked lots of crows with it too, I just can't roll my own if supply ever dries up completely.