nicholasjohn
Well-Known Member
No doubt about it, the 17 HMR is far, far more popular than the 17 WSM.
BUT, since getting my 17 WSM, I hardly ever shoot, either, of my 17 HMR's.
It may be that most guys who want to shoot rimfire are satisfied with the ballistics of the smaller cartridge, and if somebody wants a little more he just moves up to a small centerfire cartridge. I just read that the larger rimfire cartridge evolved out of a nail-gun cartridge, not a rifle cartridge. This suggests to me that B23's assessment of the quality control in manufacturing the ammo is quite likely right on the mark. Until they start selling more of it, they may not incorporate better QC into the process to promote better accuracy. Unfortunately, the mediocre accuracy may be the reason for low sales volume. It may also be that they are putting better QC into the loading of the lighter bullets, and plan to work that backward through the production line as their loading equipment wears out and requires replacement. I hope it all comes together at some point, but in the meantime it seems that the 15-grain bullets are the way to go. Those yotes looked like the little bullets worked just fine, but as winter rolls around and the fur gets heavier, more bullet weight might show some benefits. One thing that seems pretty cerrtain, though, is that Ohlongarm is going to keep grinding on the coyotes and reporting in with his findings. Thank you for that, Sir.