17hmr vs small CF

[Fox Tales]

The diminutive 17 HMR has always divided rifle shooters for a number of reasons. With the cost of the little rimmies ammo hurtling towards £20 a box is it worth holding onto . The last box of Hornady vmax ammo I purchased worked out at 39p a round.I must add the quality does appear to have improved.

With the above in mind and the cost of reloading small CF ammo being equalled, I'm struggling to justify its place in the safe .

For me at least, the time to say goodbye is getting near.

I'm interested to hear others views, so,over to you guys.

Regards,

Mark

[247sniper]

My mate has just got a .17 Hornet. 9 grains of Lilgun powder with a 25 grain Vmax sat on top all for £0.30p per bang. Massively more accurate then any HMR and wirh far greater speeds and energy. Its a 350 yard bunny gun.

 

Steve

[markyw2]

I went for a .17 CF as I needed something a little more frangible than 22LR on the land I shoot and also didn't fancy a HMR. Ended up going for a Fireball, which presented problems in factory ammo and brass for reloading. However, great round and a great rifle (Rem 700 VSSF 2) which I probably paid a bit over the odds for, although it was practically new.

 

Factory is about £1-£1.50 a pop, but I can reload for about 20p a round not including brass. I have some .17 fireball and now also dies to make .17 FB brass from .221 FB brass - which is much more readily available.

 

Personally, if you are considering a .17 CF, then .17 Rem may be a good option. Not sure I would recommend Fireball due to availability of consumables. If you do go any .17 CF Krank are a good source of 17gr bullets @ £5.50/100 and they shoot well.

 

Regards

 

Mark

[phoenix]

22 hornet is the obvious solution - if you reload.

Can be loaded to be ballisticlly similar to 17HMR or loaded to be significantly faster than 17HMR

Can be reloaded for less than 23p a pop.

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

[stillair1]

Hmr still has its place in my cabinet,fits in nicely between .22lr and .17 cf. Particularly as the ammo quality looks to be improving.

[cooter]

I recently added a .17 Hornet to work alongside my longstanding workhorse HMR, and they both definitely have their place in the cabinet.

 

The advantage of the 17 Hornet is it shoots repeatably out to 300yds with 20 - 25 Grn bullets, or you can down load it for night shooting, with a little Trail boss or N32C, and the 17 Grn Krank bullets.

[onehole]

I said bye bye to the 17 HMR when I discovered what downloading my 223 would do with some Trail Boss and 50g Blitzkings.It pretty much duplicated 22 Magnum performace and bucks the wind much better.Mines running at appx 1800 fps,,,good for 125 yards point and squirt,,,,you could stoke it up more if necessary,,,,very little pressure going on at 7.0g of TB. From my my normal 200 yard zero with full power 69g TMK,s the down loads simply needed 2 MOA up for a 100 yard zero,,,no horizontal needed just fell right on line.,,,worked for me,,,,,here,s a target all shot at the same time,,,appx 90 yards on the day,,,

The 17 Hornet or Fireball does have some appeal though,,,may be tempted one day?

 

[VarmLR]

223 for me all day long. It's the most versatile little calibre I've ever owned, and shoots everything from 50 to 77gr bullets in mine. As above, can be downloaded easily and safely or loaded up for LR vermin control or target to around 800 yards (1/8 twist needed). I don't regret ditching my HMR. It was more trouble than it was worth, I wasted more ammo re-zeroing every batch of new (and rubbish) ammo than I ever shot at corvids or rabbits and rising prices was the clincher. I can reload the 223 for as little as 40p/round. Brass seems to last forever. It's good for everything from headshot rabbit to fox and muntjac control.

 

If I was starting again, I would also consider .204 Ruger.

[The_Dogge]

Cooter, that sounds great for the Hornet, but what does the HMR do that it can't do better?

[cooter]

Cooter, that sounds great for the Hornet, but what does the HMR do that it can't do better?

 

First take away any known issues with the HMR ammo and say that this answer is based purely on convenience.

 

When I am out with the HMR and a number of shots present themselves at the same time, I don't have to think about catching or picking up the case (even though I always try to do so) so that it can be reloaded.

My HMR is small, easy to carry and easier to use from a vehicle.

I can't reload for the HMR so the only reloading time it takes is for me to go and collect the ammo.

 

 

My original intention was always to ditch the HMR once I got the Hornet working how I liked it, but you can never have enough tools in the cabinet.

[RobertH]

I said bye bye to the 17 HMR when I discovered what downloading my 223 would do with some Trail Boss and 50g Blitzkings.It pretty much duplicated 22 Magnum performace and bucks the wind much better.Mines running at appx 1800 fps,,,good for 125 yards point and squirt,,,,you could stoke it up more if necessary,,,,very little pressure going on at 7.0g of TB. From my my normal 200 yard zero with full power 69g TMK,s the down loads simply needed 2 MOA up for a 100 yard zero,,,no horizontal needed just fell right on line.,,,worked for me,,,,,here,s a target all shot at the same time,,,appx 90 yards on the day,,,

The 17 Hornet or Fireball does have some appeal though,,,may be tempted one day?

IMG_0310.JPG

 

 

 

223 for me all day long. It's the most versatile little calibre I've ever owned, and shoots everything from 50 to 77gr bullets in mine. As above, can be downloaded easily and safely or loaded up for LR vermin control or target to around 800 yards (1/8 twist needed). I don't regret ditching my HMR. It was more trouble than it was worth, I wasted more ammo re-zeroing every batch of new (and rubbish) ammo than I ever shot at corvids or rabbits and rising prices was the clincher. I can reload the 223 for as little as 40p/round. Brass seems to last forever. It's good for everything from headshot rabbit to fox and muntjac control.

 

If I was starting again, I would also consider .204 Ruger.

 

A

[RobertH]

I said bye bye to the 17 HMR when I discovered what downloading my 223 would do with some Trail Boss and 50g Blitzkings.It pretty much duplicated 22 Magnum performace and bucks the wind much better.Mines running at appx 1800 fps,,,good for 125 yards point and squirt,,,,you could stoke it up more if necessary,,,,very little pressure going on at 7.0g of TB. From my my normal 200 yard zero with full power 69g TMK,s the down loads simply needed 2 MOA up for a 100 yard zero,,,no horizontal needed just fell right on line.,,,worked for me,,,,,here,s a target all shot at the same time,,,appx 90 yards on the day,,,

The 17 Hornet or Fireball does have some appeal though,,,may be tempted one day?

IMG_0310.JPG

 

 

 

223 for me all day long. It's the most versatile little calibre I've ever owned, and shoots everything from 50 to 77gr bullets in mine. As above, can be downloaded easily and safely or loaded up for LR vermin control or target to around 800 yards (1/8 twist needed). I don't regret ditching my HMR. It was more trouble than it was worth, I wasted more ammo re-zeroing every batch of new (and rubbish) ammo than I ever shot at corvids or rabbits and rising prices was the clincher. I can reload the 223 for as little as 40p/round. Brass seems to last forever. It's good for everything from headshot rabbit to fox and muntjac control.

 

If I was starting again, I would also consider .204 Ruger.

 

Another vote for 223. I use 40's to 69's (1 in 9") and have a nice 60gr v-max subsonic with H4895. Not as messy as the full power load but more accurate than my 22lr and great fun.

[Richiew]

Hi All

just some info re hmr variations , have been using winchester ammo and have been very happy with it ,lately had issues with supply so had to settle for Remingtons ,federal and some hornady vmax all seem to need a tweak to the zero of 100m compared to the winchesters but what was rather strange is the empty case weights,

 

Rem 17.3 grains

 

Feds 17.4 grains

 

Horn 17.7 grains

 

Win 20.0 grains

 

Also looking at the bullet end of the empty case the winchesters seem to have a much wider edge so poss why they are heavier ?

 

All the above are 17 grain bullets and often pass through rabbits without expanding unless they hit bone . Anyone else noticed these variations even though they are reportedly all from the same factory .

 

Cheers Richie

[bowji john]

Interesting thread as I've just bought a second hand CZ .17 HMR with .22LR spare barrel

 

also have .223 with 1:8 twist so seems I'm OK from 8 to 800 yards

 

6.5 x 55 takes care of the rest

 

Has the HMR ammo reliability been sorted?

 

Was told it was which is why I've added it as an extra tool