.17HMR Winchester ammo - is it working?

The deer man

Well-Known Member
On the suggestion of Mr Gain here we go. . .

As we all keep reading .17HMR ammo quality has fallen over the years with split cases and in some instances squib rounds which has resulted in serious damage to some rifles. Having been shooting the .17HMR for eleven years I've experienced it. It seems the finger of this decline is pointed again and again at CCI who apparently make .17HMR ammo for all brands. Well they used to until Winchester after, we assume, being implicated with inferior ammo moved away from CCI and now make their own .17HMR ammo. I am lead to understand this happened over the last two years sometime, not quite sure when.

Winchester claim . . .
"Stronger shoulder for improved case integrity"
"More efficient powder for reduced pressures and consistent velocities"
"Stronger rim maximizes head strength, and proprietary priming mix results in consistent ignition"

Personally along with others I know who use this ammunition have found the above to be true and as yet after many thousand rounds have had no problem with squib rounds although a few cracked cases still occur after firing. Velocities over the chronograph seem in line with their advertised 2,550 ft/sec and seem relatively consistent. With other brands I could get velocity ranges of up to 200 ft/sec or more!

Accuracy wise from CZ 452 Varmint, 530mm / 20 3/4" barrel (moderated) I still get 1/2" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. I think that is perfectly acceptable.

It's worth pointing out that there is still some old CCI made Winchester ammo floating about and although I can't be sure of the serial numbers the new Winchester .17HMR ammo to look for has the following serial numbers and this is the stuff that seems to be working for us.

Varmint HV - CS17HMR1 - V-max - 17gr
Super-X - CX17HMR1 - Jacketed Hollow Point - 20gr

The big question is if you have used Winchester 17 or 20 grain ammo what have your experiences been?
You never know we might have found a reliable brand!?

Following page taken from the Winchester brochure. . .
Winchester 17HMR.jpg
Picture shows a slab of 250 rounds but they come in the red boxes of 50
 
Hi deer man,

Slightly off topic here as I havnt actually used winchester yet, but im intreagued to know if the winchesters are the same sort of price as the other ammo brands or wether they have a slight premium now to offset their machining and equipment costs?

cheers

KS
 
This week I heard of another HMR going pop defective round and shooter didn't realise and fired another one. Theese incidents must be reported to your local trading standards

D
 
This week I heard of another HMR going pop defective round and shooter didn't realise and fired another one. Theese incidents must be reported to your local trading standards

D
Presumably that is exactly what you have done when you have had a problem with .17hmr ammo Cyres. What did your local trading standards say and what was the outcome of your complaint?
 
Even though trading standards have the remit to chase this sort of quality issue, they don't have responsibility for looking to see if your rifle is clear, when such issues are known globally.
 
Hi deer man,

Slightly off topic here as I havnt actually used winchester yet, but im intreagued to know if the winchesters are the same sort of price as the other ammo brands or wether they have a slight premium now to offset their machining and equipment costs?

cheers

KS

I think they were £11/50 however a new delivery is coming in this week so I'll confirm that later.
 
Ive bought a box off 50 Winchester ive used half and Refuse to use the rest

Tight bolt closes tight bolt lifts Several miss fires one needed 3 strikes

and several massive Full length splits after firing
 
Ive bought a box off 50 Winchester ive used half and Refuse to use the rest

Tight bolt closes tight bolt lifts Several miss fires one needed 3 strikes

and several massive Full length splits after firing

My shooting buddy has old old batch he had in his safe for some time as well as new old batch he bought a few weeks ago and new new batch bought at the same time.
Rifle is an Anschutz 1517
I was with him when he did his side by side comparisons, there is no consistency between any of the old batch, accuracy is acceptable if you intend to body shoot rabbits but not good enough for headshots at 100yds
Thsre were around 3% case splits with both batches and one phut.
The new ammo was not tested as the bolt could not be closed on it and my mate was not going to force it, on examination a bright ring could be seen 2/3rds of the way around the case where the shoulder starts.

Ian.
 
I prefer the Winchester 17gn ammo it is slightly more accurate than the others in my rifle. IIRC the velocity was down ~100fps when I chronoed it, but the extra accuracy was worth it. I have yet to find Winchester 20gn to try.
I dunno about 1/2" groups at 100 yards though. Are you sure?
 
On the suggestion of Mr Gain here we go. . .

As we all keep reading .17HMR ammo quality has fallen over the years with split cases and in some instances squib rounds which has resulted in serious damage to some rifles. Having been shooting the .17HMR for eleven years I've experienced it. It seems the finger of this decline is pointed again and again at CCI who apparently make .17HMR ammo for all brands. Well they used to until Winchester after, we assume, being implicated with inferior ammo moved away from CCI and now make their own .17HMR ammo. I am lead to understand this happened over the last two years sometime, not quite sure when.

Winchester claim . . .
"Stronger shoulder for improved case integrity"
"More efficient powder for reduced pressures and consistent velocities"
"Stronger rim maximizes head strength, and proprietary priming mix results in consistent ignition"

Personally along with others I know who use this ammunition have found the above to be true and as yet after many thousand rounds have had no problem with squib rounds although a few cracked cases still occur after firing. Velocities over the chronograph seem in line with their advertised 2,550 ft/sec and seem relatively consistent. With other brands I could get velocity ranges of up to 200 ft/sec or more!

Accuracy wise from CZ 452 Varmint, 530mm / 20 3/4" barrel (moderated) I still get 1/2" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. I think that is perfectly acceptable.

It's worth pointing out that there is still some old CCI made Winchester ammo floating about and although I can't be sure of the serial numbers the new Winchester .17HMR ammo to look for has the following serial numbers and this is the stuff that seems to be working for us.

Varmint HV - CS17HMR1 - V-max - 17gr
Super-X - CX17HMR1 - Jacketed Hollow Point - 20gr

The big question is if you have used Winchester 17 or 20 grain ammo what have your experiences been?
You never know we might have found a reliable brand!?

Following page taken from the Winchester brochure. . .
View attachment 58717
Picture shows a slab of 250 rounds but they come in the red boxes of 50

What happened was the first batch of crap brass/ammo that came out of CCI got sent out with a Winchester label on it, forcing Winchester to issue the first recall on 17HMR ammo. Rumor at the SHOT Show was that CCI knew the QC on that LOT was tanked but sent it anyhow, leaving Winchester to absorb the reputation tarnishing burden and cost of the recall.~Muir
 
After reading all the threads with complaints etc. and people eulogising about the original Hornady ammo I thought I may as well run a little test of my own.

My 18” CZ HMR has always been cleaned with the same regime as my CF, as that has always served me well, and its previous owner did the same.
When I bought it I was advised that it liked Remington ammo, but there was none about, and as I had been having problems with the Hornady ammo in my old HMR I already had a brick of Winchester, in 20 and 17 grn, to use.

I used up all the Remmy ammo that came with it, and it proved to be delivering half MOA or better, which I had been advised it would, then I re-zeroed with Winchester and nothing changed.

I have been running Winchester for about two years, and it has always served me well, it shoots accurately out to 150yds, and I get through at least 1000 rounds a year, and have never had a miss fire, just the odd split neck.

I went to stock up recently and there is no Winchester to be had, so I ended up with Remington.

I had to re-zero, and I still have a box of the original Hornady ammo, so I ran a test.

Attached is the image of the results, shot at 80yds.

There was a gusting 12-15mph 5 o’clock, which caught me out on the first two groups, but I shot them again once the wind had died down to 3-8 (grass and leaves moving slightly) and become steady to make it a fair comparison.

The HMR is zeroed for Remmy ammo, so it is only the groups I was comparing.

The results are (according to OnTarget).
Hornady. 0.621” ( 0.742 MOA) One shot pulled by me.
Remington. 1.176” (1.404 MOA)
Winchester. 0.950” (1.134 MOA)

After shooting the Hornady group I concentrated very hard to re-shoot the Winnies and Remmy's, so I can think of no reason for the spread.
I wish I hadn't pulled the last round of the Hornady group as it would have been 0.3" without that.


I feel the old ammo really was better.
 

Attachments

  • HMR_Comparison.jpg
    HMR_Comparison.jpg
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Jsut checked my Brass bin since Feb

No splits pre fireing found in any

1 box CCi 4 small splits
CCi.jpg

1 box Remington 3 small splits
Remington.jpg

3 boxes HDay 2 splits one miss fire 2 strikes
Hday17.jpg


Half box Winchester 6 Full length splits one of which was also miss fire 3 strikes

winchester.jpg
 
I prefer the Winchester 17gn ammo it is slightly more accurate than the others in my rifle. IIRC the velocity was down ~100fps when I chronoed it, but the extra accuracy was worth it. I have yet to find Winchester 20gn to try.
I dunno about 1/2" groups at 100 yards though. Are you sure?

Very sure! Like any day shooting at paper it might not be done every time but certainly capable of it and never over an inch.
 
Jsut checked my Brass bin since Feb

No splits pre fireing found in any


Half box Winchester 6 Full length splits one of which was also miss fire 3 strikes

View attachment 58755

I think you'll find that is the old Winchester ammo made by CCI.


You should be looking at a box like this which is the new ammo made by Winchester. . .
Winchester 17HMR VARMINT HV.jpg
 
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