HMR mmmmmmm

Fursty Ferret

Well-Known Member
Getting seriously cheesed off with the fussy .17hmr
Seem to have to waste a box of ammo after every clean just to get it settled again.
When it on its really on and wont miss a thing. This comes after 50 or so shots and stays true through to around 200+....then poi rises vertically but stays centered horizontally.
We are not talking several inches here....but enough for the odd miss if i dont aim at its feet and groups opening up to 1.5 - 2 inches after cleaning until it settles again.
Tried all the cleaning regimes under the sun. Regularly shooting 30+ rabbits (often many more) a night 3 times a week so cleaning after every outing just isnt viable due to the time and ammo it takes to get it back on song again.
Like i said...when its good its very good and it really works for what i do but losing a bit of confidence (and patience) in it now.
In the early hmr days im sure they were more accurate and consistant than they are now.
Only thing i havnt tried is not cleaning it at all! Ever! When the poi rises (as it does after 200 or so) just make the neccesarry adj on scope and crack on?
Considering a hornet but have no experience with them.
Got a .223 but its a heavy ol lump and overkill for regular rabbit control in the volume i am doing.
22lr not got the legs for my needs.
Want the flat trajectory out to 150 off the hmr
Dont want anything louder than a hmr
Dont want ammo costs any higher than that of factory hmr due to the volume of rabbits being shot.
Can reload
Bloody hell i aint sure what to do......hornet.....204......fireball.....lightweight .223......or just put up with the faff of getting it settled again after the 200 round threshhold (this can be once a week when im busy....like now!) Or get a top spec custom made hmr (allways used the old workhorse the cz)
 
Don't clean it!
I do in fact clean mine but only 2 or 3 pulls through with a bore snake, more to remove any moisture before it goes back in the cabinet. Otherwise I can't remember when I properly cleaned the barrel last, I've had it about 9 years. It's still accurate and doesn't lose/change it's zero.
What's the rifle?
What's the ammo?
 
CZ452 varmint barrel
Used to use hornady vmax a couple of year ago but using 17gr winchester varmint hv now.
Have tried cci 17 and 20 which were ok but same consistancy issues. Remington the same really.
I do have a boresnake for it but they seem very very tight through the 17 so dont tend to use it....opting for brush/patches instead.
Do you not get a shift in poi even with the boresnake? I do if i run a brush through with no cleaning solition.
 
Get a CZ 527 American in 22 Hornet.
More power. More range. Inexpensive to load. Addictively accurate. JMHO.
I have three custom 17HMR's.
Never use them.~Muir
 
The fact is you must be 100% confident in your rifle , if not sell it & buy 22WMR or like Muir said 22 Hornet ..
 
Clean less. Adjust the PoI and see how you go. I am the same as Deer Man - only pull through with a boresnake to get rid of crud/moisture. I'm also like you - it's shocking until it gets a bit of copper in the lands, this on a Savage. It shoots 1in groups at 100 - and I put that at the limit of the ammo.
 
I've never cleaned mine properly and it's had thousands and thousands of rounds through it. Wipe over with paper towel and a pull through with a boresnake if wet. I've not touched the zero since the scope went on (swapped the scope maybe 3 years ago for a better one with more mag).
 
Always push rod through put half a patch in jag and pull rod out again, then put rod back through, clean patch fitted plus a tiny drop of
Tetra oil and pull back through.. leave mod off till next use.. do it every time i come home now and first shot is always on the money,
never was before I started routine
 
Only had a HMR a few weeks but now settled to Put a bore snake with a little Hopps No9 on it 1 pull tru after every use has tightened up the groups and runs good from cold bore first shot on rabbits havent seen what happens on a long run on that as i only shoot a few at a time

did try the dont clean for a while but want settleing
 
Fursty - The bore snake is quite tight but does give a bit after use. How about starting from scratch with good clean and de-copper then shoot the rifle until it settles down to how you want/expect, then only give it one pull through after each outing and see where or if it settles???
 
Gave up cleaning mine years ago as never seen any signs of copper in the bore, all i clean is the chamber and the mod every 50 rnds or so.
 
I got rid of my 17HMR for the very same reasons, the final straw being the new batch of my previous favourite ammo being a load of $hite and having to go through that process of finding which brand of ammo it likes again.
I have had a 17 Fireball for nearly a year now and have put 600+ rounds through it.
20 grn bullets @ 3800 fps and clean accurate kills on small varmints out to 300 yards what is there not to like, plus hand loads working out at 33p each, not much more then factory HMR but full control of the quality.

ian.
 
Have seriously considered severel centrefires that I could load for but collecting numerous spent cases in the dark from the back of a pick up might be a bit of a ball ache
 
Fursty - The bore snake is quite tight but does give a bit after use. How about starting from scratch with good clean and de-copper then shoot the rifle until it settles down to how you want/expect, then only give it one pull through after each outing and see where or if it settles???

Cheers deer man......did exactly that earlier today......spent half a box of ammo getting it settled again and its bob on again now......with 39 rabbits accounted for on tonights drive round. To be honest i reluctant to put anything cleaning wise through it.....I will just leave it alone now.
I have tried putting a brush/rod through it without any cleaning solution but even this throws zero out (inconsistently)......dont you think a bore snake would do the same?
Ive been round the houses with cleaning routines on this little calibre over the years and I think I have finally come back to square one where I was told "dont clean it".
Definitely a love/hate relationship with the hmr but I still think its probably the best overall tool for regular/serious rabbit control.
 
Have seriously considered severel centrefires that I could load for but collecting numerous spent cases in the dark from the back of a pick up might be a bit of a ball ache

Then what's this thread about? Thought you were working on an alternative?? If you don't want a CF then stick with the HMR and stop cleaning it. I can't remember when mine were cleaned last.... 8 or 9 years ago??~Muir
 
Then what's this thread about? Thought you were working on an alternative?? If you don't want a CF then stick with the HMR and stop cleaning it. I can't remember when mine were cleaned last.... 8 or 9 years ago??~Muir

Tried that but couldent be doing with the first shot flyer with mine. I find the residue in the bore hardens overnite if left, i think this is what causes the flyer
 
Then what's this thread about? Thought you were working on an alternative?? If you don't want a CF then stick with the HMR and stop cleaning it. I can't remember when mine were cleaned last.... 8 or 9 years ago??~Muir

Working on a solution, not necessarily an alternative. Still havnt written off the "alternative" so thanks for all the input so far.
 
I give my Anschutz 17/17 the odd barrel clean but in truth have never noticed it makes any difference one way or the other. When I have cleaned it I don't think I've noticed any copper fouling either.
 
I chopped my HMR in for a .222 in the end, I reload for .243 so was easy to start reloading for another CF, added bonus is that it is Muntjac legal, also much more effective on Fox.

I don't shoot 30 - 40 rabbits a night as per the OP, nor have I calculated the exact cost of the .222 reloads, I would guess 40p each depending on brass used. What I can say is that the gun is very accurate and I am much more confident of putting the round where I am aiming compared to the HMR's I owned.
 
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