hmr 17

Trufflehunting

Well-Known Member
I have zeroed at 130yds and are trying long distance shots on rabbits across a small valley, (150yds ish)
some shots are both down and up hill.
Have a variable tasco scope fitted (not great)
Apart from obvious clot on the trigger
I am not having great joy
Do I have to make any allowances for shooting downhill
Would be interested in any owners of HMR17 making suggestions
 
you have to take into account that gravity will affect the bullet only over the horizontal distance that it has travelled, which if you are shooting up or down hill will be less than the distance that the bullet actual has to travel to target. try to think of pythagoras's theory, if you can remember doing that in school, i hope this helps rather than hinders you it's probably not the best explanation.
 
You will no doubt be shooting high when shooting up or down hill. As mjjl said, the bullet although travelling say 100m to the target will only be travelling say 70m to the targert along the plane or horizontal. If you draw a Triangle, mark a spot say 5cm up the triangle sloping edge, then take a line vertically down to the base of the triangle, it will be shorter than 5cm without getting into it. This will hopefully help you to understand what we mean...........

TJ
 
Hi Trufflehunting,

You don't say how you are working out the range, or what sort of angle you are shooting at. From my own experience with the HMR it is possible that you are missing due to range estimation as much as the angle that you are shooting at. Before you can calculate the difference for a give angle you must first know the range accurately.
As a good guide, If you were to range a target at 100m if the target was at an angle of 30 degrees the actual allowance would be 90% (so 90m)
if the angle was 45 degrees then the allowance will be 70% (70m)
if it was 60 degrees then the allowance will be 50% (50m)
if you are shooting at a target the size of a rabbit at 150m with an angle to target of 30 degrees or less using a 130m zero you should be within an inch with the HMR, but the HMR is a fickle creature and sometimes i just can't hit a sodding thing with mine, then other days its deadly.
A month ago i shot 37 rabbits with only 1 miss while lamping off a quad, the next morning i fired 7 rounds without a hit (maybe i was tired)
Hope this helps,
Ezzy.
 
I have not got a 17hmr but have two mates one swears by it other is not so keen but they both tell me that they are fantastic out to 50 or 60 yards after that wind affects shot placement, over 100 yards even the slightest wind can greatly effect the trajectory.
Not personal experience mate but could be a contributary factor to consider
 
Shooting uphill - aim low.

Shooting downhill - aim low!

Practical suggestion - would it be possible for you take a target across the valley, shoot at a fixed mark and then see where the strike is?

You will then be able to prove that Pythagoras (and Galileo who proved that gravity is a constant) - were right all along!
 
I have zeroed at 130yds and are trying long distance shots on rabbits across a small valley, (150yds ish)
some shots are both down and up hill.
Have a variable tasco scope fitted (not great)
Apart from obvious clot on the trigger
I am not having great joy
Do I have to make any allowances for shooting downhill
Would be interested in any owners of HMR17 making suggestions
Just wondering what grain bullet you are shooting, my .17HMR will not shoot 17grain to save my life!.......but shoots 20 grain through the eye of a needle at 150/160 yds.
 
Just wondering what grain bullet you are shooting, my .17HMR will not shoot 17grain to save my life!.......but shoots 20 grain through the eye of a needle at 150/160 yds.

That is quite odd !!! Usually it tends to be the other way around !!!

Cracking round for bunny bashing, yes affected by the wind but not really as bad as some make out.

With regard to long distance shots across the Valley why not put out some good size targets to really find out what is happening when you shoot ???

Are you changing magnification for the slightly longer shots ??? You would only need a just over an inch of holdover from 130 to 150 yards max !!!

Cheers + ATVB

Philip
 
Just wondering what grain bullet you are shooting, my .17HMR will not shoot 17grain to save my life!.......but shoots 20 grain through the eye of a needle at 150/160 yds.

Mine's the opposite! :confused: (Anschutz 1517)

OK with 17 grain, groups opened up considerably when I tried 20 grain...:doh:

Trufflehunting: Have a look at Varmint Al's website: www.varmintal.com - there was some useful stuff for 17HMR on there last time I looked. Gradients require aiming a little lower than usual to compensate; think "sLOpe needs LOW..."

Cracking little round for rabbits 'n' stuff.....17-grain ballistic tips = proper rabbit medicine!!:eek:
 
Yes my mate has one and its great out to 150 yds or so, when its still but a slight breeze and it really does make that tiny bullet drift,personally I prefer .22magnum over the hmr, and you can have a semi auto!!!!!

HORNET
 
I bought the Tasco scope from a guy on the website, who had used it on his 17HMR (was not happy with the rifle)
Changed the scope to a nikko sterling (Now no problem with rifle, great little tool)
Is affected by wind, but cracking bit of kit, bullets are a bit expensive for bashing bunnys around sown game crops, and gives a fair crack, no good for lamping rabbits.
I wonder if the nice man I bought it off had the same problem on his 17hmr ( Another year older and wiser)
Sold it a car boot sale to a guy for his air rifle,for very little money, Im confident it would do every thing he wanted
 
I had a bad time with mine :cry:when i first got it,had a cheap Tasco on it couldnt get on with it at all so binned it.
Bought a better scope bigger vari power 6-24x50 and put a bipod on it,Happy days:lol: it just keeps on getting better and better the more you use it.
Tryed a few diffrent ammos through it as well and it prefers 17-grain feds.:lol:
 
Straight line distance is always shorter than actual: i.e. I shot a squirrel at the end of January 2011.. This animal was shot thorough the right eye and it exited left side of skull under ear, CCI 17 gr JHP.. My pace distance placed the squirrel at around 150 yrds, my straight line distance (via Nikon range finder) placed the shot at slightly more than 138 yrds. Simular to your shooting, I hunt rolling fields also... After missing varmint, I did 0226111334.jpginvest in a rangefinder, this helped me take guess work out of shooting distances. Get your actual target distance and make the adjustments from theredownsized_0226111336.jpg Best of luck:)
 
I just played around with my HMR at the weekend.
Have to agree with some here the 17gn Vmax group very well. I dont like the 20gns

This was at 134yds with 17gn Vmax (lets not mention that it was the page next to it that I was aiming at!!)

HMR134.jpg

The random one on the right was from the next group of 20gn hollow points fired 2 minutes later when I had brough the POI back to where it should have been. Admittedly the wind did gust a bit, but that doesnt explain the 4" elevation variation.
The Bull was me aiming at the right hand edge of the outer ring
HMR20134.jpg


zeroing at this range keeps you inside a 4" out to 180. you dont have to do any real range estimates other than under 100, over 100, over 200!
 
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