Hmr v's 17 hornet reloaded

tikka 3006

Well-Known Member
Just curious if anyone across the way uses a 17 hornet for rabbits when it works out cheaper than a hmr to feed if you are reloading for it
 
as expensive as the HMR ammo is there is no way I can see centrefire reloading at that level

even at £17-20 per 50 you are down at 20-25p a shot for HMR
You are almost at that for a box of .17 or .22 bullets
before you add powder

I can see other reasons to have one (i.e. its much more useable round) but cost doesn't stand up
 
If you are shooting a lot of rabbits at night you probably don't want to be fiddling about saving your bass.
 
even at £17-20 per 50 you are down at 20-25p a shot for HMR

£17-20 per 50 would be 34-40p per shot.

Looking at Midway UK, there's 17cal bullets for sale at about 20p. Primer costs 3-4p and 12gr of powder around 6-7p. Total 30p.
 
per 100 would be 34-40p per shot.

Looking at Midway UK, there's 17cal bullets for sale at about 20p. Primer costs 3-4p and 12gr of powder around 6-7p. Total 30p.

sorry too early for maths!!
I meant 100's!
usually around the £20 mark per hundred and cheaper in blocks of 1000

been a while since i bought some but Dauntsey guns for example sell a range from £22 for 100
 
For the .22 Hornet using soft points you can load for a little less than buying HMR ammo, but there really isn't much in it.
However I have never re-loaded a squib or had a re-load stick in the barrel.

Neil. :)
 
Certainly cheaper than a new rifle complements of an HMR squib...
I chucked my HMR for a 17 Hornet and I'd NEVER go back to an HMR under any circumstances.

Reloaded ammo will be:
Primer 3.5p
Bullet 20p - 31p (Nosler 20grain - Berger 20grain, I use the latter and moly coat)
Powder 5p (Lil'Gun optimal load for accuracy at about 3500fps measured)
Amortised case 2.2p assuming using reformed 22 Hornet PPU as base and 10 reloads.

30.7p to 41.7p each reloaded...or £15.35 to £20.85 for 50 rounds.

Oh, and 200yard bunnies hate it.
 
Cheers for the views they were much appreciated. I have owned a hmr in the past but have never fired a 17 hornet it's a dream for the moment best of luck to those of you that have one
 
I recently won a .17 Hornet in Sporting Rifle Magazine competition. I haven't picked it up yet but was going to go down the road of reloading for it as well. Apparently it has a similar trajectory of a .223 using a 55 grn bullet. For rabbits i'm still a traditionalist using the old faithful .22lr subsonic in an 1417 Anschutz and zero'd at 75yrds.
 
I accurately calculated the cost of my vartarg per round at a 39p a shot, thats based on my actual purchases. The quality norma brass that I am using puts up the cost from what remington would have cost. I also have an HMR, the vartarg will do so much more and yet is just as much fun to shoot. I will be selling the HMR.
 
I think the 17 Hornet is a good round but in the end it depends on what you want it for. If you are using it on the odd bit of vermin control, it's fine particularly if you don't want the rabbit! I need a lot of rabbits and normally use the 17HMR and chest shoot them. For my puposes this is fine. I found the 17 Hornet demolishes them unless you head shoot every one and that is just not practical as far as I am concerned.
If you are shooting a lot of rabbits do you really want to spend your life reloading hundreds of rounds,I certainly don't.
As a vermin control weapon on a limited scale it's excellent but I think it debateable if it really replaces the 17HMR or 22 LR and as a fox rifle it certainly isn't up to a 222 or 223.
 
If we get the same problems of batching and re-trying different brands of ammo, that we had after the previous batch of 1000, with this current batch, the 17HMR rifles will be sold and replaced with either 17 Hornet of 17 Fireball

Ian.
 
Certainly cheaper than a new rifle complements of an HMR squib...
I chucked my HMR for a 17 Hornet and I'd NEVER go back to an HMR under any circumstances.

Reloaded ammo will be:
Primer 3.5p
Bullet 20p - 31p (Nosler 20grain - Berger 20grain, I use the latter and moly coat)
Powder 5p (Lil'Gun optimal load for accuracy at about 3500fps measured)
Amortised case 2.2p assuming using reformed 22 Hornet PPU as base and 10 reloads.

30.7p to 41.7p each reloaded...or £15.35 to £20.85 for 50 rounds.

Oh, and 200yard bunnies hate it.

+1
i've dropped a few foxes with it but like someone else said not really a fox round. though i havent tried the 25grainers yet..
for me i use it mainly for head shots on bunnies or some crow bashing.
would never go back to hmr!
 
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