.17HMR Winchester ammo - is it working?

[joe soapy]

Have put over 3000 mornrady v max 17 through the cz and can honestly say never had a fail to fire,
and after looking through the many empties that end up on the floor of the truck i cant spot any cracks

 

[Redleicester]

Aah the agony of choice...

 

[Redleicester]

Can't seem to find any 20gr locally which is a shame as id be inclined to try it out.

 

[Effnjeff]

On Wednesday I was regularly getting half inch groups at the range with the new HV 17gn Winchester ammo.
Sadly that's was at 25 meters, about 27.3 yards. That's about 2MOA.
I was using an Anschutz 1517 18" heavy barrel, bipod from a bench, rear bag, x24 scope.
There was a 5mph variable wind, that's to say, an everyday breeze that shouldn't be too much of a problem for an air rifle at that range.
Some of the new Winchester ammo was tight to chamber, and my previous measurements showed the average rim thickness was 0.047" with a big variance. Some Hornady ammo I had spare averaged 0.044" more consistently with far less of a spread. Velocity of the Winchester was just over 2400fps, compared to just under 2600fps for the Hornady.
Deer Man, I think you may have lucked on some good Winchester ammo (maybe some from an early batch?), but mine is as cruddy as any other. Unfortunately it looks like the new Winchester is not a general panacea.
My first HMR in 2004 didn't shoot the 17gn ammo well, but shot exceptionally well with the then new 20gn Gamepoint ammo, with sub MOA groups at 100 yards, and even a 1.15" group at 200 yards.
Perhaps manufacturers only make an effort with first batches / lots of ammo? If that's the case, then maybe we should be searching for the new CCI A17 ammo if it comes to the UK.

 

[ChesterP]

Ok so lets get back to the thread!

Yesterday we had a range afternoon with lots of rifles notably .17HMR. We used Hornady, CCI, 'OLD' Winchester Supreme and 'NEW' Winchester VARMINT HV.
You guessed it squib rounds from the first three types and sub 1" groups from the 'NEW' Winchester VARMINT HV which performed flawlessly at 100 yards.

A lot of empty boxes later there is no doubt in my mind that the new Winchester ammo is good and if it's not accurate perhaps the rifle or rifleman needs to be checked!

It appears that so far there have been no negatives posted about the new Winchester ammo, I hope a good sign. If you do post about Winchester please ensure you are referring to the new ammo made by Winchester as per my previous post.

I have some left in Hornady, Winchester (CCI), plus the new Remington Premier, so will see if I can pick up a batch of the new Winchester ammo locally (Glos area) and do some comparisons next time out, and post some photos back on here. Best accuracy to date was my last batch of Remington which shot pretty close to 1/2 inch at 100yds. New batch was closer to 6 inches at the same distance

Not holding my breath though as being rather cynical about general HMR ammo QC especially after reading what Guesty had to say above.

 

[Effnjeff]

UPDATE:
I have found 17 heaven again! I eventually got around to trying another batch of the new Winchester and it shoots sub MOA consistently (wind permitting). It seems this stuff really is significantly better than the CCI made stuff.
I'm still getting a few that are tight to chamber in my Anschutz, but they still shoot great. Buddys with CZs have noticed improved accuracy too.
It's all good except that I've already applied to swap HMR for Hornet!

 

[25 Sharps]

UPDATE:
I have found 17 heaven again! I eventually got around to trying another batch of the new Winchester and it shoots sub MOA consistently (wind permitting). It seems this stuff really is significantly better than the CCI made stuff.
I'm still getting a few that are tight to chamber in my Anschutz, but they still shoot great. Buddys with CZs have noticed improved accuracy too.
It's all good except that I've already applied to swap HMR for Hornet!

You won't regret it, plus I want to try the 17.....