End of the 17wsm in the UK?

It's a great concept and certainly outperforms the HMR and you aren't paying 17Hornet money for factory loads.. It just flopped as a cartridge sadly.
 
I think a .20 rimfire would have been an interesting concept and offer the best of both worlds. I am surprised considering there as there are 20cal air rifles and centrefire cartridges, that they did not consider a rimfire.
They did ! and i believe ammo is still made in the USA . RF ammo needs massive quantities to be viable but once it is it makes boodles of cash )ON THE AMMO! For manufacturers
 
17WSM. It's the first rifle I reach for. Quiet, flat-shooting and accurate. All you naysayers have missed a trick which means more ammo available for me and Beanieboy.
Buy it while you can.. You can't give these rifles away where I live.
Research the 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum and see the fate of a high pressure rimfire in a proprietary rifle. Great Cartridge but.......
I have a 5mm in a Thompson Center single shot. That would be the way to go with the 17WSM. ~Muir
 
It might be a lot more popular if some other rifle manufacturers had picked it up
It's only commonly available as the Savage B Max - arguably the worst rifle ever made
AFAIK, The other issue is that the chamber pressure is higher than most current rimfire designs can safely handle, so, unlike re-chambering a 22 rimfire for a 17HMR, a new design would be needed and none of the major rifle manufacturers seemed to think the potential market was big enough to make worth the bother

Cheers

Bruce
The Savage B isn't as bad as you say, those cheap little rifles are killing alot of pests I know some guys who are putting 200- 300 rounds through them a week on wallaby possum and hare control in all conditions all year round. Guys doing it for a living not a hobby.
 
I think I recall enquiring about this but its either not imported here at all and wasn't or was stopped being imported by the importer?
I do t think it’s ever been imported but if lead is banned I would hope they’d start importing them, there’ll be a market as .22 LR will become redundant
 
17WSM. It's the first rifle I reach for. Quiet, flat-shooting and accurate. All you naysayers have missed a trick which means more ammo available for me and Beanieboy.
Not really, .17 hornet or .22 hornet do everything it does and better. Whilst having more rifle choice and infinitely more ammunition options as they are reloadable.
 
Buy it while you can.. You can't give these rifles away where I live.
Research the 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum and see the fate of a high pressure rimfire in a proprietary rifle. Great Cartridge but.......
I have a 5mm in a Thompson Center single shot. That would be the way to go with the 17WSM. ~Muir
Always thought they missed a trick not making it a 20 in favour of speed in a 17.
 
Not really, .17 hornet or .22 hornet do everything it does and better. Whilst having more rifle choice and infinitely more ammunition options as they are reloadable.
However my mate went for one, as he has no time or want to reload so being a rimfire with ”cheap” ammo was why he got one. I went .17 hornet as reloading to me is very much part of the enjoyment of shooting.
 
However my mate went for one, as he has no time or want to reload so being a rimfire with ”cheap” ammo was why he got one. I went .17 hornet as reloading to me is very much part of the enjoyment of shooting.
Only cheap if it’s available, a gun you can’t get ammunition for is an expensive item!
 
Always thought they missed a trick not making it a 20 in favour of speed in a 17.
The WSM round is very similar in dimensions to the 5mm Remington. Both operate at pressures above the norm for 22LR, 22WMR, 17HMR. That is a major hindrance to having other companies adopt the cartridge to their line. (Remington developed the 590 series with multiple lucking lugs on the bolt). Additionally, it's dimensions are not compatible with current 22LR based actions and magazines. The rim is pretty close to 8mm in diameter. Bolt faces, magazines, and ejection ports would all need retooling. All costly engineering. Nobody wants to take it on. ~Muir
 
The WSM round is very similar in dimensions to the 5mm Remington. Both operate at pressures above the norm for 22LR, 22WMR, 17HMR. That is a major hindrance to having other companies adopt the cartridge to their line. (Remington developed the 590 series with multiple lucking lugs on the bolt). Additionally, it's dimensions are not compatible with current 22LR based actions and magazines. The rim is pretty close to 8mm in diameter. Bolt faces, magazines, and ejection ports would all need retooling. All costly engineering. Nobody wants to take it on. ~Muir
Makes total sense, would it be difficult to adapt a hornet action for an 8 mm rimmed rimfire?
 
Last edited:
It can be done by converting the firing pin to a flat bar configuration and removing the unneeded part.of the nose. Google 5mm Craig Conversion . Muir
 
The Savage B isn't as bad as you say, those cheap little rifles are killing alot of pests I know some guys who are putting 200- 300 rounds through them a week on wallaby possum and hare control in all conditions all year round. Guys doing it for a living not a hobby.
My work colleges whose savage I shot had a shocking trigger and the magazine in a dusty environment was next to useless. However FairPlay to anyone who liked or used them.
 
My work colleges whose savage I shot had a shocking trigger and the magazine in a dusty environment was next to useless. However FairPlay to anyone who liked or used them.
Triggers can be fiddled with if ya don't like them. Obviously I wouldn't know what your friend was upto with his but what I do know is the mags dont gum up in 5 minutes unless you drop and cover it in sand, a quick bit of maintenence like a shot of air now and again with a compressor and a squirt of WD40 is all the rotary mag needs. I'm not saying they need to be liked, each to thier own, I'm just saying for a dirt cheap price and a little maintenence(which we do anyway) they can do a job.
 
I'd definitely have had one if it wasn't for the taking up 'a slot' issue .
The hmr was a known quantity. Bit of a shame really could have made an excellent low energy reasonable range fox rabbit NV set up .
 
What a shame for those who have bought rifles in good faith.

When the .17 Hornady Hornet came out I was one of the first to jump on it. I had a CZ made for it because I didn't like the Savage. The big difference there though is that I knew I could make ammunition should the new cartridge not take off. I liked the look of this big rimfire too, but I was sceptical for this exact reason. Once the ammo is gone it's not unusable, but making it is a whole new level of PITA! It's just not worth the bother.
 
Back
Top