Real world 17 HMR results

[wully1234]

Got one of these myself with 14.5” barrel and full bore mod- compact, light’ish and Manoeuvrable , v accurate!

Jealous , mines is Skelton type thumbhole but 18" barrel. Just abit long for swinging about the van once mod is on. Slightly less with latest one less Charlie mod than the sak I had and probs best hmr mod I've tried/heard

 

[Smellydog]

Don’t write off the .22wmr, better in wind and reliably kills foxes at 100m

I've shot a wmr for several years, it is not better in the wind in my opinion.
There's nothing in it really except for more trajectory ofcourse.
Would I have another wmr tomorrow, absolutely. Would I replace the hmr with one now, hmmm, not sure.

 

[doric_prince]

Jealous , mines is Skelton type thumbhole but 18" barrel. Just abit long for swinging about the van once mod is on. Slightly less with latest one less Charlie mod than the sak I had and probs best hmr mod I've tried/heard

Nice set up. Here’s mine with the same stock, topped her of with a s&b 6x42, innomounts and f&d 269 suppressor

 

[Smellydog]

Was shooting my .17 hmr last night on a short range from the high seat@50m, out of 8 shots at least 3 were split- all shots hit the target bang on. I’m now less concerned about the splitting. (Note I check all my rounds pre firing and none of theses showed signs of splitting, although out of 3 boxes 3 were split already)

It's the presplit ones that are dangerous. Discard them.

 

[doric_prince]

It's the presplit ones that are dangerous. Discard them.

Yeh thought as much wouldn’t attempt to fire them.

 

[wully1234]

Lo

Nice set up. Here’s mine with the same stock, topped her of with a s&b 6x42, innomounts and f&d 269 suppressor

Lovely rifle ! 1 of few non synthetic guns I own..
I've got an athlon talos 4-14x44 on it,handy for taking confident longer shots.

 

[doric_prince]

Lo

Lovely rifle ! 1 of few non synthetic guns I own..
I've got an athlon talos 4-14x44 on it,handy for taking confident longer shots.

Nice. Mines solely used short range, small pest control, with potential short range on fox if needed. The calibre choice for me was to reduce risk of ricochets, at a cost of increased noise over .22lr.

 

[Smellydog]

If I remember correctly this one was 120 plus yards.

 

[User00044]

I’ve used a few different 17 HMR’s and was never really that impressed with knock down power on foxes or the blowing up ammo/rifles - however they seem to make sense for longer range bunnies.

Does anyone have any real world opinions on their accuracy at 100-200 yards? Grouping at 150 or 200 yards? Does it completely run out of steam at 200 yards?

I have a need for a longer range bunny tool but don’t want to go down the centrefire route as it needs to be easy and cheap to feed. (So buying factory ammunition)

Even more specifically out of the 16” Tikka T1X as I was impressed with my 22LR version so guess it would make a good rifle in 17 HMR?

Regards
Gixer

The HMR is great fun . I was head shooting rabbits at 200+ yards (dialing ) and chest shooting (holdover) out to 170 yards , so yes the accuracy is there . I know many use the HMR for foxes , personally , I prefer something with a little more authority . Everyone I know , including myself , has had at least one requiring a follow-up quite soon after starting to fox with them .
Given that you reload , wouldn't a small calibre centrefire make more sense as you could reload for a similar price to off the shelf HMR ammo .
Unfortunately , mine hasn't seen the outside of the cabinet for sometime and I've only held on to it as the resale value is so poor . Sadly the rabbits were wiped out by vhd .

 

[One on top of two]

A friend of mine had a 17hmr , and was forever going about split necks , I thought he was just exaggerating a little however he had an afternoon / early evening with me clearing a few rabbits . He sorted out his brand new box of ammo and presented me with 6 split cases , couldn’t believe it .
A later date we tested them over my LabRadar and found the split cased ammo was around 100 fps ( some upto 150 ish fps ) slower than the normal rounds .
If I remember I will see find the data log and post it up

 

[User00044]

A friend of mine had a 17hmr , and was forever going about split necks , I thought he was just exaggerating a little however he had an afternoon / early evening with me clearing a few rabbits . He sorted out his brand new box of ammo and presented me with 6 split cases , couldn’t believe it .
A later date we tested them over my LabRadar and found the split cased ammo was around 100 fps ( some upto 150 ish fps ) slower than the normal rounds .
If I remember I will see find the data log and post it up

I've been lucky in that respect , only had a couple . I would like to add , my last couple of boxes of Hornady were spot on and the ones I put over the chrono were clocking some impressive velocities . 2660 fps from a 16 " barrel , the ES was about 80 fps .

 

[gixer1]

The HMR is great fun . I was head shooting rabbits at 200+ yards (dialing ) and chest shooting (holdover) out to 170 yards , so yes the accuracy is there . I know many use the HMR for foxes , personally , I prefer something with a little more authority . Everyone I know , including myself , has had at least one requiring a follow-up quite soon after starting to fox with them .
Given that you reload , wouldn't a small calibre centrefire make more sense as you could reload for a similar price to off the shelf HMR ammo .
Unfortunately , mine hasn't seen the outside of the cabinet for sometime and I've only held on to it as the resale value is so poor . Sadly the rabbits were wiped out by vhd .

From what I can see it’s £18/50 so 36p a round and no time required for reloading so hence the HMR is winning it - I did consider a hornet but I just think it’s easier with the HMR…

 

[One on top of two]

I've been lucky in that respect , only had a couple . I would like to add , my last couple of boxes of Hornady were spot on and the ones I put over the chrono were clocking some impressive velocities . 2660 fps from a 16 " barrel , the ES was about 80 fps .

Yeah my mate loves his . Been using with success for a long time now . I had one when they first appeared around 2003 but didn’t like it at all so got rid and just went back to my old WMR . And hornet for close to medium range stuff .

 

[User00044]

From what I can see it’s £18/50 so 36p a round and no time required for reloading so hence the HMR is winning it - I did consider a hornet but I just think it’s easier with the HMR…

I know where there's a nice CZ455 thumbhole sat doing nothing .

 

[gixer1]

I know where there's a nice CZ455 thumbhole sat doing nothing .

I’m kinda fixed on a T1X as I can swap all the kit from my existing T1X in 22.

 

[User00035]

not so sure about “economic“ anymore, price now look to be around £25 for 50 and keeps heading higher.

Yes and so does all ammo unfortunately.

 

[Smellydog]

The HMR is great fun . I was head shooting rabbits at 200+ yards (dialing ) and chest shooting (holdover) out to 170 yards , so yes the accuracy is there . I know many use the HMR for foxes , personally , I prefer something with a little more authority . Everyone I know , including myself , has had at least one requiring a follow-up quite soon after starting to fox with them .
Given that you reload , wouldn't a small calibre centrefire make more sense as you could reload for a similar price to off the shelf HMR ammo .
Unfortunately , mine hasn't seen the outside of the cabinet for sometime and I've only held on to it as the resale value is so poor . Sadly the rabbits were wiped out by vhd .

All my fox's shot with a rimfire get a second round free of charge.
That said, I've had to shoot foxes several times with a dsecond round from a center fire. Although not the 6.5 or 308, I think.....memory is fading.

 

[Jamie956]

I have 2 hmr's, all my 'group' of shooting mates have them, one lad getting rid of his 22 after just getting hmr, they are all our go to rifles and we wouldnt be without them. When using them a reasonable amount 200yds is OK if good weather, and, believe it or not I was stood next to my mate when he shot a rabbit a 271 yds and it flicked onto its back lights out, not a regular thing or recommend but it happened. Ammo about £15 a box round me. I do see Split cases when gathering them up but they don't effect my poi so don't check to be honest. Only foxes I've used them on have been what I've seen when rabbiting so squeeked into 100 ish and they usually do a little circle then flop

All in all get one bought

J

 

[sako85708]

Just make sure you have plenty of rabbits , it didn't take me long to clear 1000 acres !!

 

[njc110381]

I'm a reasonably stalwart supporter of the HMR as an economic high-volume rabbit round (forget it as a fox stopper unless it's under 50 yards) but for consistency I would never consider it as more than a 150 yard cartridge.
In perfect conditions it's 10 mm groups at 100 yards. Sub 1" out to 120-130 yards and all over the place by 180. In other words, brilliant till it starts to get loose, then it all goes to pot very quickly. Certainly got enough knock down to level a rabbit at 200 yards and the furthest I've bang-flopped one was 184, but that was after the first one went wild and I'd adjusted about 10 inches for wind drift on the second. And there was only a slight breeze.

150 yard max, in my view. Rabbit's head every time if it's still. Awesome out to 130 in most reasonable conditions. Beyond 150 looses the plot very quickly.

That covers it nicely I think.