What is going on with .17 ammo?

In the last year and a bit I've seen 17 HMR go from 50c a round to almost 90c now. I get that America is having a shortage, but aren't our orders from overseas manufacturers separate to the American orders?

At this point there's no reason to buy a .17 HMR when you can get .17 WSM for less money from the right supplier. Of course going through broncos/guncity you're paying $550 for 500 compared to another supplier being $350 for 500 of the same ammo.

Is this the importers fleecing us because they can use overseas markets as an excuse? Or because our market is so small that they can set artificial prices like Beretta shotguns, and when someone comes along with legitimate pricing they get threatened by whatever conglomerate is controlling the market here.

From a miffed shooter.

It's always been expensive for what it is

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Originally Posted by Macca

In the last year and a bit I've seen 17 HMR go from 50c a round to almost 90c now. I get that America is having a shortage, but aren't our orders from overseas manufacturers separate to the American orders?

At this point there's no reason to buy a .17 HMR when you can get .17 WSM for less money from the right supplier. Of course going through broncos/guncity you're paying $550 for 500 compared to another supplier being $350 for 500 of the same ammo.

Is this the importers fleecing us because they can use overseas markets as an excuse? Or because our market is so small that they can set artificial prices like Beretta shotguns, and when someone comes along with legitimate pricing they get threatened by whatever conglomerate is controlling the market here.

From a miffed shooter.

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I shoot my hand-loaded .17 Hornet cheaper than using my HMR, but that will change once brass runs out!

Think my last brick of CCI A17 was $370. Expensive but it works so well for pest control that I just cant ignore it sitting in the safe.

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Originally Posted by Mintie

Think my last brick of CCI A17 was $370. Expensive but it works so well for pest control that I just cant ignore it sitting in the safe.

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and you can carry more rounds per pound, you don't have to pick up your brass, and you don't have to spend time reloading it :D

There should be another shipment of hornady late January. It’s definitely not the importer hiking prices. Shop around.

Notice up here there's $15 to $20 difference per packet between different outlets, shop around. Saw the difference in wholesale price from one outlet, was up $3 per packet, retail price would have thought it was up $15.

Bought a pkt of hornady from fish city today. $39.99 the cheapest ive seen.

Gun city bulk federal is $399 for 500. Thought that was reasonably priced considering. Gotta get enough pennies together to pay for that one....

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Yeah ive always wanted a 17, but then 223 is (used to be when i had one) cheaper. and i load my 22 250AI for much cheaper. so in my mind i havent been able to justify one

The HMR (for me) fills a niche. 223 is overkill n too loud for my shooting application.

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Funny, mates 17 was a damn sight louder than the 223 - the little one had a horrendous bark to it with the can off. I think it largely would have been down to the effectiveness of the suppressor - the larger volume of the centerfire overbarrel can would have been a telling point in that but the difference in bark with the cans off was really noticeable.

The 17 does have a place, but I would look to the 223 in a lot of situations over the 17 if given a choice. The small experience I had with the 17 included a couple of weird non-hits which we couldn't explain - either the pill deflected off something or the pill went... somewhere. When it connected on the bunnies it did the job with full authority, it just occasionally for no reason chose to send the pill somewhere else. Think five shot group on a target, with four holes - and you can tell if a second bullet tries to sneak through the same hole as another.

Same guy converted a ZKW465 with a shagged barrel to .17Hornet, that was a more successful rifle than the HMR but extremely fussy. Needed a clean every 20 rounds or so which for a 'varmint' type rifle was a little annoying. I sold that off along with the other two on behalf of his estate - I can't recall where the ZKW went but I hope it's settled in for it's new owner it was a very nice rifle.