.17HMR Varmint Rifle

Hi Guys,

I know this has probably been done to death, but I had NO luck when I tried to search the threads - this is more than like due to my ability, or lack thereof, to use the correct words in the search parameters. I apologise for my inpeptitude.

Now that the niceties are out of the way, I am really, really interested in everyone's opinion on what is the best bag-for-buck .17HMR in New Zealand at present. At the moment I am weighing the heavy-barrelled savage (with accutrigger) and the CZ 455, but am open to ALL suggestions, including second hand... especially second-hand.

My preference would be a bare rifle, upon which I would later mount a scope purchased from opticsplanet, or some other such site - mostly because I despise gun city... bastards.

Thanks in advance.

If it was me I'd get a 452 if you can find one or 455 17hmr, but I'm a CZ fan
other opinions may differ.

2nd hand I would be looking for a CZ452. Nicer finish than Savage/Marlin etc and generally shoot as well as them (Savage & Marlin seem very accurate for the money). I like the Ruger's for their magazine and the big gun feel but their accuracy seems a bit hit and miss and headspace can be an issue with their bolt design. Trigger is heavy too... Timney fixes that though. YoDaves trigger kit for the CZ transforms that trigger for a very small sum.

I have had a marlin, CZ455, Ruger, used a savage and now have a Sako Quad Walnut Varmint. It's a keeper for sure...

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/25/ehubesur.jpg

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I also had the Ruger M77 17HMR, beautiful rifle lovely Grey barrel and laminate stock, but the CZ 452 simply out shot it for at that time nearly 400$ less
Have shot Tussocks Savage and that was accurate, less money than the CZ.

I have heard that the CZ 452 is better than the CZ455 - comments? If that were the case, I may be inclined to a heavy barrelled CZ452 if I could find one.

I have a mate who didn't like his .17 in Ruger, particularlry because of the trigger. Have you had any such problems?

Where is the best place now to buy a CZ452 .17?

Thanks for your reply.

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Originally Posted by jakewire

I also had the Ruger M77 17HMR, beautiful rifle lovely Grey barrel and laminate stock, but the CZ 452 simply out shot it for at that time nearly 400$ less
Have shot Tussocks Savage and that was accurate, less money than the CZ.

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Cheers so far guys, and merry-shootin'-xmas!!!

What's a Quad cost, anyway. Never see them listed.

The trigger on that Ruger was actually ok, it was their top of the line M77 model
you can get trigger kits for the cz 452 as well , well you could from reloaders
and
Actually i do know where ther is a CZ 452 17hmr, new though, for sale.
I'll go check tomorrow, pm me

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Originally Posted by gimp

What's a Quad cost, anyway. Never see them listed.

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I have seen a few on TM and elsewhere that were (IMHO) very expensive, such as $1,599 with one barrel.

That said, I have no idea of the legitimate price of them

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Originally Posted by I_shoot_freely

I have seen a few on TM and elsewhere that were (IMHO) very expensive, such as $1,599 with one barrel.

That said, I have no idea of the legitimate price of them

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oh that's pretty reasonable

I'm having a serious look at The Ruger American Rimfire™ for the .22 version after talking with an Oamaru gunsmith that was impressed with what he saw.

Haven't seen how they shoot yet and only buying on that result.

Its cool that they use 10/22 mags.

;)

I have the savage heavy barrel.
if I did it again, I wouldn't get a heavy barrel. I think, it just makes a heavy rifle for no real positive reason. other than that its fine.

I have a CZ452, great shooting and accurate rifle.
The factory trigger was an absolute donkey to use, but a trigger kit has taken out all the creep and lightened it to a nice, useable feel!

I had a Heavy Barrell Savage HMR - sold it for a standard barrell HM2
Didn't like the weight of the barrell - fine for sitting and shooting

Hate the plastic stock on it though

Next time would be a CZ or similar - wooden stock

I have just got a savage 93 r17 brj has a heavy barrel but doesnt feel to much to carry around and the trigger is great

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Originally Posted by gimp

What's a Quad cost, anyway. Never see them listed.

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Got mine very lightly used off Muzr. I have a feeling that the version I have was some ridiculous price like $2.5k new... I gave him my CZ455 & some cash for it. Has an aftermarket alloy trigger guard and trigger springs etc which finish it off really nicely. Very accurate too. It has a 22WMR barrel on it, which I'm not in any hurry to change either

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Ive got a sako quad in 17hmr. Nice bit of kit, extremely smooth action and deadly accurate. Trigger is also quite adequate and easily adjusted, you will save money there.

I have a 17hmr CZ425 (left handed of course). Nice little rifle. Shoots well although the factory trigger isn't flash. Sort or two stage when it isn't sposed to be.

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Originally Posted by Shearer

I have a 17hmr CZ425 (left handed of course). Nice little rifle. Shoots well although the factory trigger isn't flash. Sort or two stage when it isn't sposed to be.

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http://www.yodaveproducts.com

Huge improvement over factory trigger...

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I'm a fan of the Savages, accurate and nice to shoot. As others have said you don't really need a heavy barrel for a rimfire, but nothing wrong with them if you like the feel and don't mind a bit of extra weight - they still aren't that heavy overall and balance well.

CZ's are nice rifles, usually better finished and pretty good accuracy too but as standard the triggers aren't in the same league so I'd factor a trigger upgrade into the extra cost over a Savage as well.

Matre just got a Zastava which seems good too and shoots well.

I had the CZ455 17HMR with the heavy barrel.
Great rifle!

But don't get the heavy barrel if you intend to go walking with it. The 17HMR is a very light round, and has stuff-all barrel flip.
You're better off getting a normal barrel and a suppressor - won't move while you watch your round hit through your ultra-zoom scope :)

Scary accurate, does immense damage to small critters. It WILL make you smile :D

Weihrauch hw 60.( if you can find one) Full sized rifle, euro quality, very accurate, excellent trigger. Had an Anschutz for about 8 years before and I prefer the HW 60 by a fair margin. Around $1200 IIRC.

I went down this road a few years ago myself and narrowed it down to 3, Marlin, CZ and Savage. In the end I went with the Savage BRJ as it met all my requirements. It is a fairly heavy rig but I wanted it for sitting and sniping rabbits.
The reason I went with the Savage over the other makes was it was the only one that had an adjustable factory trigger. It also has a heavy target barrel and solid laminate stock. Perfect for what I was wanting.
http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/...hooter/004.jpg

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Originally Posted by Matt2308

I have a CZ452, great shooting and accurate rifle.
The factory trigger was an absolute donkey to use, but a trigger kit has taken out all the creep and lightened it to a nice, useable feel!

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What kind of weight did you manage to get the trigger down to, and what kind of groupings did you manage to get?

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Originally Posted by I_shoot_freely

What kind of weight did you manage to get the trigger down to, and what kind of groupings did you manage to get?

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I haven't measured the pull weight on it, but its somewhere around the 2lb mark judging by my other rifles.
It's always grouped around 1/3 to 1/2 inch at 100 yards...just much easier to extract that kind of accuracy out of it now that the trigger is sorted!

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Originally Posted by Gerbs

I had the CZ455 17HMR with the heavy barrel.
Great rifle!

But don't get the heavy barrel if you intend to go walking with it. The 17HMR is a very light round, and has stuff-all barrel flip.
You're better off getting a normal barrel and a suppressor - won't move while you watch your round hit through your ultra-zoom scope :)

Scary accurate, does immense damage to small critters. It WILL make you smile :D

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Do you think the heavy barrel adds anything to the .17 then? Could I put enough rounds through it to get a more than minimal advantage from having it, or would I just be better off with a standard barrel all round? Seems to be somewhat of a divergence of opinion on this matter.

It seems that there is no conclusive evidence that the Heavy barrel CZ is anymore accurate than the standard weight.
It wont heat up as much, but mu American hardly heats up much anyway.

I'd definitely go for a CZ over a Savage or Marlin. Some of the latter two have been known for poor build quality and a bit unreliable.
But all CZs are excellent feeling rifles, there may also be unreliable lemons out there, but on the whole the build quality seems a step above.
And considering they are pretty similarly priced.

The 455 is considered not quite as good as the 452, but there really isn't a huge amount in it.
I'd just go for whatever had the right price at the time.
The trigger on my 452 American isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than a lot of triggers I've used. It was pretty light from factory and only the tinniest amount of creep, but really nothing to be worried about. I think if my Tikka didn't have such a fantastic trigger, I would be 100% happy with the CZ one.

I also got a CZ452 and then installed a trigger kit (takes about an hour of fiddling around and cost me about $40, before the earthquakes, from Optics and Arms in Chch) for an excellent trigger. I compared it to the CZ453 set trigger and I think I prefer the 452 with the trigger kit. Very accurate rifle.

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Originally Posted by I_shoot_freely

Do you think the heavy barrel adds anything to the .17 then? Could I put enough rounds through it to get a more than minimal advantage from having it, or would I just be better off with a standard barrel all round? Seems to be somewhat of a divergence of opinion on this matter.

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A heavy barrel wont necessarily be any more accurate as such but it will possibly be less susceptible to ammunition variances. It will also be a little easier to shoot off hand (as long as its balanced) and will sit on bags or a bipod a little better. Your not likley to have to carry it for days with a pack on so I prefer a little heft. The cz is a nice little rifle but personally I couldnt live with the trigger or the bolt handle being so close to the scope ocular.

This heating thing is amusing. Yes a heavy barrel heats slower, funny thing though, it cools slower to....

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Originally Posted by Wirehunt

This heating thing is amusing. Yes a heavy barrel heats slower, funny thing though, it cools slower to....

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And its a little rimfire.
Its gonna take a LOT of quick firing to heat any rimfire barrel.
I say light barrel if you're gonna walk around with it, or go the heavy if you're going to sit up on a hill and snipe the bunnies at a distance :)

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Originally Posted by The Claw

Yodave Products - Home

Huge improvement over factory trigger...

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Thanks for that. I'm in.

I have a M77 Ruger that's has never let me down and I did a trigger job on it. Plenty accurate enough for a standard weight barrel and I have an MAE supressor on it. The CZ is something worth looking at even though I have never owned one ... they have a great reputation for reliability and accuracy. If you were wanting to spend a little more I would absolutely consider a Weihrauch HW60J .17HMR. I own the .22LR version and they have a nice medium weight barrel and very accurate and trigger is a dream out of the box.
One of these 3 should fit any budget.

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Originally Posted by Gunzrrr

I have a M77 Ruger that's has never let me down and I did a trigger job on it. Plenty accurate enough for a standard weight barrel and I have an MAE supressor on it. The CZ is something worth looking at even though I have never owned one ... they have a great reputation for reliability and accuracy. If you were wanting to spend a little more I would absolutely consider a Weihrauch HW60J .17HMR. I own the .22LR version and they have a nice medium weight barrel and very accurate and trigger is a dream out of the box.
One of these 3 should fit any budget.

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Aren't the Weihruchs pretty heavy though? I played with one once, I remember it being a beautiful feeling and looking gun,but was quite heavy.
Cost a fair bit more than a CZ too, but looked worth it.

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Originally Posted by Beetroot

Aren't the Weihruchs pretty heavy though? I played with one once, I remember it being a beautiful feeling and looking gun,but was quite heavy.
Cost a fair bit more than a CZ too, but looked worth it.

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Pretty much on the money there and yes a few hundred more than a standard cz but money well spent IMHO . Its a vamint rifle so not something you are going to carrying with a 20kg pack,a bit of weight is your friend. The anschutz I had wasa shooter but to short in the lop and to light for my liking
This is before the barrel chop and tuiman can

I ve had marlin with heavy fluted barrel for three or four years. It's had some improvements and shoots heads off sparrows at 100 mtrs consistently. I ve filled buckets up of myna birds with it . It has VX 1 and good mounts MAE suppreser trigger polish Harris bi pod and does the trick When it needs a clean it goes off accurate I shoot prob 150 to 200 rnds per month through it Total cost all up sub 1500 $ best hit 2 magpies each at 180 mtrs and head shots. Rabbits and possums no worries 200 + Misfires never FTC never just grab and go but heavy