which 17hmr rounds?

so my new ruger 17hmr will be ready to collect tomorrow, barrel cut down to 16" & suppressed. I have bought a BSA sweet 17 6-18x40 scope for it as well so it's time to fit the scope, reduce the trigger weight to 3lbs and sight it in.

i have been looking at the ammo available. There seems to be a pattern throughout the brands, they offer a 17gr polymer tipped bullet or a 20gr which looks like it simply has an indented tip. I'd like to start with what i should carry on with so what do you think is the better pill? what have you had good results from?

I am using the rifle to hunt plover, rabbits and hares primarily and i'm sure a possum will be in the sights at some point. I'm leaning toward the heavier pill for more punch, i have had good success with the heavier 22lr subs.

on another note i have just realised i have dropped a grand on a gun solely for smoking these little pests, dafuq was i thinking. anyway, rock on.....

Try out a few different options and use the one that shoots best from your rifle. 17gr and 20gr both kill critters fine.

cool thanks. I think both the CCI and hornady should be very good quality so i'll pick one at the shop and see how it goes. the trajectories shouldn't be vastly different between the two if i change brands.

I use the Hornady 17gn with good results on rabbits. They shoot well in my cz.
Be aware the bsa scope may no longer be sweet now you have had the barrel cut.

What do I need to know about that? I haven't purposely bought that because of it's dialling adjustment, it had good reviews and plenty of zoom. I plan to zero it at 100 then see if it's accurate when adjusted but thinking it probably won't.

Sent from my work bench

I guess you're referring to the change in barrel length changing the velocity etc. if I go as far as using the adjustment I'll do some trial shots to see what adjustment I need to give it to be right at 150 & 200

Sent from my work bench

@sneeze

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

the 20 grain hollow point is not very impressive on maggies ect, tends to zip through a bitmore.
17 grain tipped is explosive

POI changes as well when you change ammo. I last sighted in using the 17 Gr with lipstick top and had a few hollow points left over.
Couldn't hit anything till I realised and swapped back to Polymer so have stayed with that for last couple of boxes .....
The 20 grain Hollows smack possums right off the branch. Must be cos they are heavier ..
Find what you like and grab a few boxes of it ...

I'm pretty sure all 17HMR ammo is made at the same factory, so there shouldn't be any difference between brands. I use the 17gr tipped bullet, works well on hares and magpies.

The 17 grain BT's will be much more explosive than the 20 grain hollow points, which are sturdier and on occasion won't expand much.
Fun little round to shoot!

I found the opposite with the 20g performing better on rabbits. I also had a BSA Sweet 17 on a CZ. It was fine. I think they are calibrated for the 17g but I noticed little difference shooting 20's.

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Originally Posted by stug

I'm pretty sure all 17HMR ammo is made at the same factory, so there shouldn't be any difference between brands.

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I've heard that mentioned in a few places on the net, but never with anything to really back it up. The manufacturers seem to claim slightly different ballistics which would suggest a different brew even if they are made in the same factory, and I know a few people who have found different POI between different brands.

my old man swears the hornady and CCI shoot dfferently - he uses 17g v-max CCI

Found this on the 17hmr.net website

From Linda Olin:

Quote
CCI, Federal, Winchester, Remington and Hornady all loaded here at CCI in Lewiston, Idaho with a V-max bullet are identical, with the exception of tip color. Manufactured on the same equip, to the same ballistic specs, using the same components other than color of the tip of the bullets. Obviously the shellcase 'head stamp' and packaging would be different on the various products.

Linda Olin
CCI/Speer Technical Services
2299 Snake River Ave.
Lewiston, ID 83501

I hear the tipped ones are made in the same factory, after having hornady ones rattling around in ya pocket the red comes off and black is left behind just like the cci.
theres a 17gr cci tnt hollow point round that mine used to like too. it looks the same as the 20gr rounds, but if you look into the 20gr's hollow point you will see its not that hollow and has been filled with lead im guessing. (at a guess half fill?) 20gr is a harder projectile.
but shoot what your gun likes, if it shoots the 20gr better than the ballistic tips, try the tnt. mine seemed to like the two equally over the vmax. there a great rabbit gun.

Ive tried CCI, Winchester, Federal, Hornady 17vmax and Hornady 20gr XTP in my CZ.

The 17gr Hornady is definitely more accurate than the Federal or Winchester that I've shot. Think the CCI is much the same though.
I've shot a few rabbits less than 30m away with the 20gr XTPs and they died just as quickly and had no over penetration compared with the 17gr stuff.
I'd tend to stick with something 17gr as it'll shoot flatter.

Cci and hornady have the exact same POI in my 17. either one in 17gn polimer tip works great for me. Iv got a box of 20gn gamepoint winchester but iv not tried em yet


Sent from the swamp

One major difference is the polymer tipped ones Don't ricochet and the dimpled/hollow points do. They were designed specifically to be used in built up areas and not ping off somewhere.

Had 3 different branded rifles in 17hmr so far and each one preferred different ammo. Both will kill bunnies and goats but the 17gr polymer tips are more explosive on bunnies and have less penetration on goats,whilst the 20gr hollow points are almost the opposite ie you can still actually eat the bunny and the goats go down fast.

Found hornady and cci the best accuracy wise, then federal, and Winchester dead last,as in so bad id would rather go home from the ammo shop without it as you would actually miss.Something that Never happened with hornady or cci.

Attachment 25981
The 17 grain hornady go well in my rifle but can open up small game even out to 100m

So I bought the Hornady v max 17gr. Sighted it in this morning and smoked a couple of Plovers just now, 1 @ 100m & 1 @ 250m approx. Very happy with that

Sent from my work bench

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Originally Posted by smidey

So I bought the Hornady v max 17gr. Sighted it in this morning and smoked a couple of Plovers just now, 1 @ 100m & 1 @ 250m approx. Very happy with that

Sent from my work bench

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Great shooting.

I wish I got an hmr ages ago, so good to shoot with

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I've used 17g TNT rounds with good success out of my old BVTS Savage. Not as explosive wound wise compared to Vmax

As there is very little wind today I thought I'd put some rounds through it as it was windy as when I sighted it in yesterday. Set up the target board at about 100 yards, wow these v max and ruger are a good combo
Attachment 26093

Sent from my work bench

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GravelBen

I've heard that mentioned in a few places on the net, but never with anything to really back it up. The manufacturers seem to claim slightly different ballistics which would suggest a different brew even if they are made in the same factory, and I know a few people who have found different POI between different brands.

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THIS SHOULD HELP YA

CCI, Federal, Winchester, Remington and Hornady all loaded here at CCI in Lewiston, Idaho with a V-max bullet are identical, with the exception of tip color. Manufactured on the same equip, to the same ballistic specs, using the same components other than color of the tip of the bullets. Obviously the shellcase 'head stamp' and packaging would be different on the various products.

Linda Olin

CCI/Speer Technical Services
2299 Snake River Ave.
Lewiston, ID 83501

the changes i have seen in poi between them are around the same as i have see in different batch's of the brand .

cheers D