17 HMR- Buy one!

[Death from Afar]

Well, a few weeks after getting back from yet another overseas trip courtesy of the New Zealand Army ( 16 current overseas operations, and growing!) I decided that a new rifle was the go. I went into see my gunsmith and he offered me a BRNO 611 which he had rechambered for 17HMR with a Walther insert, and added one of his excellent suppressors.

Wow. What a fantastic combo. These things just FLY to your shoulder, and they shoot like a dream. I took it out nightshooting on Saturday and it just was murder on the rabbits. I normally use "the hose of death" ( my 870 12 gauge) for night shooting, but I just did not want to stop using the sweet seventeen. I only had 100 rounds for it, and they were soon all gone, after bowling around 45 rabbits.

I cant say a bad thing about the 17. Its accurate, flat, and lethal. If the rounds were cheaper, it would be hard to find fault with it.

 

[hksigwalther]

Welcome to the fold.

 

[Capp35]

I only had 100 rounds for it, and they were soon all gone, after bowling around 45 rabbits.

Not 100 rabbits?

 

[Moloch]

For me the bullet is too light, thats why I always choose the .22WMR but 'Ive heard and seen that its pretty deadly for small varmint.

On the other side you can get the OSSI coyote killer 33grain .22mag 2200 fp/s with a V-Max.

45 rabbits.

Now that was a hunt!

 

[Death from Afar]

Moloch, the most rabbits ever shot by me and four other dudes in one night shoot is just under 900. There are a lot of rabbits in New Zealand.

 

[FirstFreedom]

Cool; yes, I love this little round, even though logic says there's no real "need" for it. Is the Brno equiv to the 452 in the US, or what? Hose of death, tee hee. Dang I wish we could get some of your rabbits; I only saw one the whole weekend deer hunting.

P.S. Last night on outdoor channel, they did a New Zealand duck hunt for Mallards & "Parries" - mostly Parries. Big, beautiful ducks. Limits were 15/day Parries & 30/day Mallards. Generous. It was funny; there you hunt ducks in fields like we do for geese here.

 

[Death from Afar]

FF, funny actually 'cos I saw no "need" for the round either, too loud, expensive, yadda, yadda. However, I am now not so sure. In some of the areas I shoot ricohets are a hazard, and the lill 17 grainer doesnt have that risk. With the supprssed gun- and my gunsmith makes fine suppressors, all my rifles bar one have then- the noise is greatky reduced.

In the US its the 611- this gun here...

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/ggps/9548/

Parry shooting, hours of fun. The bag limit depends on where you are. When I was at Officer school we once shot our bag (30 each) in 3 hours, with 4 shooters, man that was a great blast up.

 

[tulsamal]

I would like to have a super accurate .17 HMR. Just haven't found the rifle I want yet. But that may change. This month's American Rifleman did a cover story on the reintroduction of the Browning T-Bolt. Looks the same but Browning made some improvements. Really pretty rifle. Always had a reputation for great accuracy. And the reviewer points out that they slightly increased the length of the action. So now a .17 HMR or .22 WMR is possible. If they make that rifle in .17 HMR, I think I'm going to have to buy one!

Gregg

 

[Niantician]

No need for a 17hmr? Have you seen what a squirrel can do to a shed or barn? Now, have you seen what a 17 can do to a squirrel? Seeing one of those rats falling 40 ft from a tree after being decapitated by my ruger 96/17 at 100 yrds. Man, it'll save your marrige!

 

[hksigwalther]

Uh, did you notice the group sizes that were shot with the T-bolt? Though the action may be fine, there seems to be something wrong with the accuracy of that gun, at least the NRA's sample.

If you want an accurate .17 HMR out of the box, the CZ 452/453 will do it with a bag of chips. Trigger will need some work to get the creep out but everything else is well above domestic and a somewhat below Anschütz.

 

[Death from Afar]

Its funny you should mention Anchutze, I had the pleasure of handling a top of the line model, Zeiss scope, harris bipod etc etc. Wow, what a glorious rifle. I quite like the Semi BRNO as it is a far better choice for the sort of shooting I do.

 

[FirstFreedom]

Gregg,

That T bolt may be nice, but I've been saying for over a year that if CZ ever makes a 452 in:

-Varmint config
-in .17 HMR
-with set trigger (which would make it a 453, not 452)

then it will be mine. The current .17HMR offering in the 452 (regular) is supposed to be real nice and accurate (I believe it), but it's not sufficiently cool/different enough to justify adding to (or replacing) the Savage and NEF .17 HMRs I already have. C'mon, CZ, do ya hear me???

 

[tulsamal]

Uh, did you notice the group sizes that were shot with the T-bolt? Though the action may be fine, there seems to be something wrong with the accuracy of that gun, at least the NRA's sample.

I pulled out the magazine but I don't see a problem. With three different ammo types, the rifle shot exactly a one inch average. That's at 50 yards. More important, it was 10 shot groups. None of this, "I fired five but two were fliers and so I really had a .2" three shot group." Smallest ten shot groups with each ammo type was .68, .68, and .93. Sporter weight rifle and only a 2-7x scope. I would be perfectly happy with that. We are talking about a rifle with a 21 7/8" barrel and yet it only weighs 4 pounds and 15 ounces! With a beautiful wooden stock. Not really fair to compare it with some rifle big enough to be a 22/250 varmint rifle!

Gregg

 

[Death from Afar]

I agree Greg. For an out of the box rim fire gun, thats petty good. I doubt the BRNO would do that.

 

[hksigwalther]

My error. I was going on memory and thinkning about the Benelli R1's groups when posting about the T-bolt.

 

[tulsamal]

My error. I was going on memory and thinkning about the Benelli R1's groups when posting about the T-bolt.

OK, I can understand that because I noticed the same thing. The text of that article on the Benelli said they got "near MOA" groups with a .308 so they decided to try one in .300 Winchester Magnum. And then they got all these 3.5" and 4" groups at 100 yards! I notice they didn't even mention the accuracy in the article. Just showed the chart. If you were buying a .300 Winchester Magnum so that you could shoot something at 500-600 yards, that kind of accuracy just isn't going to do it! Disappointing to say the least. Especially considering the very high cost of that rifle.

Gregg

 

[arkie2]

"If you want an accurate .17 HMR out of the box, the CZ 452/453 will do it with a bag of chips"

I was just over at the cz website salivating over their offerings. I would love to buy one but from what I could tell they only offer a left handed version in .22

 

[Fremmer]

Disappointing to say the least. Especially considering the very high cost of that rifle.

Not to mention how friggin' ugly that rifle is, too.