Any .17 Fan On Here

[clayton86]

Anyone else a .17 cal family fan. I love the little round looking to pick up one of the center fire versions I'm hoping for one of the new .17 hornets but it seems savage has been slow with the release of it. Maybe ill go 17 fireball or 17 rem I'm real big on fox and coyote hunting but we get more fox then coyotes so I like the .17s as they are fur friendly on the fox and have enough umphh to anchor a coyote as well. Every .17 I'v shot has been a tack driver as long as the wind isn't terrible.

[North Ga Hillbilly]

I really like my 17 hmr, i could put five touching most of the time when I was in practice. Ive always wanted some sort of 17 wildcat, not that there at all that useful for anything, but d**n theyd be cool

NGaHB

[clayton86]

Yeah my hmr is a tack driver on a calm day i can do 5 shots at 200yds and cover the group with a penny. I want one of the center fires for hunting fox and coyotes there would be zero pelt damage there isn't with my hmr but it lacks umph to put a coyote down out past 100 with any certainty. Id love to get a 3rd HMR or even mach2 if I can find an older semi auto one they only made them for a few years it would be perfect for coons.

[whittler1]

Yep, been shooting and reloading .17cal. since the early 60's, mostly wildcats. 17 Bee, 17 Hornet. 17 Mach 4, 17 Mach 4 rimmed, 17 222, and the 17 Remington. The 17 Hornet, 17 Mach4 and the standard 17 Remington are my top three of all time. I don't own the 17 HMR because I reload and can shoot the 17 Hornet cheaper and it just simply has more juice.

When I first started shooting 17"s the barrels and available bullets were fairly pood quality plus most of the powders were not really suitable for the 17. Now you can find truly quality barrels. powders and bullets in most gun shops that make the 17 sing.

The 17 Mach 4 ( fireball case ) is a great 17 round, it's close to the 17 Rem. and quite easy to load for. In a good rifle the Mach 4 will do 4000fps with a 25gr. bullet and the right load.

I'll get a few pics up later.

[clayton86]

nice whittler how is the barrel fouling though? I'v read that the .17 rem and 17FB have had fouling issues from the amount of powder and such tiny holes they can clog and foul fast requiring constant cleaning like less then 10 shots. Fox and Coyote hunting wouldn't be an issue usually only fire a round or two but if out in the fields cutting down the ground hog population that could become a problem.

[whittler1]

Here are the pics.

First pic is a .17 Hornet target and load data used, that is a 9mm case to use as a reference on group size along with a .17 Hornet case. The other pics are,l-r, .17 mack 4, the .17 Mack 4 Rimmed and a .17 Remington.

Second pic is the parent case beside it's 17 formed case.

With modern barrels, powders, bullets and cleaning products fouling is not going to be a problem. With proper break-in and cleaning you will love it. Use a high quality stainless steel one piece rod and a bore guide, cleaning from the breech and 99% of 17 problems are cured. If you are a " spray & pray" type the .17 is not for you. If instead of hitting a man sized target at 100yds. with a 20 round magazine you can hit a button on his shirt with one shot you will like it.

[clayton86]

I'm not the spray and pray type I am very very picky when it comes to accuracy in my rifles if there not sub MOA I simply don't use them. Thankfully all my guns are sub MOA but they are all bolt action and heavy which is just fine with me. I really want a 17 hornet but savage hasn't released it yet and seems like its gonna be very hard to get once they do from what I'm hearing on other forums. At this point I may look for a CZ 22 hornet and get it re barreled in 17 hornet. If not the hornet I may go for a fireball or rem not sure I just want something for fox and coyotes most guns will do 1 but not the other fox seem to be made of tissue paper even when shot with a .223

[craww]

Used to use one for predator/ groundhog hunting..USED to. Switched to a 223 and never looked back.

[clayton86]

Iv considered using a .223 its what my nephew uses and every round we have tried blows fox in 2 I sell the hides so I want as little fur damage as possible. .17s are just sweet little guns too.

[craww]

Definetely a fun gun and great for sharpening the old shooting skills. I use either the .223 or 60 grain 6MM Rem (talk about a good long distance round for groundhogs!) Your right about tearing up foxes (bobcats too) a little more. Thing is coyotes can get around 80lbs here. I basically had one laugh at me one night with the .17.....Couldnt do it again. Me and my buddies are out to work on the coyotes, so hides dont matter to us the dumbest thing the VDGIF ever did was release them. They've devasted the turkey and quail, and Im sure it aint helping the rabbits.

Is fur worth anything right now? I kept coon hides as a teenager. Shot hides brought around $4-5 bucks, trapped went for 7-8. Of course a 20lb coon down here is a monster.

[clayton86]

I don't remember the fur prices off the top of my head but we do it as a group I know when I left last year for this deployment we had like 70 something coyote hides and twice as many fox hides. Even at 10 bucks a pop which is very low that's 700 in coyotes alone split 3 ways more then pays for the ammo and gas used but we don't do it for the money just to have fun and control the population money from hides is a bonus.

[clayton86]

Oh and the 17 being too small idk iv heard mixed reviews but one of the guys in our group the guy who ones the hounds we run uses a .17mach2 which is a necked down 22LR he has DRT a few coyotes on the run with it same with fox cant tell where they were shot till you skin them and see the blood shot pin *****. He keeps his shots in under 100 if he can but iv seen one shot out around 150 by the pond at a trot DRT from the thing shot in the neck. our coyotes push the 80lb mark as well they get big with them NY winters and all the deer around.