17 WSM
- Thread starter nmkid
- Start date
Schandler
Silver $$ Contributor
Unless you want to sink a lot of money into a rifle - choices are savage !! And the bmag triggers suck but the two i have both shoot great. Tupperware stocks too. Also have a17 in wsm but some shoot some do not - i have a couple a17 in hm2 and hmr that shoot really great - the new a17 wsm not so much but maybe i need to break in and give it some time - maybe bed stock. I love the 17 wsm and if you’re lucky person give either bmag or a17 a try
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
Any reason why you selected the WSM instead of the HMR or Mach2? What is the primary use?
My reason for asking is the WSM will severely limit your ammo availability and rifle/barrel choices. I shoot the HMR and Mach2 on prairie dogs extensively. Yes, I realize the benefit the WSM would provide me with, but I don't believe I could secure the quantity of ammo I need. My primary goal is accuracy and high percentage of hits. The elevation drop pales compared to the windage I have to deal with. So a slightly flatter round doesn't gain me much.
For the 17 HMR a Lilja barrel will out shoot my Annie and Cooper rifles.
nmkid
Gold $$ Contributor
No reason. I have no idea at this point what I will use it for. Moving to IN. so, who knows? Maybe just punch paper.
Ccrider
Gold $$ Contributor
I have owned three. If you are willing to drop 6k then check out Primal Rights. Never seen one of their rifles live but I am sure they are nice.
Otherwise, get one of these. They shoot great and are the best bmag savage offers: https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/154913
nmkid
Gold $$ Contributor
Negative on the Primal Rights. I'm done with the high $ stuff. I have been looking at that Savage though. On the Internet, of course. Our local Sportsman's doesn't have it in stock. Maybe I will try Scheels on Monday. Well, perhaps I will wait until Tuesday. Monday is a holiday and it will be packed with pilgrims.
A friend who used to shoot with me had a Savage B mag that gave poor accuracy. I tried sorting the ammo, with no improvement. I put it in a Boyds thumbhole stock, unbedded, with no improvement. I wasn't about to spend the time bedding it.
He tried to give it to me. I dropped it off at his house when he wasn't home. I wouldn't spend a dime on one.
He tried to give it to me. I dropped it off at his house when he wasn't home. I wouldn't spend a dime on one.
I love the 17HM2 but haven't taken one on Pdog trips. Not sure it has enough gas for any distance. Used and will continue to use 17HMR on Pdogs. Excellent results for us to 150 yds and a little more if no wind. 17WSM definitely brings a different game to the dog town. My son killed one at 287 and should be good for a little bit more. Gun choice is your primary drawback on the WSM. I have a Bmag. First one was a piece of crap and sent back to Savage and replaced no question asked. Second one shoots quite well. Not cheap to shoot in my opinion with ammo in the $17-20/50 range.
Don’t buy a Rem 5mm, er, I mean a 17 WSM.
I was at my favorite gun shop last week. They had 6 boxes of 17 WSM for $30 per 50, 25gr bullet at 2600fps. (First time I saw them on the shelf). Hundreds of boxes of 17 HMR for $20 per 50, 17gr bullet at 2550. I’ve never heard of an inaccurate 17 HRM and haven’t heard of any accurate 17 WSM’s.
I have 2 17M2’s, a cheap savage and a CZ 452. My Eley ammo clocks about 2100 fps with a 17gr bullet and both rifles will shoot under 1/2” at 50 yards. Best squirrel rifle out there. I think M2 ammo is 10-12 $ per 50.
I’m convinced the WSM was built for speed and the speed only crowd of shooters so they can brag about how fast their gun shoots. Who cares if it’s accurate, if they don’t hit their target they’ll still kill it because the bullet will go by so fast it’ll suck the life out of it, for 60 cents per shot… I laugh. For about 40 cents a shot, I can reload my 17 fireball that will go 1000 fps faster than the WSM and put them in a 1/2” group at 100 yards. But now we’re comparing oranges to grapefruit.
I’ll close by saying I wouldn’t take a 17 WSM if you gave me one, well unless you were giving me lots of ammo to go with it. I wouldn’t pay that much for rimfire ammo, let alone probably inaccurate ammo.
I was at my favorite gun shop last week. They had 6 boxes of 17 WSM for $30 per 50, 25gr bullet at 2600fps. (First time I saw them on the shelf). Hundreds of boxes of 17 HMR for $20 per 50, 17gr bullet at 2550. I’ve never heard of an inaccurate 17 HRM and haven’t heard of any accurate 17 WSM’s.
I have 2 17M2’s, a cheap savage and a CZ 452. My Eley ammo clocks about 2100 fps with a 17gr bullet and both rifles will shoot under 1/2” at 50 yards. Best squirrel rifle out there. I think M2 ammo is 10-12 $ per 50.
I’m convinced the WSM was built for speed and the speed only crowd of shooters so they can brag about how fast their gun shoots. Who cares if it’s accurate, if they don’t hit their target they’ll still kill it because the bullet will go by so fast it’ll suck the life out of it, for 60 cents per shot… I laugh. For about 40 cents a shot, I can reload my 17 fireball that will go 1000 fps faster than the WSM and put them in a 1/2” group at 100 yards. But now we’re comparing oranges to grapefruit.
I’ll close by saying I wouldn’t take a 17 WSM if you gave me one, well unless you were giving me lots of ammo to go with it. I wouldn’t pay that much for rimfire ammo, let alone probably inaccurate ammo.
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
Well, I jumped on the 17WSM when no one wanted them. I visited with several here and at Saubiers on which one seemed to be a little better. I bought a large amount of ammo at that time, it was cheaper than 22mag even. I figure I have enough to wear the rifle out.
I know I probably one of very few that has little to no use for the 17HMR. I was disappointed with the “terminal” effects, way too many crawl offs.
The WSM didn’t replace my 17HH, but the WSM is my truck gun and close range laser. It shoots no worse than MOA as long as I do my job. Also, it seems it has gotten better with time.
The downfall of the 17WSM is as much a gun design issue as anything. The savage looks like a third grader designed it.
Giving several thousand for the premium rifle that is said to shoot better than imaginable, I would have to see it and even IF it did I still doubt I would drop that kind of coin.
FYI the 17FB replaced my 17HH. When I did that a lot of headaches went away along with a lot of foul language.
I know I probably one of very few that has little to no use for the 17HMR. I was disappointed with the “terminal” effects, way too many crawl offs.
The WSM didn’t replace my 17HH, but the WSM is my truck gun and close range laser. It shoots no worse than MOA as long as I do my job. Also, it seems it has gotten better with time.
The downfall of the 17WSM is as much a gun design issue as anything. The savage looks like a third grader designed it.
Giving several thousand for the premium rifle that is said to shoot better than imaginable, I would have to see it and even IF it did I still doubt I would drop that kind of coin.
FYI the 17FB replaced my 17HH. When I did that a lot of headaches went away along with a lot of foul language.
Ccrider
Gold $$ Contributor
I started with the skinny barrel bmag when the were first released. It would hold 3 shots within inch at 100 but as the barrel heated, it became a spray gun. I complained to Savage and they replaced it with a how barrel. It easily shot 1.25 inch 5 shot groups at 100.
Savage released the heavy barrel laminate right after I received the heavy barrel bmag. I ask and they upgraded for the price difference. My laminate
Easily shoots under 1 moa and I regularly get 1/2 inch groups.
17wsm ammo is available now. It is more expensive then when it first came out, but so is everything else. It is not .60 a round. More like .40.
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Wish you could buy ammo for the 17WSM for that price here, it's $69.99 a box of 50
Winchester 17WSM Varmint HV 20gr Polymer Tip 3000fps NZ - 17 HMR by Gun City
Rimfire 17 WSM cal Ballistic Tip 20g Centerfire Winchester Varmint High Velocity ammunition was developed as a fast, extremely accurate line for varmint... 17 HMR in NZ.
www.guncity.com
B23
Gold $$ Contributor
Ha! And that's probably insulting most third graders. Honestly, I think the designer Savage used to design the Bmag was either a disgruntled employee or someone that really hates guns because whoever designed these things did everything they could to build it in not only a way for it to fail miserably but to annoy the begeezus out of anyone who ever picked one up because when you first get ahold of one and start cycling the bolt you're first reaction is WTF followed by the thought uhhh is this thing broken and that's if you can get past looking at that fugly bolt they put on these things.
Now, having said all that I've probably spent more time with a Bmag and the 17 WSM cartridge then most and I've had a HB SS Bmag since they very first came out with the HB models. I've done a fair bit of messaging to mine but nothing particularly extensive and once I got past its oddities I have come to really like mine and it is easily my favorite sage rat rifle.
The trigger in the Bmag like all Savage rimfires I've owned is terrible but it didn't take a whole lot of messaging to get the trigger down to a very crisp 2 lbs. In fact I think it's just a tick under two. As for people talking about bedding the Bmag that's actually not accurate at all because due to the design of the Bmag it's nearly impossible to bed the action. The only place you can bed the action is up around the front action screw and even that is a huge PITA. When you hear of people "bedding" their Bmags what they really mean is they're bedding the first couple inches of the barrel around those barrel rings but that does absolutely nothing for the action which is the whole point of bedding a rifle.
With regard to the Savage Bmag it's kind of a buyer beware thing. If you go in to it with an open mind and have low expectations your chances of being happy with one are considerably higher then people that buy one only looking at the ballistics of the 17 WSM cartridge and expect their Bmag to shoot like a target rifle. If anyone is looking for, ANY, rimfire rifle short of a 22LR target level rifle shooting match grade 22 ammo you are going to be disappointed with the results because even if you have a target quality rifle the only rimfire ammo that will produce target level accuracy at any level of consistency is the 22LR. All the other rimfire ammo is just kind of okay-ish at best. If you don't like tinkering with guns I would highly recommend against the Bmag because chances are it may need some amount of tweaking.
My Bmag generally shoots "MOS" aka minute of squirrel. I've shot sage rats with my Bmag out to 350yds but in all honesty it's not particularly exciting. Yes, it's fun to see how far you can reach out there with a rimfire and make hits but there is no splat factor and they just kind of tip over dead. Where I really like my 17 WSM is when we are shooting sage rats for multiple days where you'll shoot 1000 rnds it saves me countless hours in the loading room.
I have two 17 HMR's as well but they most only get used for plinking around or taken a long for a loaner or backup gun.
A year ago Winchester had a new bolt action rimfire rifle in 17 WSM at shot show but I'm not sure if they have ever brought it to market or not.
Ccrider
Gold $$ Contributor
Frankfort Armory seems to be building one. Probably not in Rim-x action.
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
Bryan was a lot of help on mine. I modeled mine after his. I did end up using the stupid barrel nut as a bedding spot, just because a piece of the Boyd’s stock chipped out and I was concerned about it. I shot mine a pile one day last year and actually got it a little hot, I saw no ill effect then. 2-3 mags at a time is usually average for it.
Also should have listened to him when he told me to go 20-221 instead of the VT. I begin to think the 20-222 would do as well, maybe better.
I also looked pretty hard at the RimX action to do a build on. Was not totally out of line at the time I priced everything for a high end rifle, but still at the mercy of ammo manufacturers, I decided money better spent else where. Lol, so I ordered a Bighorn action and built the 20BR
.
Also should have listened to him when he told me to go 20-221 instead of the VT. I begin to think the 20-222 would do as well, maybe better.
I also looked pretty hard at the RimX action to do a build on. Was not totally out of line at the time I priced everything for a high end rifle, but still at the mercy of ammo manufacturers, I decided money better spent else where. Lol, so I ordered a Bighorn action and built the 20BR
.B23
Gold $$ Contributor
The Primal TS Custom RimX 17 WSM builds are as good as it gets in the 17 WSM world. If someone wants the best 17 WSM money can buy and you're ok spending that amount of money on one there is zero doubt those are the ones to get.
If you want one in an AR type gun Frankfort Armory is the way to go.
Ruger made their model 77 in 17 WSM for a few years but they stopped production of them quite some time ago and I don't know that we've seen any new ones in a number of years now. They were a MUCH better looking rifle then the sad pathetic looking Savage Bmag but didn't really shoot any better or worse and cost nearly three times as much.
Owning a Bmag is kind of like that saying about how dating a fat girl is like riding a moped, they're a lot of fun you just don't want anyone seeing you with it.
If you want one in an AR type gun Frankfort Armory is the way to go.
Ruger made their model 77 in 17 WSM for a few years but they stopped production of them quite some time ago and I don't know that we've seen any new ones in a number of years now. They were a MUCH better looking rifle then the sad pathetic looking Savage Bmag but didn't really shoot any better or worse and cost nearly three times as much.
Owning a Bmag is kind of like that saying about how dating a fat girl is like riding a moped, they're a lot of fun you just don't want anyone seeing you with it.
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