Another one…17 HMR

[vonb]

I took another groundhog this past weekend coming out from under the old milk barn. I decided to use my new Tikka T1x .17 HMR. One thing I’m impressed with are the 20 Gr XTP rounds. They leave two holes. I’ve always preferred a .223 but this little .17 gets it done.

 

[markT]

Range?

 

[Alguapo]

Love the 17 HMR. And yes it does have a limit on the range .

 

[K9TXS]

This one was taken at 163 yards. I used this 17 HMR more this time than my 20VT. I had some longer hits with the HMR but couldn't range them due to the high grass.

 

[vonb]

Yard distance. I think around 20-25 yards standing position, no rest.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

I took another groundhog this past weekend coming out from under the old milk barn. I decided to use my new Tikka T1x .17 HMR. One thing I’m impressed with are the 20 Gr XTP rounds. They leave two holes. I’ve always preferred a .223 but this little .17 gets it done.

View attachment 1457511

The Tikka T1X in any caliber can shoot, and the 17 hmr within it's capabilities can get the job done, I found it a little light for me and moved it on in place of the 17 hornet. If it works within your limits good deal. perfect shot there.

 

[1raggedhole]

This one was taken at 163 yards. I used this 17 HMR more this time than my 20VT. I had some longer hits with the HMR but couldn't range them due to the high grass.

tell us about your fancy rig…

 

[K9TXS]

tell us about your fancy rig…

It started life as a regular CZ 455 in 17 HMR. It was never very accurate so it hardly ever got used and when it did it was just at the range.

Last year while on a PD hunt in WY, there were PD everywhere at my first stop. I started off with the 20 VT and it worked well, but of course after some rounds down range, the dogs go back down and you have longer shots. I started thinking about the HMR again.

I ordered an MDT stock, Yankee Hill Arca rail,19" Lothar Walther barrel, Timney trigger and another bolt knob. The scope is a Hawke Sidewinder off a .22 rifle.

When I ordered the barrel from Lothar Walther, I requested the tenon to be a certain diameter with no barrel grub screw milled out. I received a call from the machinist/gunsmith from Lothar Walther just before he was going to turn the barrel. He was verifying that the dimensions I requested were correct. No one had sent him tenon dimensions before. When I got the barrel it was such a tight fit, it wouldn't go in the receiver hardly at all. This is what I wanted. I put the barrel in the freezer overnight and the receiver in the oven for a short period of time. As I was putting the two together, I used green loctite on the tennon and let it set up overnight.

After putting it all together, I headed to the range and it shot an easy sub MOA at 100 yards. It will be going again next year.

Using the suppressor I did lots of shooting from a few yards out to around 180 yards or so. The kill shot you see here is 163 yards. There was high grass and I would be able to see the PD a little above the grass, but I couldn't use my range finder on them.

The little 17 gr bullet makes quite a POP when it hits a PD. With the suppressor, you can hear every hit, even at distances over 100 yards.

 

[Bill K]

Being in the communist state of Kalifornia, I must use the lead free ammo. But that has not hurt my hunting/shooting overall.
And therefore I must use the 15.5 NTX in my 17 calibers. In the HMR it is a very deadly bullet on small game, even up to the size of Coyote/rock chucks, with in a given range ( up to around 150 yrds) with a well place bullet. It will surprise and amaze you on what it can do.
Mine is in the 455 CZ and it is deadly accurate.

 

[jepp2]

2020 was the first year I shot my 17 HMR on prairie dogs seriously. I didn't take enough ammo and was buying more every day after my shoot. In 2021 and 2022, I only shot the 17 HMR. This year I shot both the 17 HMR and a 17 HM2. Typically shoot 2500-3000 shots each year for about 10 days of shooting.

I switched from centerfire, mostly because I don't have to do all the reloading prior to going, and I found the dogs stay up much better with the rimfire. So my firing rate goes up from about 30 rounds per hour, to around 60 per hour.

I have shot a ton of dogs at 250 yards, and my longest kill is at 283 yards. But what I found is once the bullet goes subsonic, it doesn't have the destruction is has at higher velocity. So I mostly stop at around 225 these days.

Here is my most used 17 HMR (CZ 455, Boyd stock, and Lilja barrel). And here is what it does to those dogs that are just giving you an eyeball above the mound.

 

[K9TXS]

It really is suprisenlying how much longer the PD stay up when shooting the HMR suppressed.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

2020 was the first year I shot my 17 HMR on prairie dogs seriously. I didn't take enough ammo and was buying more every day after my shoot. In 2021 and 2022, I only shot the 17 HMR. This year I shot both the 17 HMR and a 17 HM2. Typically shoot 2500-3000 shots each year for about 10 days of shooting.

I switched from centerfire, mostly because I don't have to do all the reloading prior to going, and I found the dogs stay up much better with the rimfire. So my firing rate goes up from about 30 rounds per hour, to around 60 per hour.

I have shot a ton of dogs at 250 yards, and my longest kill is at 283 yards. But what I found is once the bullet goes subsonic, it doesn't have the destruction is has at higher velocity. So I mostly stop at around 225 these days.

Here is my most used 17 HMR (CZ 455, Boyd stock, and Lilja barrel). And here is what it does to those dogs that are just giving you an eyeball above the mound.

Were the 250 yd and 283 done with the hmr,thx

 

[ohlongarmisle]

Being in the communist state of Kalifornia, I must use the lead free ammo. But that has not hurt my hunting/shooting overall.
And therefore I must use the 15.5 NTX in my 17 calibers. In the HMR it is a very deadly bullet on small game, even up to the size of Coyote/rock chucks, with in a given range ( up to around 150 yrds) with a well place bullet. It will surprise and amaze you on what it can do.
Mine is in the 455 CZ and it is deadly accurate.

I would not shoot a coyote with a 17 hmr at 150 unless it was a head shot, just not enough there in a body shot to assure a recovered animal.Having shot upwards of 1000 and counting i can vouch for their durability, in taking them down cleanly.At 150 99 ft pounds in a coyotes body in usually an unrecoverable coyote, you can hit them but finding is another story, even in snow they can run for miles, unless brain,spine,or both lungs struck, a yote shot in one lung can run miles, I don't believe a hmr at 150 can double lung a yote. Just saying , your experiences may differ.

 

[jepp2]

Were the 250 yd and 283 done with the hmr,thx

Yes they were. I also shot a coyote with it. I fully expected to see him run off and expire. At the hit he want down where he was standing. I saw him raise his head and finally stood back up kind of shaky. Shot him in the chest again, and he spun and bit at the entrance. Fell down and that was it. About 130 yards.