Savage's new A17 Semi-Auto 17HMR Rifle

[Lonewulf]

they say the regular 17Hmr will work ok :) the new ammo is HOTTER :) unless I read it wrong it better work ok or they will be starting all over again with the same mess as the 17 WSM ammo and rifle's

[J.Baker]

Yep, functions fine with the standard ammo. The new ammo is just a little hotter and is 100fps faster. Bill told me they actually pull a sample from each production lot for QC/function testing and run several magazines of mixed ammo through them to ensure they're up to snuff. New ammo will also work just fine in any other 17 HMR rifle you have.

He kind of hinted to the headaches and issues they went through with the early 17WSM rifles and they've upped their game to ensure this roll-out goes a lot smoother.

[leo158]

Any info when this is supposed to hit the shelves? Then how long before able to customize it like a 10/22.

[J.Baker]

Supposed to start shipping sometime in March. As for the latter I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry as the aftermarket is usually pretty slow to pick up on a brand new model for obvious reasons. No sense in devoting time and resources to developing a new product if the item it fits hasn't yet proven it will be around awhile.

[Lonewulf]

e-mailed CCI about the availability of the ammo, their reply LOL

Jeff, we have been shipping this ammunition since the first of the year and have shipped millions of rounds. We sell only to distributors, they sell to the dealers, dealers sell to you, we have no way to tell who has product in stock or when they will receive stock. We are continuing to make this round and shipping on a regular bases.


where is it at?

[J.Baker]

Well, if most of the distributors are smart they're stockpiling it waiting for the rifles to come in so they don't repeat the same nightmare they had last year with the 17 WSM. Winchester had two warehouses full of the WSM ammo and started shipping it out in April as that's when the B-Mag's were supposed to start shipping, but the guns were delayed. As a result (mainly due to the ammo craze at the time) people bought up all the WSM ammo they could to either hoard or resell, then when the guns came out there was none to be had because Winchester had already changed the production line over to run a different product. The result was a very negative effect on B-Mag rifle sales because no one wanted to buy a rifle they couldn't get ammo for.

With Savage being directly tied to CCI now under the Vista corporate umbrella you can bet your butt they're working together to do all they can to prevent that from happening again.

[n4ue]

Cool gun, and I thought SURE I had just purchased my last rifle last week!

As far as the 17WSM ammo is concerned (now), it's everywhere here in Florida, even Wal Mart !!!

ron

[Lonewulf]

kinda wondered on the A17 17Hmr ammo, I have access to Jerry's dist thru my BIL and they have the Savage A17 rifle but no ammo even listed yet on their web site yet

[J.Baker]

I really don't see the ammo as that big of a deal really. It's only 100fps faster than the loads that have been out for years so we're not talking about a huge performance increase. To me it's just additional marketing hype to help push the A17 rifle and help bring the 17HMR back into the limelight.

[J.Baker]

Savage has just launched the A17 on their website today

http://www.savagearms.com/launch/a17

They have also put out a couple videos which I have added to the Rimfire FAQ's section of the site.

The first is on the mechanical design and function of the A17:
http://www.savageshooters.com/content.php?309-Savage-Arms-A17-Semi-Automatic-Rimfire-Rifle-Technology-Video

The second in on basic disassembly and cleaning of the A17:
http://www.savageshooters.com/content.php?311-Savage-Arms-A17-Semi-Automatic-Rimfire-Rifle-Basic-Disassembly-Cleaning-Video

[J.Baker]

Also got a call from Bill today and my A17 is shipping out this week.

During out brief discussion on the phone we were talking ammo and he did enlighten me to something I wasn't aware of. Apparently about 2-3 years ago CCI (who manufacturers most all of the 17HMR ammo currently on the market) switched to using a new powder for all 17HMR ammo. This new powder bumped up the pressure a bit and also changed the pressure curve accordingly compared to the earlier 17HMR ammunition. The A17 is designed to function with the newer ammo, but should still function with the older, lower pressure ammo in all but the most extreme cases.

So what's that mean? Basically if you have a pile of older 17 HMR ammo that you've been sitting on for 4+ years it may not be as reliable in the A17 as ammunition made in the last few years due to the powder change. Given the frequent and repetitive ammo shortages over the past several years I would imagine that this won't be an issue for most folks.

You can easily check the manufacture date of your CCI ammunition by decyphering the lot number using the following information.

Since 1995 SPEER/CCI products have used lot numbers that allow you to discern their date of manufacture. These lot numbers are in the form of L##L##, where L is a letter and # is a number. The first letter is the month A thru M, January thru December, skipping I. The next two numbers are the numerical date 01 thru 31, single digit dates getting a leading zero. The second letter is the year A thru P, skipping I and O, for 1995 thru 2008. Numbers following these I haven't figured out yet.

First letter/Month:
A - January
B - February
C - March
D - April
E - May
F - June
G - July
H - August
J - September
K - October
L - November
M - December

First two digits/Numerical date:
01-31

Second letter/Year:
A - 1995
B - 1996
C - 1997
D - 1998
E - 1999
F - 2000
G - 2001
H - 2002
J - 2003
K - 2004
L - 2005
M - 2006
N - 2007
P - 2008
Q - 2009
R - 2010
S - 2011
T - 2012
U - 2013
V - 2014
W - 2015


I still have two boxes of CCI's 17gr TNT load from 2003 (first year for 17HMR) and about of brick of Hornady 17gr V-Max ammo from 2011 to verify if the older ammo cycles reliably or not.

[Hotolds442]

Apparently, the Winchester 17HMR ammo is not made by CCI. The lot numbers I have for the Olin produced ammo are all 3GM31, which doesn't subscribe to the above code.

i do have some CCI stuff from 2010 and 2013 though. Good to know they changed the powder, that would explain the accuracy differences I see between the older stuff and the newer stuff. The 2010 brass seems to be more consistent in rim thickness though.

[J.Baker]

Something is fishy then because...

1. I just found this post from 2007 which references Winchester 17HMR lot #D21L02 which falls in line with CCI's format. (3rd post down)
http://www.varminthunters.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-10246.html

2. I just found this post regarding Winchester ammo lot number decoding and it doesn't match the format you gave either.
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=68586

[Hotolds442]

Fishy indeed.

the "Made in U.S.A Olin Corp" leads me to believe it's not made by CCI.
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y471/chevypowrd/3333989E-A1EE-4117-8DE7-345D88D2B283_zpslf8gokgf.jpg

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y471/chevypowrd/89F6AD5E-2CEA-40A5-9C4A-9436D54B5ADE_zps2vovk4p6.jpg

[J.Baker]

It's possible they started doing their own sometime after 2007. Looking at the lot numbers for recalled Winchester M22 22LR ammo in early 2014 and they're different as well.


1/28/2014

Olin Corporation, through its Winchester Division, is recalling two (2) lots of M*22™ 22 Long Rifle 40 Grain Black Copper Plated Round Nose rimfire ammunition.
Symbol Number: S22LRT
Lot Numbers: GD42L and GD52L

Every box of CCI and HOrnady 17HMR I have has the Lot # stamped on the bottom. Looking at my Remington 22 WMR boxes, they must be made by CCI as they're using CCI's format and location as well.

[Hotolds442]

There's nothing stamped on the sticker that's on the bottom of the Winchester boxes, all of my CCI and Hornady stuff is stamped as you describe.
The Winchester plastic boxes are made by a different manufacturer also, they don't have the molding nodule in the center of the inside bottom like the CCI and Hornady.

[leo158]

Also got a call from Bill today and my A17 is shipping out this week.



Price tag.. Thanks Dan

[J.Baker]

Price tag.. Thanks Dan

That's already been covered at the bottom of page 1 in this thread.

[leo158]

found it
quote MSRP is $469.00 we were told. No one knows the “street price” yet but we expect that to be about $370.00. quote


Got it.. Didn't see aprox street price first time read..

[Lonewulf]

trying to get one ordered but not much luck yet except what I see on GB :(