17 HMR Accuracy ??

[shovelheadave]

I bought a 93R17 BTVLSS last year because I'd heard 17 HMRs are very accurate. I needed a bolt action rimfire and figured this would be a good choice. But, it's never really shot well.

I tried a number of different offerings in 17 & 20 gr from Hornady, CCI and Federal. Nothing shoots what I would call "well". In my mind, this should shoot 1-1/2 MOA at worst. Is that unrealistic ?

[EFBell]

My Marlin will shoot under an inch when it is calm outside with everything I put through it so far.

[tammons]

Mine shoots about 3/4" with 17gr hornady vmax ammo.

CCI tnt loads shot more open, like maybe 1.5"

I do think it will do better and I have never shot target in dead still winds.

I shot a few groups at 150 yards at about 1" - 1.25"

Thinking also a deresonator might help as well as a better mount and scope.
Also my barrel might not be broken in yet.

I bought it for picking off crows which is a small target so I would prefer 1/4" groups at 100.

Let us know if you come up with anything that tightens up groups.

[charlesL]

i tried 5 different brands of ammo four of them shot between 1/2 and 1 inch at 50 yards when i shot the winchester one small ragged hole,3/8 at 100yds this was with a off the shelf savage. i installed a 6/24 scope only change. good luck

[tammons]

will have to try the win ammo.

BTW which one ??
They sell 17 gr vmax, 17gr hp, 20 gr hp

[rob67gmc]

Mine will shoot under 1/2" at 100 yds. if no wind.

It is blued with bull barrel and won't shoot well if it is too clean. Really cleaned it once and it took about 50 shots to start grouping again.

Also had one in stainless and it wouldn"t shoot unless it was VERY clean, but still only about 1"-1 1/2" groups.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w236/rob67gmc/Savage%20Model%2093%20%2017%20HMR/Savage_Model93_17HMRs.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w236/rob67gmc/Savage%20Model%2093%20%2017%20HMR/17HMR_5shots.jpg

[shovelheadave]

That's really what I was expecting when I bought this 17 HMR.

I'd originally set it up with a VX-I 4x12 LRD which I was very unhappy with. I've since switched it out with a different scope and I'm back at trying to get this thing going.

Thanks for the info.

[kkeene]

We use 17 HMR's for short range (150 yard max) prairie dog shooting. We all use the 17 gr v-max ammo. Between me and my friends we have a total of 5 Marlin 917's and 2 Savages, all heavy barrel models. All of the Marlin's shoot under 1 MOA with a couple that will shoot 1/2 MOA. The two Savages are 1.5 to 2 MOA. I am a Savage centerfire fan but the Savage rimfires have not worked out for me and my friends.

Keith

[bgc]

It took some time for my gun to settle down once it did it, its very accurate (I thought it was a POS!).
I followed the break-in procedure as outlined on the Savage Arms web site, still didn't shoot well.
I polished the crap out of it with JB, it still didn't shoot well.
I let my female friend shoot it, she's known for melting tupperware off the action when she's bored, now it shoots well.
At this point the gun has had @400 rounds shot out of it and will shoot .5 MOA.

I have had the best accuracy with the Hornady 17 grain.

[charlesL]

tthe winchester's were 17gr did not know the made a 20.

[shovelheadave]

I don't like to rush to judgement but, I'm going to tag this as optics/rings related.

Swapped out the scope and rings and it shot very well this morning.

The VX-I was a huge disappointment. :(

[rob67gmc]

There is also a lot of info on rimfirecentral.com

[shovelheadave]

There is also a lot of info on rimfirecentral.com

Who would have guessed ?? Thanks, lots of good stuff over there.

[ultramagbrion]

I did the trigger-pack-shim mods ( I think that were posted here) and took a little bump in the barrel channel out that was touching the barrel . I swapped a spring out too ( from a clicker type pen)

Mine likes the Hornady's too but prefers Remington Premier with the same 17gr VMax . When I do my part , it'll make ragged holes at 50 yds and group about 3/4"-1 '' at 100 .

Really , since I got that 93-17 Varmint about 6-7 years ago , I havent barely shot my 10-22 . It's hell on squirrels and crows .....and now I have a 22 mag that's just as accurate too ........I'll never be shooting any LR hardly.

[jgerrington]

My 93r17 shoots from 0.8 to 1 inch 5 shot groups with just about all types of bullets. About what I was expecting.

[rob67gmc]

I did some work on my trigger,too. Very light polishing and clipped some off the spring. Then had my gunsmith check everything for safety and trigger pull was down to 15 ozs. With the trigger that light (would like to go a little lighter) this is strictly a bench gun, no walking around in the woods hunting.

[hogwire]

What really sucks is with those itty bitty holes even a 1" group looks huge!!! Best accuracy I've had with the HMR was in an Accelerator rifle with a Mossberg barrel (they told me). Too bad it wouldn't run consistently, had to change it to .22 mag. It would shoot 1/2" groups at 100 yds. easily. Had a Marlin bolt hvy. ss, best group it ever shot was a little over 1/2" @ 100yds in the wind, 10 shot group. Chased after that dream the rest of it's life, could only average 1" after that. Gun slipped off bed rail (leaning) and barrel hit reloading box, think it loosened up. Was gonna have threaded but took to gun show and sold within 15 min. Was bedded with rifle basix trigger. Now shootin a 17 Fireball in my Encore. Can shoot as cheap as HMR if I reload!

[shovelheadave]

Need it to be a rimfire to hunt in special regs area.

After fixing the front action screw issue and optics, this is what I ended up with, more than satisfied.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd84/Shovelheadave/img026.jpg