Apples vs oranges here. You'll find that most clubs host .22lr rimfire matches for silhouette, steel plates, and paper targets, not .17hmr. Also, 17hmr is very accurate in most guns, but ammo selection is very limited. The .17hmr was designed for hunting, not competition shooting. If you get a .22lr you'll find a vast assortment of ammo to try and quite a bit of it works pretty well. Each gun will have a distinct preference for one brand over another and trying them all is a lot of the fun. Also, .22lr is generally cheaper than .17hmr......not that you can't buy some very expensive .22lr ammo, but you can generally find some that shoots well and is affordable. If you're primarily going to be "plinking" and informal target shooting, and plan to shoot a bunch, get the .22lr. You'll get to shoot a lot more for the same amount of money. Here's a thought: if you hanven't gotten a gun yet, take a look at the CZ 455 American. You can buy this excellent, and very accurate, firearm for a bit under four hundred bucks and it has the nice feature of allowing you to buy additional barrels in other calibers such as .17hmr, and .22magnum. I bought one last year and purchased extra barrels for around a hundred fifty bucks each and all three barrels shoot very, very well. It's the best of both worlds at a very good price. FWIW, it shoots nearly as well as an Anschutz at about forty percent of the cost.
No knock on Savage, I've owned several over the years but I consider the CZ a much better buy new on a dollar for dollar comparison. They aren't that far away in price to keep you from getting the CZ.

 

You'll find that most clubs host .22lr rimfire matches for silhouette, steel plates, and paper targets, not .17hmr....

The competitions will have a separate group shooting 17's so you would be shooting against others with the same limitation of match "or lack of" ammo...

Maybe. My local club is tiny, and they welcome all rimfires.

If it's a BFD for the OP, then he should ask somebody ahead of time.

I have Ruger American Rimfires in both .22lr and .17HMR. They're both super.

Both are accurate enough: moa or less on a good day (no wind) with the right ammo.

Past 75yds, the 17 is better simply because it shoots so much flatter.

So, if you're happy to shoot at 50-75yds, then .22lr. Beyond that, go 17HMR.

 

NSB, thanks for your quick response. In fact, I just looked at the CZ 455 and thought might be a good solution. I guess my concern is that I get a gun and get it shooting just right and then some variance in ammo creeps in and accuracy goes to crap which would be really frustrating. My club holds a number of shoots for .22LR but they do have one for .17HMR that looks like fun. In your opinion does .17HMR ammo really vary that much to the extent that one day you shoot MOA or better and next day not?

 

You kind of answered your own question in one way: they hold several .22lr shoots and ONE .17hmr shoot. Also, the .22lr is a lot cheaper to shoot so you get to shoot more for the same price. I think the .17hmr is a fantastic caliber for pest control out to 150 yards or so. That's a lot farther than the .22lr can be counted on. One is basically a target/hunting round (the .22lr) and the other is a very capable hunting round (.17hmr) that you can shoot at targets. Just weigh the cost to shoot and which one you'll actually be doing the most and go that way.....which ever way that is. They're both nice cartridges (I have both for a reason).

 

For what its worth

I borrowed my son's Savage 93R17 HMR (black synthetic & SS barrel) a few months ago to play with. He has a Mueller 4.5x14 AO SS scope on it. I have had a lot of fun with it on targets, crows, pigeons and collared doves.

I think it is a little similar to .22 LR. There are several different loads available, and most if not all, are loaded by CCI regardless of what the box says. I have shot all of the offerings, I think. I have misplaced my log book, but iirc the 17 gr poly-tip and the 22 gr. HP gave me the best groups. The Pb free was not shot enough to give me a good read.

But at 50 on out to 100 yd.s pigeons and crows never stood a chance. I am sure you can check some of the numerous threads on RFC with accounts of accuracy and find out much more concise information. They are definitely shooters.

The downside to all this is, I was visiting my son this past weekend. He said he wished he had remembered to call me.... Now that football season is over, he and his son want to get out to the range and play with there .22s and the 17HMR! I have to give it back to him. And I guess I will have to go buy my own. The .17 is to much fun to shoot.

VH man:

 

If you decide on a .17 I would jump right to the WSM, it will do everything the HMR will do out to 200 yds.

 

Unfortunately, CZ offers interchangeable barrels which is a fantastic feature, but .17wsm isn't one of the choices. To get a 17wsm you need to get a gun dedicated to one caliber only.

 

I found that I really didn't use my 17 for target or plinking after the novelty wore off.Sub moa out to 150 yards was easy and almost boring on a dead calm day.It is a fantastic round for pest control though and that's what I ended up using it for.A 22 is cheaper to shoot as long as you're happy with the lower priced SV ammo.For small game and target shooting I'd go with a 22,for whacking small varmints the 17 is great
You're gonna need both

 

100% agree.

 

Now that’s the best advice yet.....buy both calibers! My wife has more than one pair of back shoes, right? I think I’ll get my feet wet with a .17HMR and then decide where to go from there. Thanks to everyone for your comments - most helpful.

 

Now that's the best advice yet.....buy both calibers! My wife has more than one pair of back shoes, right? I think I'll get my feet wet with a .17HMR and then decide where to go from there. Thanks to everyone for your comments - most helpful.

Great ANALOGY!! If you don't mind I think I'll use that one on my wife when I purchase my next handgun.

 

I'm about to buy a Savage 93R17 BTVSS for target shooting and entering some friendly competitions at local club. That said, I continue to read about the wild variances in ammo performance. I'm a long time precision reloader and really enjoy getting the most that my rifles can produce based on doing my part. I'm beginning to wonder if .22LR offers better accuracy because of higher quality ammo since there are more competitive events and they have a much wider audience. Am i making too much out of this because my first priority is to have fun, but I do like to shoot small groups too! What should I expect from .17HMR in terms of repeatable accuracy?

Any help to point me in right direction would be greatly appreciated.

I believe my Savage 93 22lr will out shoot my 93r 17 at 50 yards. At 100 yards is where the .17 shows it's superiority. Of course I have only shot the Hornady 20 grain loads through the .17 so far. Both rifles have bull barrels and wooden stocks.

 

You really need to try the 17gr pills! My Marlin 17vs is only .22lr accurate with the
20gr bullets, but 1/4" accuracy @ 75yds with the Hornady 17gr bullets.

 

My advise would be to stay away from the Savage 93R17 BTVSS if you want it for competition. Beautiful rifle but Savage hogs out the stock to the point there is no support for the action. The stock screws go into action studs that do not contact the stock. The bottom metal is so thin it flexes. I sent a note to Savage about this and the response was "it was an engineering decision" My gun is the .22 magnum version and it strung my shots. I ended up having it bedded using the info in the attached link. This resolved my issue and it shoots fine. Having to do again I would be looking at another rifle. I shoot a .22 bench rest match and the club allows
.22 LR or .22 magnum. No .17 calibers allowed. Before purchasing check your club rules and get a rifle you can enjoy.

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?156630-Modifying-the-Boyds-stock-for-Savage-MKll&

 

One angle to look at it from ...

If your thinking of the desired fun factor coming from shooting against others at the range, consider this. The competitions will have a separate group shooting 17's so you would be shooting against others with the same limitation of match "or lack of" ammo. Other than some showing up with a much more expensive and debatably more accurate gun / scopes, you will be on the same playing field and testing yourself against them as a shooter.

For Hunting, I think it would be hard to argue that .17 is better unless you have restrictions regarding report. We hunt in some areas that can be done with very quiet .22s and subsonic ammo which could not be considered with a 17.

For plinking, if just by myself I would be happy with .17 as after 100 rounds I am ready to go in and only $25 or less poorer. As it is, I often like to invite friends so the cost of 500+ rounds of .22 makes it affordable and less damaging to inexpensive reactionary targets made for .22 rimfire.

So in a nutshell the answer is simple. Like others have stated, you will need several of both calibers. That was the only way I found happiness :bthumb:

 

17 hmr ammo continues to be inconsistent. I can routinely put 2 shots in the same hole at 100 yds, but the other 3 not so much. I admit that some of that inconsistency could be the shooter-----------me, but this is such a persistent problem that the shooter could use some grace. I don't get this problem with the .22 or my centerfires.
Bob

 

This matches my experience. It have owned 3 HMRs, now 2, and they both shoot just like this. My Anschutz is a bit better, but flyers are not unusual. My Sako is the same. I have all of my centerfires consistently shooting sub-MOA groups with my reloads. That said though, the 17 HMR is a fine varmint round. I've killed 100s of them.

 

Well, I like my .22's but really love my Marlin 917V given me upon retirement from a local University. It is wood stocked, heavy barrel and very accurate. I do like the Hollow points much better for hunting than the ballistic tips. but the latter is ok for targets. you have to pay attention to the wind at long range, but that's part of target shooting at long range. mine will easily shoot 1/4 inch groups at 100 yds. (reading the wind of course). The question at hand is hard to answer, If I only were allowed one rifle, I would probably pick a .22. but with more options I would have a good shooting .17HMR. Here in E.Kentucky as the .22's got hard to find, the HMR's were easily available. I had plenty of each of course. You will have to answer the question yourself, either way you're the winner... Good shooting to you...

 

My 917VS is also very, very accurate and I haven't had a problem yet with it in 10 years. All I've done is added a Basix trigger to it. This is a great rifle.

 

If you want to shoot farther than 25 yards and see your hits without needing a 40+ power spotting scope, I suggest .22lr all the way. I had a .17hmr, super accurate super fun but I literally had to go buy what was at the time a very good spotting scope a Burris xts-2575 (25x-75x) so I could see my hits!!! Very small holes.

 

I use generic "shoot'n'see" splatter targets when I shoot .17, and it's no problem to see holes through my riflescope out to 150yds and beyond...

 

200 yards, CZ 455 custom, Mueller 8-32x44 target scope, CCI 17gr TNT, Vmax
No problem seeing those tiny holes on a white back ground in the morning,

......before mirage sets in.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10431777&postcount=15

 

If you want to punch paper then .22lr is better due to match ammo. 17hmr is fun for plinking and varmint hunting. It is also on avg more accurate than a .22lr shooting bulk ammo or other cheap ammo. However, once you step up to match ammo accuracy potential is better with .22lr. Then again, match grade .22lr is pushing the price of .223...

 

the .17 HMR has a few serious issues with it, most have been noted:

1. inconsistency of quality that could be considered to make Remington thunderbolts Eley good,,,

2. lack of ammo options, fords precedent of "you can have any color you want as long as you want black" applies here.

3. Accuracy issues that are caused by crappy ammunition and guns being tempermental, or merely mental.

the last time I bought .17 hmr it was 13.99 for a 50 count box of hornady brande plastic tips. the newer A17 box of .17 HMR costs 50$ for 200. still not cheap.

Issue with the .17 I played with, from a clean barrel it would take perhaps 10-12 rounds to settle the barrel into a happy spot, and thus for those 10-12 shots a kennedy half dollar size group would be all you could hope for.
not good enough for squirrels, chipmunks, barely acceptable for empty soda bottles.

Then it would be able to give decent groups for 2 WHOLE MAGAZINES, a savage, and then it would start spreading itself rather oddly, no pattern to the flyers. first 3" up and left, then 2 inches left and even with the point of aim, and so forth.

even guys in the 10/22 section can do better with stock carbines and bulk ammo without cleaning more then oh, 100 rounds at worst.

 

Definitely 22LR!

The guys have already pretty well laid out the case for this, particularly as far as ammunition selection is concerned. As a long-time precision reloader, you already know that many light centerfire rifles are sensitive to minor differences in ammunition, and rimfires are just the same. The difference is that you can't modify the loads yourself, so you have to go shopping for ready-rolled, and there just isn't much choice in BB-caliber.
Some gun scribe, back when the 17 rimfires were the new kids on the block, wasted a lot of words wondering in print if one of them would be the next 22LR, the cartridge that everybody learned on. This was long before the recent panic in the 22 market, and my reaction after reading his ramblings was simple: "Not until you can buy it for four bits a box, oh Great White Hunter!" Even now, as several people have pointed out, the price difference is substantial.

 

Thoughts:

MinuteShaver obviously had a bad 17HMR experience. Obviously there are a lot of others here who have had very good experiences.


Price:

I can buy CCI SV .22lr locally for 7.5¢/round. I bought 17HMR (various flavors) for $10-14/box of 50, so 20-28¢. So 17HMR costs 3-4x as much as .22lr.

On the other hand, in absolute terms, that means that shooting 100rnds of .22lr is $7.50 or so, and shooting 17HMR instead might cost an extra $15 or $20.

Is an extra $15 or $20 a big deal? (That's not a rhetorical question.)

 

I know im not the only one whos experienced picky ness with the .17

IF you merely look at it as a function of cost,,, and a function of what it does down range, the 17 caliber stuff is actually a loss.

the mach 2 was an attempt to make the .17 more utilitarian as a 22lr. but seen a rifle or a box of ammo for that lately?

 

I have seen few mach 2 rifles lately but the ammo is starting to pop up everywhere now. I recently purchased 3 bricks for 206$ delivered. That's less than 7$ a box. It's getting better for mach 2 owners.