17 Winchester Super Mag

[Ralph]

Any thoughts on this cartridge? On paper it looks great. What about availability (Less the current craziness.) and rifles chambered for this round?

[laportecharlie]

I would be surprised if anyone sees one of these in the next year. Sure sounds interesting though.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Why not 17 hornet? Besides savage is the only manufacturer...

[laportecharlie]

A lot of Prairie Dog hunters like the idea of a high performance rimfire. When the 17HMR came out my hunting buddies were all over it. Cost was the big deterrent for me as I could load my 221 Fireball and even 223 Rem cheaper then you could ever buy 17HMR. Nothing wrong with a Savage. I've had a bunch of them and every one was/is a shooter.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the feedback.

[wax_job]

I've heard good things but not sure if I'm gonna want to change over from HMR...

[Colorado Osprey]

In the days of these ammo craziness I have been turning further and further from rimfire.
Rimfire was used for over 100 years as a cheap shooting alternative to centerfire... but it is not necessarily the case these days.
I can shoot and keep shooting a small center-fire without relying on ammo availability by reloading.

With just a barrel change you can have a 17 Remington in an AR-15 platform and have 4000ft/sec instead of only 3000ft/sec and depend on ammo availibility of the 17 WSM
If you want to limit case capacity the 17-221 Fireball will still fit in an AR with a barrel change and the 17 Hornet and K-hornet and great for limiting powder burn in an efficient case.

Personally I haven't fired a rimfire in the field in over 10 years. I put a way my 22 WMR when it became cheaper to shoot 223. Having stocked up on reloading supplies back in the Pre-Clinton era I have no worries about finding supplies... but rimfire is fire and its gone forever.

[Prevpred]

The 17 Remington in an AR-15 platform does intrigue me. My bolt CZ in .17 HMR is wonderful in prairie dog town. How is accuracy in your 17 Rem setup. I'm guessing that .223 magazines work and that reloading data is available. Yep. Really interesting alternative to the new cartridge on the block.

[newracer]

My next 17 will be a Hornet, probably a CZ 527

[theGinsue]

While Winchester & Savage have high hopes for this caliber, if manufacturer's don't start doing something soon, the .17 Win Super Mag may go the way of the Sony BetaMax - a better product in many ways, but not enough interest. While they're the fastest rimfire round ever made at 3k feet/second, there are some drawbacks, mostly due to cost & availability.

First, availability of both the ammo and a firearm to shoot it through just isn't there. With Savage as the only .17 WSM rifle manufacturer to date (that I'm aware of), it doesn't offer the gun buyer much choice. Not something most gun buyers like when picking up a new caliber to have to buy. There are supposed to be 2 other manufacturers producing .17WSM rifles at some point this year (2013). Couple that with the existing availability of .17HMR ammo and variety of firearms choices considerably higher than the .17WSM (relatively speaking), people are purchasing the .17HMR now versus waiting for a WSM. It will be hard to convince them to go out and spend additional money to get a WSM later on.

Of course, with the .17 HMR travellng at about double the velocity of a .22LR (2100-2500 fps for .17HMR to the 1200 fps for .22LR), it's got better ballistics/targeting at a little more distance, but if you site in at 100 yards, you can expext to drop ~53" at 200yrds (compared to between 65"-105" for .22LR). I mention the .22LR simply because it's the most dommon rimfire round out there. Here's some good .17HMR ballistics info: http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

The .17 WSM, however, @ 3000 ft/s with a "Maximum Distance" of 300 yards, gives you considerably more reach-out-and-touch-you ability than either the .17HMR & ..22LR (and even the .22 Win Mag) . Additionally, it has at least 150% more energy than any of these other rounds. With a zero at 100 yards, the .17 WSM drops ~4" at 200 yards and a total of ~16.5" at 300 yards, which is hellatiously flatter and farther that the .17HMR, .22 Win Mag and .22LR. Read more .17WSM info here: http://www.varminter.com/new-17-winchester-super-magnum-rimfire-2/

All in all, the .17WSM is a great cartridge, but availability is killing it.

One last thing to consider is that it's still a rimfire cartridge which realistically means, as Colorado Osprey pointed out, they can't be reloaded (Okay, in fairness is it impossible to reload? No. Impractical & dangerous? Yes. Rimfire can be reloaded with special equipment, great hassle and serious concerns over uneven powder burn and unreliable ignition source which are safety concerns, but essentually they're not reloadable). Keep this in mind when considering any of the more expensive rimfire calibers. When you can reload a .223/5.56 cartridge for less that purchasing a .17WSM, the novelty of having this unique cartridge wears thin.

[sellersm]

Latest American Rifleman issue covers this new cartridge & the Savage rifle. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for ammo to be available!

On paper it looks very compelling, but there are other options like Hornet, etc. as was mentioned in this thread & in the article.


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[MarkCO]

Pretty much agree with the others. There are at least 5 decent center-fire calibers that will be cheaper to reload than factory .17 WSM. If they can get ammo available, then it is a good option for those who do not reload.