SmallCaliberCentral

I am looking at picking up a 17 HMR and a .204. Which 17 is preferred as there are quite a few out there?

I am a Marlin RF guy. I picked up the heavy SS version the year they came out & still get excited about taking it out of the safe. But you have to change the trigger out.

CZ makes a wonderful HMR that just shoots lights out.

And most every HMR will shoot very good. Diane has a pencil barreled SS Savage that I put a Boyd's on it to get it to shoot.

ruger 77/17 here......

It depends on how much money you want to spend, I like my Ruger 77/17, CZ makes nice ones, some around here swear by Savage, but if you have deep pockets buy a Cooper. Just be warned about the Cooper curse! Awhile back I bought one, now I've got three!!!!!

choper: Like the good captian said....how much do you want to spend? There's Savage at the low end, and Cooper at the upper end. Inbetween there's some decent offerings too......

My Anschutz 1517HB shoots lights out, will put five Hornady 17gr Varmint Express into .6" from 100 yds all day. Along with the Leupy VX2 4-12X with LR Duplex, it has accounted for many rats past 200 yards (a few at almost 300 too). These rifles can be had for right around a grand.



If you don't mind the silly Ruger two-piece accuracy destroying bolt, there's always the 77/17 or 77/22 Mag that can be barrel switched to HMR. I built mine with a Lilja stainless match HMR barrel to have a switch-barrel rig. It shoots very well with the Lilja barrel installed, but short of equaling what the Anschutz will do. These rifles shoot much better once the bolt has been shimmed.....as the factory should do prior to shipping.



Also consider the CZ 452 Varmint. After installing an Eric Brooks trigger spring kit, mine shoots right at .5 MOA at 100 with the same ammo. Thse rifles are very well made also, and are easy to bed properly.



That's my HMR battery, and if I had to choose one and run, it would be the Anschutz hands-down. Just picking it up gives the feel of high quality, and it's accuracy reflects that feeling......... a feeling we all like.

For a budget HMR, check out the great looking, good feeling and accurate Savage stainless laminated thumbhole 93 series. For around $350, it's a great bargin for a good shooting little rifle.

Hi Rick,

That looks like a very nice Anschutz, I like the heavy barrels if shooting off of a Bench.
I noticed the shooting bag it is sitting on, can you tell me who makes those bags?
I looks like a good bag, for shooting off of a bench to help steady the rifle.

Thanks,
Steve

Actually, that's my window bag for shooting from the truck. Those bags and many more styles are made by my old friend Don Scott, of Dog-Gone-Good. He's a long time varmint shooter, former K-9 cop, and a real rifle nut himself. His outfit is in the Portland area, and all his bags are tip-top quality.

http://dog-gone-good.com/

Tell Don I sent ya.

Rick in Oregon wrote:
http://dog-gone-good.com/

Tell Don I sent ya.

And.... be prepared for a very nice visit. Super neat guy!

cz for me 22 rimfire aswell

RAMOS wrote:

Rick in Oregon wrote:
http://dog-gone-good.com/

Tell Don I sent ya.

And.... be prepared for a very nice visit. Super neat guy!

Absolutely...

CZ 452 American has served me well.

A good friend of mine just picked up a Browning T-Bolt a while back and he really likes it. I'm itching to try it myself, pretty quick reload time too. For me, I [and my boys] have the Savage and they all shoot really well right out of the box.

HTH

Right now, finding any 17HMR ammo seems to be the biggest problem, not finding a nice HMR rifle......

I've seen a lot of 17 HMR ammo out here in Albuquerque. But to get back on topic, I have two 17 HMRs. First (in order of purchase) is a Savage with their accutrigger. It's the stainless one with the laminated wood thumb-hole stock and stainless bull barrel. Topped with a Trijicon TR23, it's super accurate and I shoot it with one of my 22 suppressors. I've shot prairie dogs up to 250 yards with this little gem. Second is a nice CZ 455 with a stainless after-market match barrel also threaded. It too has a wood thumb-hole stock and is super accurate with its out of the box trigger ( but would probably do better with a better trigger). So which do I prefer? I like them both. I have not shot the CZ as much simply because it's newer.

If I had a do-over I would probably go with a CZ, but my Savage (93R17 BVSS) works just fine for my needs and is my go-to rat killer. I saw a pretty bead blasted stainless Savage bull barrel that looked really nice at the store a few days ago.