Being a fan of rimfires, I have been quite interested in the 17 WSM since I first heard of them. With all the terrible reports on the B Mag, I was hoping I could hold off until something better came along. When the Ruger 77/17 came out, the reports I was reading weren't much better than the B Mag, so when the B Mag with the heavy stainless barrel and laminated stock became available, I purchased one from Cabela's, which was several months back. I was planning on bedding the rifle, but checked to confirm the barrel was free floating and since it was, I thought I would try the rifle and see how it shot, if nothing else, to have something to compare it to after I bedded it properly.
I didn't have an optic, so the rifle sat in the safe for several months. I picked up a set of Burris Signature Zee Rings, high mount, and mounted them on the Weaver supplied bases on the Bag Mag on the weekend. My 15 year old son wanted to hit the range on the weekend, so I decided to mount a Nikon M223 4x16 42 optic I had planned to put on one of my AR's, onto the B Mag and take it to the range on Sunday to take advance of the nice weather we had in Winnipeg.
It's difficult to bore site the 17 WSM with the bore being so small, so I put up a target at 25 yards and took a shot to see if it hit the paper. It hit about 8" low on the target, so I adjusted the scope, and the second shot did not even hit the paper. Readjusted the scope and took another shot. This one was about 4" high. Without adjusting the scope, I shot again, and no bullet hit the target. I took several more shots without adjusting and they were hitting all over the target, with some not evening hitting the target.
I decided to move the target out to 100 yards, and after a couple shots, zeroed the scope in to where I was getting about two inch groups at 100 yards. I was shooting off a bipod and no back rest. I was shooting the Winchester 20 grain ammunition, and decided to try the Hornady 20 grain to see how it performed. My son, who is a far better shot than I am started with the Hornady, and was shooting 5 shot groups that were all under 1" at 100 yards. My groups were around 1 1/4" and his were more typically 3/4". I was extremely impressed and decided to try the Winchester again, and ended up with similar results, but slightly larger groups, 1 1/2" to 1 3/4". I attribute the terrible shots at the start to the barrel needing to be broken in.
After shooting many great groups at 100 yards, decided to move out to the 200 yard mark and put reactive targets out to make it a little more exciting for my son, and included standard size drink cans, small mandarin oranges, and clay pigeons. Adjusted the scope for about 4" of drop, and a couple inches of windage due to the 20 to 30 km wind, and was extremely impressed with the results. My son actually hit 6 for 8 mandarin oranges at 200 yards, and only failed to hit 2 of the 24 drink cans we put out on the first shot.
Bottom line, I really enjoyed shooting this rifle, and was pleasantly surprised with the out of the box accuracy. YMMV, but I would definitely not hesitate to recommend this rifle.
I didn't have an optic, so the rifle sat in the safe for several months. I picked up a set of Burris Signature Zee Rings, high mount, and mounted them on the Weaver supplied bases on the Bag Mag on the weekend. My 15 year old son wanted to hit the range on the weekend, so I decided to mount a Nikon M223 4x16 42 optic I had planned to put on one of my AR's, onto the B Mag and take it to the range on Sunday to take advance of the nice weather we had in Winnipeg.
It's difficult to bore site the 17 WSM with the bore being so small, so I put up a target at 25 yards and took a shot to see if it hit the paper. It hit about 8" low on the target, so I adjusted the scope, and the second shot did not even hit the paper. Readjusted the scope and took another shot. This one was about 4" high. Without adjusting the scope, I shot again, and no bullet hit the target. I took several more shots without adjusting and they were hitting all over the target, with some not evening hitting the target.
I decided to move the target out to 100 yards, and after a couple shots, zeroed the scope in to where I was getting about two inch groups at 100 yards. I was shooting off a bipod and no back rest. I was shooting the Winchester 20 grain ammunition, and decided to try the Hornady 20 grain to see how it performed. My son, who is a far better shot than I am started with the Hornady, and was shooting 5 shot groups that were all under 1" at 100 yards. My groups were around 1 1/4" and his were more typically 3/4". I was extremely impressed and decided to try the Winchester again, and ended up with similar results, but slightly larger groups, 1 1/2" to 1 3/4". I attribute the terrible shots at the start to the barrel needing to be broken in.
After shooting many great groups at 100 yards, decided to move out to the 200 yard mark and put reactive targets out to make it a little more exciting for my son, and included standard size drink cans, small mandarin oranges, and clay pigeons. Adjusted the scope for about 4" of drop, and a couple inches of windage due to the 20 to 30 km wind, and was extremely impressed with the results. My son actually hit 6 for 8 mandarin oranges at 200 yards, and only failed to hit 2 of the 24 drink cans we put out on the first shot.
Bottom line, I really enjoyed shooting this rifle, and was pleasantly surprised with the out of the box accuracy. YMMV, but I would definitely not hesitate to recommend this rifle.
