Good luck in seeing cheap .223 prices in the future in the US or Canada at least for half a year until this crazyness dies down. Anyway I think the biggest problem with 17 WSM will be keeping the guns and ammo in stock. Unlike many people who have very specific opinions one way or the other on new products I have to put my money where my mouth is. If it flies I will make money...if it dossn't then there will be a big sale to onload what didn't sell. Phil.
Regardless of the opinions of us cheapskate reloaders, there are gonna be a bunch of folks that buy them. And ammo.
Me, I'll swing by any chance I get and buy some more reloading supplies!
If it DOES turn into an orphan, then I would like that some of the makers of some 'nicer' firearm would have got on board, and that there be some engineering thought towards what to do with the rifles when the ammo is not available, or is untenable from a price perspective. Case in point being the 5mm Remington, that was built on a pretty solid rear locking lug bolt action, proofed to stupid levels for a rimfire (reputedly proofed to deal with 60K Psi +), which was found to be a very good base action to build small center fire rifles upon.
A bit of a stretch to hope for, as Winchester is gambling that this will fly. But that is how I see this one over the longer term.
I'd rather risk it, buying a rifle in that caliber, that I could have some comfort knowing that there was a future use for it, should the ammo vanish from the marketplace. A Win Low Wall, like the one shown at the beginning of this thread, that can be rebarreled to almost any other cartrige, as an example.
But that's just me, and a bunch of other reloaders, from the sounds of things.
How hard to remove and replace the barrel on one of them Savages? I figure the odds are good that the firing pin location is close enough to correct for a .22WMR or HMR case, if it came down to it, down the road. 'Cause if I were to walk in there and see them marked down the way I have seen some of the other clearance stuff marked down, yeah, I'd buy one as a project. (Like I need any more of those!)
Cheers
Trev