17 HMR Life expectancy?
- Thread starter Billyboy13
- Start date
Likely tens if not hundreds of thousands of rounds before accuracy degrades to the point where you might be able to measure it's loss. 2000 rounds is nearly new by my standards. Improper cleaning habits will degrade accuracy WAY before it will become "shot out".
A guy over here in the UK is #####ing about the fact that he has 'lost' the first three-four inches of rifling in the leade of his SAKO Quad after 9-10,000 rounds down it.
Funny enough, this little rifle used to be a steady 3/4" five shot 100m shooter and is now barely able to keep ten shots in a three-inch circle.
Allowing it to 'coke' up improves the group for a while, he says, but then he cleans it and it all goes to pot again.
Those I shoot with hereabouts with this little gun note that the different brands of cartridge make a tremendous difference - most agree that only one will work properly in their rifle.
The general consensus here is that at least 5000 rounds is about all you should expect, in a SAKO Quad anyhow, and that is from a few professional pest control shooters.
I suspect that over-cleaning is the real culprit here, as suggested up the page.
I also note that I shoot a few older rifles - 1910 BSA, 1930 Walther, 1934 Walther, 1937 Mauser, 1957 and 62 BSA and a 1963 Anschutz. All shoot a whole lot better than I do. The '37 Mauser in particular is a certain 10 shots in a centimeter gun all day long with the cheapest GECO ammuntion.
tac
Funny enough, this little rifle used to be a steady 3/4" five shot 100m shooter and is now barely able to keep ten shots in a three-inch circle.
Allowing it to 'coke' up improves the group for a while, he says, but then he cleans it and it all goes to pot again.
Those I shoot with hereabouts with this little gun note that the different brands of cartridge make a tremendous difference - most agree that only one will work properly in their rifle.
The general consensus here is that at least 5000 rounds is about all you should expect, in a SAKO Quad anyhow, and that is from a few professional pest control shooters.
I suspect that over-cleaning is the real culprit here, as suggested up the page.
I also note that I shoot a few older rifles - 1910 BSA, 1930 Walther, 1934 Walther, 1937 Mauser, 1957 and 62 BSA and a 1963 Anschutz. All shoot a whole lot better than I do. The '37 Mauser in particular is a certain 10 shots in a centimeter gun all day long with the cheapest GECO ammuntion.
tac
HobbyShooter
Regular
- Location
- Eastern Québec (Matapédia valley)
You can't compare a 17 HMR to a 22 LR for life expectancy!
More powder, hotter higher pressure gaz pushed trough a realy small bore,
plus the use of jacket bullets...
Will it last a lot longer than a center fire barrel???
More powder, hotter higher pressure gaz pushed trough a realy small bore,
plus the use of jacket bullets...
Will it last a lot longer than a center fire barrel???
Also, cooling time plays a big part in life expectancy. As the barrel gets hot the metal softens and it wears out quicker, but I think the .17 has a fraction of the amount of powder and pressure as a centerfire round so it shouldn't be comparable wear.. The throat will be the first area to get bad, but again, I suspect most .17 HMR barrels would be good for tens if thousands of rounds. Even if you only get 10 000 more rounds out of it, that's abot $3500 worth of ammunition... How much is the gun worth?
My Savage BVSS 17HMR likes Remington 17g vmax the most followed by Hornady 17g vmax.
My gun shoots better with a dirty barrel than a clean one. I only have many 500 rounds threw mine, But I noticed I was getting better accuracy after the 50 rounds without cleaning.
My gun shoots better with a dirty barrel than a clean one. I only have many 500 rounds threw mine, But I noticed I was getting better accuracy after the 50 rounds without cleaning.
