17HMR or 22WMR?

Maybe its just my area(Ottawa valley to Montreal) but I hit up a couple stores this week as I have a 22wmr on the way and had no problem finding a good supply and wide variety to test out. Federal and CCI being the easiest to find in different flavours.
 
Maybe its just my area(Ottawa valley to Montreal) but I hit up a couple stores this week as I have a 22wmr on the way and had no problem finding a good supply and wide variety to test out. Federal and CCI being the easiest to find in different flavours.

That's great to hear! I'm out of Alberta, and it's like pulling hen's teeth.
 
I think the 17HMR is a "neat" caliber that's good for blowing up gophers. But the 22WMR makes more muzzle energy, carries more punch and is a more practical round.

I am not sure that 17HMR is inherently a more accurate round than 22WMR, but it seems to be more accurate shot out of most rifles sold now... or that's what the consensus seems to be.
You've raised an interesting issue about the .17HMR. Almost all the range reports I've seen have shown better accuracy with the .17HMR than with the .22WMR, and that's been my experience as well (although with a very small sample). Sub-MOA at 100 yards seems to be common with the HMR, but rarely achieved consistently with the WMR. So is it the cartridge or the fact that current HMR rifles are just a little better? A recent discussion on the Rimfire Central forum included a post by a knowledgeable shooter who maintained that, from the beginning, tighter specs and quality control were established with the HMR, starting with Hornady's original loads and continuing now with CCI's. This was the case, presumably, because Hornady wanted to carve out a following for its new .17. This makes some sense to me. And grauhanen's earlier post showing the wind-deflection advantage of the HMR is worth noting. I have rifles chambered for both rounds, but, if I were starting out and had to choose a single rimfire rifle for both paper and small game out to, say, 150 yards, I'd pick the .17HMR.
 
it would make sense that Hornady would make the 17HMR round to super tight specs.
its their legacy round, hell they named it after themselves.
but that CCI continued this is strange.
 
What is strange? Cci loads all 17hmr ammo.
All but Winchester, evidently.

I think wayupnorth's point was that, once Hornady gave up production of .17HMR ammo, it had no control over quality. Whether CCI has maintained the tight specs and quality control is open to question, I guess. Perhaps Hornady were able to demand that quality be maintained by CCI before signing over production to them. The fact that some of this CCI-made ammo comes with the Hornady label might suggest this.
 
All but Winchester, evidently.

I think wayupnorth's point was that, once Hornady gave up production of .17HMR ammo, it had no control over quality. Whether CCI has maintained the tight specs and quality control is open to question, I guess. Perhaps Hornady were able to demand that quality be maintained by CCI before signing over production to them. The fact that some of this CCI-made ammo comes with the Hornady label might suggest this.

yes.
what he said.

...I don't think Hornady ever manufactured rimfire ammo of any kind. At least, not that I'm aware.
 

BRANDED Hornady, not made by them. I've read Hornady make the .17 (and 30gr. 22WMR) bullets themselves, but they're shipped over to CCI who actually load/manufacture the finished product. To be 100% clear, Hornady make NO rimfire ammo themselves. And yes, I know what my avatar is~a photo of CCI-made, Hornady-branded 17M2 ammo.

But loaded by cci

^amen. :)
 
Well, one way that Hornady can continue to influence the quality of the loaded .17HMR ammunition is in the providing of the V-Max bullets in all the CCI-assembled, variously-branded 17-gr. V-Max loads. Hornady is, after all, primarily a bullet-maker (or has been until they started producing ammunition). As any handloader will tell you, the bullet is the most important element in the accuracy equation. I suspect that Hornady places some emphasis on the V-Max bullet production, thus helping to increase the probability of accurate rounds assembled by CCI.

There have been a number of questions over the years about whether match-grade .17HMR ammunition would at some time be available. Since there's no SAAMI .17HMR match chamber specifications, the road to higher-grade ammunition would have to come via more uniform bullet, case, primer, and charge weights. I'd really like to see Hornady--or another ammunition company--take this on. The price would be higher, but for many, it would be worth it, as it's already a great cartridge and, in good rifles, just about equals .22LR match-ammo performance. In fact, I can do as well at 100 yards with my one .17HMR as I can with my .22LR Anschutzes with match ammo. And as I noted earlier, my .17HMR does better (pretty consistently sub-MOA) at that range than the three .22WMR rifles I've owned.
 
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I bought a 17hmr and worry that the ammo will not be available in the future. Like the 218b it getting hard to find. I buy a few boxes when I can just for that reason. 22 mag is readily available. But I hope it goes strong.
 
I bought a 17hmr and worry that the ammo will not be available in the future. Like the 218b it getting hard to find. I buy a few boxes when I can just for that reason. 22 mag is readily available. But I hope it goes strong.

Hmr has been around since 2002. Strong following in the usa. I don't see it going anyplace anytime soon.
 
I bought a 17hmr and worry that the ammo will not be available in the future. Like the 218b it getting hard to find. I buy a few boxes when I can just for that reason. 22 mag is readily available. But I hope it goes strong.

Hornady is bringing back the .218 Bee in 2017.
 
I shoot a marlin 17hmr and love it. Going out today to buy another one if I can find it in a heavy barrel. Ammo varies from 17 to 25 per box but you usually don't miss many shots.
 
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