Best 17 HMR Ammo

All or almost all 17 HMR ammo is manufactured by CCI. Winchester and Sellier and Bellot make or made some (but neither have a good reputation). The main difference is what kind of tip is on the bullet. Other than that, the choice is between 17 grains and 20 grains.
 
You will find a difference, it may be only in lot number, not sure, but buy one box of each EXCEPT Winchester, and see what your gun likes. Go back to the store and grab a flat or two. As of the ammo I have used lately. CCI TNT, Federal V-max are king.
 
I've got pile of HMR's and they all tend to shoot all the available ammo well, but shine with a couple flavours. In regards to shooting Hornady out of an autoloader, my A17 Target Sporter loves them!!
 
Mine loves CCI "green" 16 grain ammo, but that likely means nothing to your rifle. I'd try Hornady 17 and 20 grain, a couple CCI's, A17 and some Federal. Do not bother with the Winchester ammo, as mentioned!
 
Thanks for the replies guys...should have been more clear with my request. I am the owner of a new CZ American Varmint 17 HMR. After a brief barrel break-in, initial sight in with 4X12 Scorpion... which is a no ball of fire scope...proved to shoot 17 grain CCI hollow points well but not bug hole. 150 rounds later the boy and I are printing under 1MOA accuracy with CCi 17 grain ballistic tipped fodder. Lots of room for improvement though, buddy has almost every brand of HMR ammo on the planet. Plan to buy a dozen of each and see what this barrel likes best.

I'm a hard core varmint shooter and load many centre fire chamberings. New to the rimfire varmint stuff although I grew up with a 22 rimfire in my hands. That was many years ago. Just wondered if there was a particular manufacture of HMR that shoots consistently well and or any particular brand that I should steer clear of. Thanks...
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
There isn't a best ammo, there is best for YOUR rifle.

Buy a few different kinds, test and trials.
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M12shooter said:
Thanks for the replies guys...should have been more clear with my request. I am the owner of a new CZ American Varmint 17 HMR. After a brief barrel break-in, initial sight in with 4X12 Scorpion... which is a no ball of fire scope...proved to shoot 17 grain CCI hollow points well but not bug hole. 150 rounds later the boy and I are printing under 1MOA accuracy with CCi 17 grain ballistic tipped fodder. Lots of room for improvement though, buddy has almost every brand of HMR ammo on the planet. Plan to buy a dozen of each and see what this barrel likes best.

I'm a hard core varmint shooter and load many centre fire chamberings. New to the rimfire varmint stuff although I grew up with a 22 rimfire in my hands. That was many years ago. Just wondered if there was a particular manufacture of HMR that shoots consistently well and or any particular brand that I should steer clear of. Thanks...
Click to expand...

^this. I've found that Hornady-branded 17HMR seems to be the most readily available, so, when I've bought 17HMR rifles (2 Savage, 1 CZ 452 Varmint, 1 Marlin 917) I buy a box of Hornady 17gr. ballistic tip, a box of Hornady 20gr. hollow points...and my 1/2 empty box of 15.5gr. NTX that no gun shoots well. :) In my experience, one of those should shoot well. My CZ FAR preferred the 20gr. and did shoot "bug holes" with it. The Savages shot both 17/20 OK...but neither stellar. The Marlin shoots 17gr. best. Thank heavens~that's my gopher rifle. :)

I was actually "out" of the 17HMR game after the Savages and CZ, just wasn't using the caliber. Then I became a vacationing gopher slayer and wanted a 17 back. I had a Marlin 917M2 with a Rifle Basix trigger and it was a shooter...so I set-out to find a 917 I could drop the same type of trigger in. So no...I don't own 4 rifles in 17HMR, but I do like my 917 and the fact that it eats the 17gr. the gophers seem to like best.
 
My 917V seem to like everything 17gr fairly well for both reliability and accuracy except for Remington ammo. Groups were fine with them but had alot of split cases. Thought maybe just a bad lot after 8-10 from first box so tried again making sure it was a different lot # and same issues. Contacted Remington and was told it had to be the rifle even though Hornady and CCI ammo never gave me any issues. The guy I sold it to has put a couple bricks of just CCI through it with no problem.
 
I've had the best accuracy and reliability with CCI anything for my 17HMR. Ballistic tips are more accurate than hollow points in my rifle, but of course the hollow points are more fun for pests. The accuracy/consistency difference isn't substantial enough for me to have any issues in the field.

I believe the 15.5 gr stuff is made by Hornady, but I found it to be quite accurate at the range. Never used it out in the field for gophers or anything yet.

I had some Winchester stuff, it seemed to be the least accurate and is the only 17HMR ammo I've had fail to fire. Quickly burned through it and never bought anymore.
 
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