Well, not yet...but today was the first time I not only SHOT an 17M2, but it was the debut outing of my first rifle chambered in 17M2~a Marlin917M2. Got it this week, BNIB, barrel stamped "North Haven CT" 
and Judging by the sticky oil and hardened grease, this gun is most likely pre-'08 by a year or so. That's nothing more than a guess though...? Anyhow, I got to the job of giving it a good clean-up and getting the scope mounted~everything worked/fit as it should.
With the nasty weather plaguing S. Ontario for the last few days (and with no end in sight with this stormy weather en route) I decided to get this rifle-out today and get the scope zeroed at least. As expected, I got soaked getting TO my shooting shed oasis and even worse, walking through chest-high...dying wet weeds to set my target up 70 yards away..but nothing was to stand in the way of seeing what this 17M2 thing was all about. It took fewer than 10 shots to get the scope and the rifle looking in the same direction! Getting ahead of myself. First, the rifle wearing it's new scope, a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x40 AO~this baby; http://vortexcanada.net/products/riflescopes/crossfire2/crossfire2_4-12x40ao_bdc.html Rings~every image of this rifle I had googled seemed to show Weaver bases and indeed, it's drilled/tapped for them...but I decided to try a set of BKL rings on hand that would be a great match for this rifle and the dovetails the rifle also features. These are the rings; http://www.bkltech.com/BKL-1-Offset-Dovetail-Rings-p/bkl-274.htm and this is how the package ended-up;
On the "bench", me holding it while my daughter adjusted her hearing protection;
On to the shooting~getting the scope zeroed was, mercifully, quick...which allowed my daughter and I to get some shooting in before the low temps and wet clothes started to get the better of us. She shoots off that pillow (pictured above, and lower for her) and I shoot of a Hoppe's "Expert" front rest, no rear bag. I started with a 1" dot and think it's not bad. (some of the shots are hers, won't tell which ones) The trigger is a bit of a bear trap on this gun. Nice, crisp, but kind of brutal too. Going to give modifying/replacing that some thought. Anyhow, here it is...pretty well peppered;
After that, I realized it was shooting a little to the right, confirmed it with this group...made the scope adjustment;
After that...well, the groups seemed to just get better and better...just awesome! I consider myself to be an average shooter at best, so imagine my surprise seeing these groups unfold! With the paper targets getting wet, on some of these...I simply decided to shoot the 1/8" backer board and then try to hit the same hole with subsequent shots. Might do that more going forward, really cuts clean holes.
There you have it! I'm VERY pleased with how this rifle shoots, and indeed, impressed with 17M2 overall. I'm a little surprised that 17M2 doesn't get discussed more than it does but I guess it's kind of in that grey area between .22lr and .17HMR. The report is very HMR-like, only without the level of noise associated with HMR. I'd say it is CCI Stinger-like in volume but again, sounds more LIKE an HMR going off. If that makes sense. Really looking forward to some more trigger time with this rifle and I'm trying to figure out whether or not it would be cheaper to FLY out west to shoot gophers with it..or...import some to Ontario. This rifle just seems to cry-out for a job like that...need to try and nail-down some "gophering" opportunities for 2013!
and Judging by the sticky oil and hardened grease, this gun is most likely pre-'08 by a year or so. That's nothing more than a guess though...? Anyhow, I got to the job of giving it a good clean-up and getting the scope mounted~everything worked/fit as it should.With the nasty weather plaguing S. Ontario for the last few days (and with no end in sight with this stormy weather en route) I decided to get this rifle-out today and get the scope zeroed at least. As expected, I got soaked getting TO my shooting shed oasis and even worse, walking through chest-high...dying wet weeds to set my target up 70 yards away..but nothing was to stand in the way of seeing what this 17M2 thing was all about. It took fewer than 10 shots to get the scope and the rifle looking in the same direction!
Getting ahead of myself. First, the rifle wearing it's new scope, a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x40 AO~this baby; http://vortexcanada.net/products/riflescopes/crossfire2/crossfire2_4-12x40ao_bdc.html Rings~every image of this rifle I had googled seemed to show Weaver bases and indeed, it's drilled/tapped for them...but I decided to try a set of BKL rings on hand that would be a great match for this rifle and the dovetails the rifle also features. These are the rings; http://www.bkltech.com/BKL-1-Offset-Dovetail-Rings-p/bkl-274.htm and this is how the package ended-up;
On the "bench", me holding it while my daughter adjusted her hearing protection;
On to the shooting~getting the scope zeroed was, mercifully, quick...which allowed my daughter and I to get some shooting in before the low temps and wet clothes started to get the better of us. She shoots off that pillow (pictured above, and lower for her) and I shoot of a Hoppe's "Expert" front rest, no rear bag. I started with a 1" dot and think it's not bad. (some of the shots are hers, won't tell which ones
) The trigger is a bit of a bear trap on this gun. Nice, crisp, but kind of brutal too. Going to give modifying/replacing that some thought. Anyhow, here it is...pretty well peppered;
After that, I realized it was shooting a little to the right, confirmed it with this group...made the scope adjustment;
After that...well, the groups seemed to just get better and better...just awesome! I consider myself to be an average shooter at best, so imagine my surprise seeing these groups unfold! With the paper targets getting wet, on some of these...I simply decided to shoot the 1/8" backer board and then try to hit the same hole with subsequent shots. Might do that more going forward, really cuts clean holes.
There you have it! I'm VERY pleased with how this rifle shoots, and indeed, impressed with 17M2 overall. I'm a little surprised that 17M2 doesn't get discussed more than it does but I guess it's kind of in that grey area between .22lr and .17HMR. The report is very HMR-like, only without the level of noise associated with HMR. I'd say it is CCI Stinger-like in volume but again, sounds more LIKE an HMR going off. If that makes sense. Really looking forward to some more trigger time with this rifle and I'm trying to figure out whether or not it would be cheaper to FLY out west to shoot gophers with it..or...import some to Ontario.
This rifle just seems to cry-out for a job like that...need to try and nail-down some "gophering" opportunities for 2013!
