Experience with 17 Hornaday hornet?

I have one. Absolutely love it. I haven't used it on coyotes, but I have used it on gophers; completely turns them inside out. I have also taken quite a few beavers with it, very effective. I would be comfortable trying a coyote with it.

I do hand load for it as well, and it came with an unfortunate surprise of having to get new tooling for everything. Powder funnels that say they do 17/22 are just wrong. I had to get a machine shop to custom a decapping rod for me. Had to get a 17cal cleaning rod, because 22 ones Dont fit. The reloading trays I had were tough, because the small brass just wiggled like crazy in them. Aligning the tiny bullet on top the brass as you go to press is tricky. All in all, it was a learning curve all over again. I will say that the solutions to some of the problems (powder funnel and reloading tray) I did not find a commercially available solution. I CAD my own solution and 3d printed them. The powder funnel was the big one. I was using a hacked up 308 brass with the flash hole drilled bigger, it was janky, but worked.

However! It is so rewarding and so much fun. Reloading components go a looooooong way with 17 hornet. Shooting it always brings a smile to my face. There is zero felt recoil. Bullet drop is very predictable out to 200. It is also the only bullet that has managed to damage my ar550 steel plate.

If you have any other questions, I would love to try and answer.
 
Oh! Another fun tidbit:

I Dont know what it is about the extra velocity of this tiny stupid fast bullet, but setting off tannerite with it, give it an extra wallop of insane. Only something you can experience in person.
 
Awesome, thank you. I bought one on the EE last year from someone who wanted to unload a problem rifle without full disclosure. I have finally got it fixed by Savage. It's super accurate, I've shot a couple of boxes of factory through it but haven't handloaded yet. I have dies etc, just haven't had a chance yet.
 
Sorry to hear about your negative experience. I'm glad it's turned positive. As soon as you pop something organic with it, you will love it even more.

As for reloading, I also lucked out and cleared an estate sale of a few thousand 17cal projectiles. It is a hard toss up to know if I'd do it again though. It was very expensive to get all the required stuff for reloading. I love it now, but it took a bit to get there. I'd be willing to share my recipes too if you are ever curious
migrant hunter said:
Awesome, thank you. I bought one on the EE last year from someone who wanted to unload a problem rifle without full disclosure. I have finally got it fixed by Savage. It's super accurate, I've shot a couple of boxes of factory through it but haven't handloaded yet. I have dies etc, just haven't had a chance yet.
Click to expand...
 
.17's are neat to shoot gophers with. I first started with a .17-222 in 1967. I had to make my own bullets too. My last was a .17 Ackley Hornet.
 
Nice to hear your luck . 17HH is fun to shoot and pretty cheap to reload.
Lots of threads started on this cartridge also helps a guy out
My cz527. 1:9 twist likes CFE.BLK and book data was a good place to start.

25gr bergers are awsome in the wind.
Magazine lenght will hinder your overall c.o.a.l... so no chasing the lands.

being a rimmed case. Its strips of the mag for my rifle, so no single shot loading..
Brass needs to be sorted. Neck turn helps aswell my inside mandrels made my handload drive tacks.
Flash holes chamfered helps my E.S.
redding neck dies are nice
Keep that barrel clean.clean. small diameter bullets at speeds over 3200 fouls fast. CFE helps a bit, but also cakes on. Which is harder to clean then fouling.
happy shooting gunnie
 
The efficiency of the little cartridge is insane. Speeds reached with tiny amounts of powder very impressive. This leads to much less heat, and long bore life. Lack of recoil lets you easily spot shots.
 
I’ve got a couple, CZ, and had a problem savage, I sold ten years ago, laminate stock with over size chamber, and off central scope mounting holes, I tried getting the dealer/ who sold it to fix it, for no results, they closed up shop, two months later, it shot well, but I gave up, brass would come out so overblown, it was difficult to get in a die, and I had to by windage adjustable mounts to get it on target. Doubt I will ever buy another savage
I’ve had two other CZ .17 Hornets, love them for small game, Blackout gave best speed and accuracy. 12g with a 20 gr,
 
I had a 527 American, shot one coyote with 20gr Vmax and only found a few tuffs of fur in the snow. Switched to the 25gr HP but sold the rifle before hunting with those
 
Had one in a savage model 25 walking varminter, way back in 2013. Loved the cartridge, but the gun had alot of issues. So did Hornady's first lots of ammunition.

Got rid of that and bought the cz527 when it came out. I have the 24" heavy long barrel version. The round is one of my favorite, have shot thousands of rounds through it. A bit finicky to load for with such small cases, but it's so fun to shoot.

I have used the 20 grain Hornady bullets on about 10 coyotes. It works great inside a hundred yards. Tiny hole in, and doesn't exit, sometimes. Sometimes it makes a crazy large wound when hitting a big bone going in. But so do most other rifles.

In short, one of my favorite cartridges, the cz is amazing. Works excellent for coyotes inside a hundred yards, probably better with the 25 grain bullets, which I have, but haven't shot a coyote with yet. If you get one you will not regret it.
 
I've also got a .17 fireball, Fantastic rifle (Sako) and small game round, shot a couple of fallow deer with mine, cause that's what i had in my hand, when opportunity arrived,
still like the hornet, cheaper to run, great on rabbits, hares.
Take the fireball, if its windy or expecting 300m plus shots.
Was in Edmonton yesterday, getting government permit to export dog to NZ, when we move in 3 months, lots gophers in a field, behind, kept think air rifle or hornet, would be great here.
 
I had a CZ457 varmint in 17 hornet for some years, put well over 5,000 rounds through it, it just makes little red splatters in the pasture on gophers, I was loading 10.0gr Lil gun under the Hornady 20gr Zmax zombie rem 7 1/2 bench rest primer 3,600 fps , it's dinky to load but it shot lights out, I shot probably 1/2 dozen badgers and a few coyotes with it, no problems rolling them.
 
migrant hunter said:
Awesome, thank you. I bought one on the EE last year from someone who wanted to unload a problem rifle without full disclosure. I have finally got it fixed by Savage. It's super accurate, I've shot a couple of boxes of factory through it but haven't handloaded yet. I have dies etc, just haven't had a chance yet.
Click to expand...
How does a Canadian second owner go about getting Savage to fix something like that?
Do they have a Canadian Center for doing centerfires and shotguns?
That solution sounds like good news to me, even though it wasn’t off to a great start.
 
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