How Fragile is the .17 HMR bullet?

Mauser GDog

Mauser GDog

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I've become very interested in this cartridge, and I'm very close to buying a CZ 455. Something about such a small round going so fast and flat...it's like a budget .243!
80% of the time I'd be using the rifle to plink at the range, but I would like to have it as another small game option.

Where I am, I don't have wide open fields with gophers galore so I'm in the bush on trails, and on skis in the winter. Doing my reading about this round, I keep coming across claims that it is very fragile and any contact with /grass / twigs / leaves could be the difference between rabbit stew and Kraft Dinner. God I love KD!

Just curious to see what you guys who use this round for small game in the bush think?

Thanks
 
Any obstacle can result in a miss.

They are fairly explosive on critters and do pack a fair punch.

I have also shot them into those shooting cube thingy's , some complete pass through and some embedded.
 
To be honest its not super fragile and is a great critter killer. It drops all of about 6 inches at 200 yards and still carries enough punch to be lethal.
 
If you're talking about the round blowing up, or being knocked off course dramatically by a blade of grass, forget it. It's really not a lot different than most other rounds; if you hit a 1/2 in. tree branch, it's likely going to deflect the round a bit...it's small and it's light. A small branch will also deflect a bigger, heavier round too, though not as much because of increased mass. Although I live on the Prairies, and shoot in lots of tall grass, grain fields, etc. I also shoot in scrub brush that fills most of the coulees and I've never had a clear miss on a gopher because of that. More often it's bad shooting on my part.
Don't worry about it being "fragile"...it's not. at least no more than many other rounds
 
In my personal experience I have shot both the .17 HMR and the .22 WMR and I have had quite a lot of trouble with the .17 HMR round. In slightly colder weather I had lots of miss fires with the .17 but with the .22 mag I have shot plenty of beavers at 100+ yds in temperatures well below the freezing mark. The miss firing could have been an isolated incident but that's just my experience.
 
Maybe have a look at the .17 WSM. Fills the niche between .22lr/.22 mage and center fire like the 17 or 22 hornet better than the .17 hmr does.
 
i picked up a .17hmr first before i got a .22. i ditched the .17 because of the higher ammo cost and loud crack of the bullet would always scare the prey or his friends out of the field.
my 22 cost me 3x more than my .17 did, but for a farm gun i have no issues getting a clean shot on a pigeon up to 130ish yards with subsonics. it just took me awhile to remember my dope chart and landmarks to range to.
 
Mauser GDog said:
Of for sure I have, just something about the 17 that has my attention right now...
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I sold my laser beam savage 93r17 last year while I though the 'hype' was still there after my eyes lit up when I saw the .17wsm right after that I picked up a savage fv-sr .22 in a laminate pepper stock that I like to lob sub-sonics outa to 100 without the neighbors knowing. then I bought another 'savage' short action stevens 200 in .223 to replace the .17
... more bang for the buck in my opinion.

if its gonna go BOOM, it may as well go BOOOOM to 300 only 7" low and you still have 55gr travelling @ 2100+fps. ....don't regret it second.
 
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Chris R. said:
Have you thought about a 22mag instead?
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I have a barrel for my 455. It shoots about 1.5" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. From everyone I have talked to thats about right. Everyone I have talked to also agrees that the hornady 30gr vmax shoots the best. 200 yards the bullet drop is around 15-18" for me. Didnt get that great of groups either.

The 452 hmr shoots an inch or less if I'm doing my job as a driver. Best 5 shot group was .72" 5 shots at 100. at 200 yards the drop is only about 4" and I am also getting speeds up to 2660 fps form hornady 17gr vmax. Federal 17gr tnt were running at 2580-2600 fps.

boss-hog2 said:
Try a Mach2 , You will be pleasantly surprised!!

I have both & a Mach 2 will stay with the HMR up to 125 yds , ammo is 2/3 the price of HMR
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I had one of these also accuracy form my rifle was about .5" at 50 yards and 1.5-2" at 100 yards. At 200 yards they were tumbling big time and hitting a 15x15 target in a shotgun pattern. The velocity I found wasnt very consistent some varying up to 200 fps. For the cost difference between this and 22lr I would stay with 22lr that little bit of speed gain inst worth the price jump to me. Also ammo can be a b*tch to find at times.
 
hometownhero said:
The 452 hmr shoots an inch or less if I'm doing my job as a driver. Best 5 shot group was .72" 5 shots at 100. at 200 yards the drop is only about 4" and I am also getting speeds up to 2660 fps form hornady 17gr vmax. Federal 17gr tnt were running at 2580-2600 fps.
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See, this is why I am so interested in this round. It's not like I take shots at grouse/rabbit through much vegetation anyways, you have to see what you want to shoot!
Thanks for the input guys, sounds like 17hmr is lots of fun.
 
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