.17 WSM? Anyone shot one yet?

[Dc777]

I very much love my marlin .17 hmr and it has filled my belly with rabbit and grease gravy over rice more than once, not to mention taking two deer in 5 minutes, but I find myself curious about the new .17 wsm.... Has anyone shot one? Thoughts? I can't find a store near me that has a bmag, so I want to hear from people before I order one online. I've never even held one of them. Pros? Cons? Be honest guys. I'm not rich and this will be me paying money for a rifle that I havnt even seen with my own two eyes in person,

[9x19]

RFC has a section dedicated to the .17 WSM ~ mixed reviews, but many feel unless some other gun makers get on board, it will pass the way of Remington's 5mm.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...play.php?f=271

[reynolds357]

The problem is ammo availability. Winchester had promised that they had millions of rounds stock piled and there would be no ammo shortages. What has happened, is the rifles are out there and no one can find any ammo to shoot in them. Who is going to buy rifles they can not get ammo for? Savage has held up its part of the bargain. Winchester has not.

[FrankenMauser]

Yea, Winchester's "substantial supply" of .17 WSM seemed to run dry about the time the rifles hit the streets.
And, now, the next production run isn't scheduled until July. So, if you can't find it, you ain't gonna for a while.


If there was a real rifle available, I might consider buying one and waiting for ammo. ...But, I'm not touching the B-Mag.

[globemaster3]

Uhhh, you shot 2 deer in 5 minutes with your Marlin .17 HMR?

I was unaware of any states that permit the use of Rimfire for taking deer. Which state allows this?

[FALPhil]

I was unaware of any states that permit the use of Rimfire for taking deer. Which state allows this?

That was what jumped out at me, too. However, the OP's profile indicates he is from L. A., and they are a little different down there. There is a possibility that it is legal in that locale.

[Dc777]

Nuisance permit, now is it ok if we get back to my question?

[FALPhil]

OK, here are my thoughts.

The 17WSM is kinda like the 40 S&W. It falls in between two cartridges that cover everything I want from that class of cartridge, in this case, the 17 HMR, whivch you obviously know and love, and the 17 Hornet, which will get you to 3600+ fps. As an improvement over the 17 HMR, in my case, it is too little too late.

[Dc777]

I've seen ammo popping up for it on cabelas about once a week, very early in the morning.... 4-7 am. I'm probabally going to pass on the gun for now due to the price and having to order ammo online. If there were other models of the gun I might would consider it. The ammo is pricey but so is hmr ammo. I agree that it's a little too late for this gun.

[TnTnTn]

I have seen/handled the B mag at a lgs and it appeared very cheap, tinny, and toy like to me. But the biggest slam is the high number of reports I have read about poor operation involving feeding, firing, and extraction. As far as the cartridge it looks to be a fair upgrade over the HMR but if you can't get any what's the point? If a quality functionally rifle were available(are you listening CZ) and ammo were available it would be a success no doubt. But those are two big 'ifs'.

[globemaster3]

Learn something new everyday. Can't blame a guy for asking on a claim like that.

[Dc777]

No harm done globemaster..... My state of Alabama even allows deer to be taken with an air rifle as long as it is .30 caliber or larger. I'm a legal hunter, unlike my friends that hunt over corn ( I still don't understand why Alabama doesn't allow hunting over feed), but I abide by it.

[Inspector3711]

I really don't understand why Savage tried to re-invent the wheel with that rifle. They should have come out with a few variations that approximate what they offer for .17HMR.

I realize that the B-mag had to be designed to handle higher pressures so they based the chamber around a centerfire design. That said, there is a strong brand identity they've created with their other rimfire bolt actions.

If it were me, I would have stayed on track with the look and quality level of the existing lines.

If I were to offer something like the B-mag... It would be a low cost budget variant.

Oh I want a B-mag... but it hasn't been enough for me to go get one with ammo shortages and such. If they had a 17WSM rifle that looked like my 9317 BVTS:



I'd own one by now!

[sfwusc]

Rimfire is legal in SC on private land for deer. The DNR don't recommend it, but it is legal.

I wouldn't do it, but it is legal. So if someone is a good enough shot then who am I to tell them what to do.

Deer are also borderline over populated to the point of it being a health hazard to the regular joe. They are causing a lot of wrecks. I mean you can get four doe tags to shoot them anytime in season (around 3 months long), and there are like 12 days where you can shoot them without tags.

No limit on antlered bucks and limit of two antlerless deer per day. So you could kill 28 antlerless deer per season if you limited out without going to different zones.

[Geezerbiker]

I am obviously hunting in the wrong state...

Tony

[upstate81]

I handled a bmag at a local Dicks and i gotta say....wow.....CHEAP! Stock flexed like it was rubber and the barrell moved to when i pressed on it with very little pressure. Bolt was a joke as far as smoothness and functionality goes. Makes a 770 look like a model 70!

[new_camper]

I don't think that NC has any restrictions on caliber either.

[pathdoc]

I can't be sure because I haven't heard much about either cartridge since their intro, but I wonder if Hornady's productionisation of the .17 Hornet took the wind out of Winchester's sails. On one side of the performance scale, a well-known and pretty much proven rimfire with a reasonable history of use behind it, and cheaper too; on the other side, (the glittering promise of) a well-known wildcat, or at least a variation on the theme, and now with (at least the promise of) new factory brass and the flexibility which reloading offers. I know if I were looking at getting into micro-calibres, the .17 Hornet would have more appeal than either of the rimfires (unless I felt I needed the extra power the .17 Rem has to offer), but if I had to go for a one-shot deal I'd be tempted to go with something that had been on the market for a while and for which rifles and ammo were (all else being equal) both there for the having.

[Boomer58cal]

That's one neat little rimfire round, but what's the point when the cost of ammunition is approaching that of .223, 7.62x39. I can also reload for my 22 Hornet for about the same money. It also cost 5 times what 22 LR cost.

Maybe I'll change my mind when I see a higher quality rifle in this chambering.

Boomer

[pathdoc]

It's that expensive? Good God. I wish it luck!

The other thing I've just noticed is because of the ad for the Savage B.Mag that just presented itself to me in a magazine I only literally just opened.

They talk about the "completely new compact rimfire action with rear locking lugs and cock-on-closing bolt" as if the latter two features were something you-beaut, whizzbang, desirable, 21st-century, advanced...

Anyone for a Lee-Enfield? Not only do you get all the above, you get a cocking knob you can pull back for a second go at the primer if the first one fails, and it even has a two-stage trigger. The .303 outer barrel profile would have to rate at least a middleweight with only a .172 hole down the middle. It comes with iron sights from the factory. Scope mounting is an easy gunsmith job, or rear-mounted peepsights are fairly easily available as an aftermarket thing (on e-bay if nowhere else).

I'll take mine in .17 Hornet, thanks.

[Boomer58cal]

On the bright side... it does make 400 ft-lbs of energy.

Boomer

[Dc777]

I'm going to pass on the gun for one reason and one reason only,.... You have the choice of only one gun, with one stock, and aside from the ammo availability via cabelas only ( what I've seen) the gun is way overpriced for a rimfire. When its a new caliber and there is only one gun to choose from it makes me think that the gun could quickly disappear thus making ammo hard to find.

[Dc777]

Boomer- good point..... But then again my 300 mag has plenty of energy, so do. Other guns. With the ammo shortage due to hoarders I think that savage and Winchester picked the wrong time to introduce a new gun and caliber.

[Boomer58cal]

Agreed

My little 22 Hornet makes 900 ft-lbs.

Boomer