Paying a little closer attention to 17 HMR ammo and also finding a nice little attachment, called a Shooters Ridge Double Stacked 25 round ammo mag for this rifle... it is starting to look better...

What I need to let go of, is its application for high volume sage rat shooting... the rifle is up to it.. the ammo price and my wallet are not...

however for spots where you are not burning thru 250 to 500 rounds in a day... when the bullets used on the ammo are something beyond the 17 grain V Max.. the terminal performance on this round really steps up a notch...

on the shelves are also a 17 Grain HP TNT by Speer ( who manufactures all 17 HMR ammo, regardless of whose box it is in..)and then you can also get Hornady's 20 grain XTP....

both the TNT and the XTP really end up making the round perform a lot better for bigger stuff..

I really wonder what would be if Hornady made their 17 grain V Max available for handloaders for loading up 17 Fireballs etc...while only 3 grains lighter than their 20 grain VMax.. I still wonder how much more velocity you can expect out of it.....

Maybe the same set up in a 17 ackley hornet is what I really should be thinking of...if I want to keep this rifle....

as Flippy mentions above tho... some of you 22 Mag fans ought to try some of the new 22 Mag ammo that takes advantage of bullets like the 17 HMR has...

22 mags with say a 30 grain Berger on it..or a 40 grain Ballistic Tip...

or you can do like me and just load your old 223 up to those velocities and be done with it..

One reason these 17HMR (or 22MAG) rifles exist is you can simply go buy ammo and shoot.
For people with limited time, or space, this may make sense.

When you factor in the cost of reloading equipment (press, dies, scales, etc.) and supplies (cases, bullets, powder, etc.) and divide it out for the cost per cartridge, unless you reload on a fairly large scale and buy in
quantity, you can buy 17HMR ammo and shoot for about the same $$$. Do the math!!
Reloading takes time and remember time IS money!

The only other real world reason rimfire magnums exist is some areas won't let you shoot a centerfire.

However, with that said, I enjoy reloading and find it a cost effective alternative to buying ammo.
Plus, I can reload .223 to just over 17HMR (22MAG +V) levels.

Oh, I almost forgot the REAL reason the 17HMR was created was so the ammo manufacturers could sell ammo.
There is not much real world difference between the 17HMR and a GOOD 22MAG (loaded with premium ammo) except the 22MAG has about a dozen different bullets available instead of two or three.

I'll keep my 22MAG...

Something else about Rimfires around here at least...

ammo componenets are almost empty on the shelves...

but there is no problem getting 17 HMR and 22 Mag Ammo down at the local BiMart at least...

in large quantities no less...