A freind went over seas and left some of his guns with me. One is a Handy gun in 17 HMR. I took it to the range today and I was not impressed at all. Shooting federal hollow point ammo. It would only shot into about a 3.5 inch group. Maybe the gun Maybe the ammo maybe the scope it does have a Cheap BSA on it not mine but his.

I have shoot a couple of varmints with his 17 I get better kills out of my 22LR. I'll not be buying one anytime soon.

p dog
I have an nef sportster that would not shoot more than 20 round with out going to a patern.It also has a BSA sweet 17 scope. I gave it about 500 strokes with Flitz polishing compound on a tight patch and reset the scope. It is a shooter now. As you know some guns just need a little more love than others. Regards; Allan

I just put 5 shots in an inch square this afternoon with my Marlin 917V. 3-9x40 Tasco hanging on it so far. Will soon be replaced by a higher power scope though. Better kills from a 22lr? Dont know about that

I've had a single shot 357 handi rifle and a 223 NEF. Neither one would shoot for me. I think its something about the design. I don't know how other people get good results with them.

quote:

Originally posted by Max503:
I've had a single shot 357 handi rifle and a 223 NEF. Neither one would shoot for me. I think its something about the design. I don't know how other people get good results with them.

Try different ammo first before giving up. When I go to gunshows I like to buy partial boxes of factory ammo. A cheap way to try lots of different ammo.

I own a H&R in .223 and have shot several others including a 17HMR and 17M2. All of them are very decent shooters with the right ammo. My .223 shot several types of ammo poorly, but shot others very well. Price of the ammo had little to do with it. Wolf 62g HP was one that shot well in mine. Pretty much the same for the other rifles also. As with many rifles, ammo is a big factor.

NEF triggers suck, but you can get that fixed. Besides that, they are decent for the price.

Don't give up, try different ammo.

I have the NEF Sportster 17HMR. I also have a H&R Buffalo Classic. The accurizing steps are the same.
Polish the chamber with a drill and JB's Bore Paste. Also polish the barrel with JB's. It is difficult and slow with the 17. Lots of passes with the bore snake. Use the O-Ring fix on the barrel where the forearm screws into the barrel and last use some cut up O-rings to quasi free float the barrel and forearm. Just thick enough o-ring to leave some space between the barrel and forearm.

I added a 3x9x40 Trascho bumming-around-scope and am hitting thumbtacks at 100yds most of the time. The gun doesn't care what ammo I use.

ZM

AllenS I guess Iam old any rifle of this style reminds me of the handyguns. It truth it is a NEF sportser with the same BSA sweet 17 scope.

I might find a 17 cal rod and try the JB compound or some other bore polish I have. but I don't know if it is worth the trouble. I guess I not fond of rimfires that cost me more to shot then reloaded centerfires. Maybe that is why I never own a 22 mag. I do not plan to own a 17.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
AllenS I guess Iam old any rifle of this style reminds me of the handyguns. It truth it is a NEF sportser with the same BSA sweet 17 scope.

I might find a 17 cal rod and try the JB compound or some other bore polish I have. but I don't know if it is worth the trouble. I guess I not fond of rimfires that cost me more to shot then reloaded centerfires. Maybe that is why I never own a 22 mag. I do not plan to own a 17.

My gun cost me $99. At that price, a little elbow grease and a couple of hours of my time is worth it. The results were great. Looking to get another Sportster in 22LR.

ZM

P dog shooter: I have only had occassion to observe three NEF Hand-Rifles in 17 HMR perform at the range and in the Varmint fields.
They shot quite well in fact!
I was hired to mount scopes on two of those Rifles and once the scopes were mounted I was tasked to sight them in as well!
Both of those two Rifles shot groups at 50 yards measuring. 500" - these Rifles were shot with Leupold 1.5x5 scopes on them!
Thats pretty impressive accuracy with that low powered of a scope.
Unfortunately the person that owned these Rifles was not happy with the "intermittent fire" problem that plagued them both! They fired only at a rate of 50% of the time!
The first Rifle was sent back and when the replacement arrived I remounted the scope. It was slightly more accurate than the first!
It unfortunately had the same intermittent firing problem!
I would not let my friend send it back. I told him I would buy it if the local gunsmith could not fix it.
It is back now and its functioning and shooting very well.
It could use lots more scope power and I so advised the owner.
The other NEF 17 HMR belongs to another Ground Squirrel Hunting friend and it has a 4x12 scope on it and Ground Squirrels fall regularly to its fire out to 200 yards!
I wonder if the accuracy trouble with your Rifle is causing "hits around the edges" of the Varmints!
My expereince with my 17 HMR's gives me no doubt what so ever on the vastly increased lethality of the 17 HMR over my 22 L.R.'s!
Try the above suggestions and some other types of ammo and I hope you get to be as happy as I am with our 17 HMR's!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have a Ruger 17hmr with a 4 -12 x40 VX1. I use it to head shoot foxes out to 150 yard with the Hornady ammo. As the area I shoot is close to town I cant use the 223. I love the gun but will be upgrading the scope to a VX2 3-9. Off the bonnet of the car we can hit plastic ammo box at 100yards every time.

Dave

I have NEF's in 17HMR & .223; both are picky when shooting off the bench. Try putting your front rest under the barrel hinge, not the forend; most NEF's seem to do better that way.

Also, the 17 only shoots Hornady 17grn loads well; the others it just doesn't like.

Good luck!