I have a chance to buy a Ruger .22 Hornet used at a good price and was thinking about buying it and changing to a .17 AH. I was wondering what the noise level of this round is compared to a .22 mag. I don't want a gun much louder than this but I want something a little bigger than the HMR. What are your thoughts on the ruger action for changing to a .17? Thanks!

Well it will be louder than the 22mag near the rifle it will sound loud but 50yards away it is much quieter than a 223. It is a hell of a round for woodchucks, foxes, bobcats and alike size animals. Oh I forgot very accurate cheap to reload and cases last a long time 12.4grns of V-120 out of a 20inch pipe gives me 3700fps with 20grn V-Maxes.

It's a neat round, quieter than the .22 Hornet, at least with my loads.

My Kimber (of Oregon) M82 .17-AH was very easy to develop .5 MOA loads for. It is very misleading though...if you're used to shooting groups with larger bores. You look down there and you see all those bulletholes, with no two touching,and you say "Dagnab!! What a futzy group. Damnation!!" Then you go measure it and it's under half an inch... Those little bullets can really mislead eyes use to bigger bullet holes.

AC

[ 04-29-2003, 10:34: Message edited by: Alberta Canuck ]

Great little gun - good choice.
My 17AH is built on a small martini with a compact scope and 21" douglas barrel the whole outfit only weighs just over 6.5lbs. Loads with 25gn Hornady run just 3400 but when the 20gn Vmax arrived it boosted velocity to 3720fps with 11.4gn powder.
You should see the look on folks faces when I take it to the range and proceed to knock over 200m steel chickens with my fireforming loads.
I have 5x.17's (17AH, 17MIV, 17/222Rimmed & 2x17Rem) and after 20 years, I am still trying to experience that "blow yer bullets sideways syndrome" the armchair experts have been writing about for years.