I'm new to the world of the 17 HMR, but far from new to firearms. I've been shooting and hunting for 30+ years and handloading for 20+ years. Having said that, I am very excited and also a bit dismayed that it took me this long to acquire a 17 HMR. What a great little caliber! I wish I would have discovered this wonderful little gem earlier. I haven't been this excited about a cartridge in quite a while. I shot competitively in college, including making it to the Nationals twice with top finishes followed by a brief training stent at the Olympic Center in Colorado Springs before the responsibilities of life took over. Given that, I have always revered the Anschutz name and dreamed of the day I could own one myself. Being a big fan of Weatherby wood and stock design, I just had to have one of the XXII rifles, which combines both desirable attributes. With the cessation of production of the XXII (2007 to Nov 2011)and supplies drying up, I had to strike while the iron was hot and before it was too late. So, now I am the proud new owner of a new 17 HMR.

I'm not likely to add much to the discussion in the way of the 17 HMR, but here are some of my initial findings and experiences. I apologize ahead of time if the is in the wrong forum, but I think of it as a small bore caliber.

Rifle: Weatherby XXII
Cal: 17 HMR
Scope: Zeiss Conquest 6.5-20x50mm
Rings: Talley one-piece aluminum rings
Ammo: 17 grain
1) CCI V-Max
2) Hornady V-Max
3) Winchester V-Max
4) Federal V-Max
5) Remington... no way! I refuse to pain a $4 premium over the others above


Setup: I thoroughly cleaned the rifle and lubricated the bolt in my usual fashion. Using a Possum Hollow bore guide and a Tipton carbon fiber rod with aluminum Dewey jag, I cleaned the barrel using a mixture of 50/50 Kroil & Shooter's Choice. (The 7/8" patches were extremely tight, but I learned to cut them in half).


Scope Mounting:
I optically centered the Zeiss scope and mounted it carefully in the Talley medium height rings. This scope is known to perform well and I use it for my initial accuracy work and load development on any new rifles. Being that this XXII is still a rimfire, I plan to step down to a more reasonable 4-12x40mm in the near future. I initially had a problem with the Talley rings. I noticed that when I was using a lapping tool to perfectly align the rings (I hate ring marks in scopes and try to avoid any undue stress on the scope tube by lapping), I noticed that a greater amount of material was being removed from one side of the front ring compared to the other surfaces. Nonetheless, I continued to lap the rings to about 90% contact. After mounting the scope I boresighted it and noticed that I had to use lot more windage than I expected. This was confirmed with test firing as I maximized the windage dial and still did not reach a perfect point of impact. I removed the scope, checked everything and re-mounted. Again, the same results. I then decided to flip the front ring 180 degrees, re-lap, and then mount again. This worked! the scope was now more or less optically centered. I called Talley about this and they, being A VERY GOOD COMPANY to work with, were happy to exchange rings with me for their one-piece steel rings made specifically for the Weatherby XXII / Anschutz 64 action. These will be in the "low" version to accommodate the smaller 40mm objective I plan to mount. By the way, the replacement rings arrived in 3 days. Thanks Talley! Having said all that, I really do love the Talley one-piece aluminum rings and I have them on more than one hunting rifle. But in this case, I do not think they match the style or the finish of the rifle very well. The one-piece steel rings are simple, streamlined, and overall match the style of rifle better. The satin finish is a better match as well.





Break-in:
I did the usual break-in procedure that I use for the centerfire rifle barrels for the first 50 rounds. Cleaning after the 1st shot for 1 to 10, then after the 2nd shot for 11 to 20, then after the 3rd and so on.

Accuracy testing:
The winds were not favorable, blowing at 5 to 15 MPH crossing gusts, but this is the best I could do given the conditions and available time. I did not shoot off of a proper sandbag, but instead used a Harris bipod and a Protektor rabbit ear rear bag. The trigger, out of the box, was a lot heavier than I like, but I did not make any adjustments as I wanted this to establish a baseline accuracy before any modifications.

These are 10 shot groups at 50 yards. Given the variable wind conditions, I felt the 100 yard groups would be less meaningful this particular day. That and the fact that 100 yards is the upper limit of what I will consider to be my effective range with this cartridge; 50 yards will be more the norm.










I'll leave it up to you to decide which groups are best, but I am favoring the Hornady and Federal V-Max at this point. I tried the CCI 17gr TNT rounds, but the first round did not feed smoothly from the magazine. Besides that, the V-Max suits my needs better; killing small vermin is the name of the game.

Modifications:
I heard great things about the J&P Custom Products springs. WOW! They were right! I just installed the trigger spring today along with the action screws. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE in trigger pull and feel. There is the slightest amount of creep, but I can deal with that now that the weight is near ideal. I highly recommend the J&P springs. I installed the firing pin return spring, but don't have the confidence to do the striker spring until I do some more research on disassembly (I would be happy to hear form anyone with experience in this).

Website: https://www.jnpgunsprings.com/index.php?cPath=20








Future plans:

1) Accuracy testing with the new trigger modifications
2) Action bedding
3) Mounting the final scope: Leupold 4-12x40mm gloss

Good report and nice looking rifle. I am a fan of Anschutz with a Hornet and 22Mag. You'll have a lot of fun with the 17, I have a Ruger 77/17 that is a great pest control shooting iron, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

I simply love the 17HMR! Pure Fun. Don't underestimate that little bullet. I regularly kill groundhogs out to 200yds with head shots and have killed crows out to 300yds and a little beyond. My favorite is shooting Starlings with the 17HMR; makes a real cool thump. Nice looking rig you have there. Enjoy! My 17HMR stays in the truck all the warmer months and the 204 stays in the truck all year long. There's rarely a day that I don't shoot at least once at a critter.

God Bless, Louis

Thank you both for your comments and compliments.

After reading the manual and then adjusting the sear engagement, I feel like this trigger is near perfection. I mean it is really a fine piece of mechanical genius. Kudos to Anschutz! I have confidence that my groups will shrink measurably with these changes. This thing now breaks like a fine piece of hand blown Italian glass! I'm looking forward to another range session.