For those of you who have a rifle in .17 Hornet....

What has been your experience with the round? How about the rifle you chose to shoot it with?

Thanks. Been toying with the idea of getting one. Yes, I reload.

Sight in target on my CZ 527 Varmint in 17 Hornet!! It's devastating on gophers.
I've a buddy that owns a savage & his is just as accurate.

"BIG FAN"!!
I have a CZ 527 Varmint and it shoots like crazy! Doesn't eat much, quiet, great varmint round!

Hey Montdoug - is that the American or the Varmint?

Very nice planks on it as well, BTW.

I had a .17 Hornet when it was still a wildcat. It was on a Stevens 44 1/2 action and shot quite well.

One day my shooting partner and I were out after groundhogs and it was my turn to shoot. I spotted one sitting up at his den about 200 yards away and after taking careful aim, let fly.

We walked over to view the remains, and to my astonishment found a very dead groundhog without a visible mark on him. Finally, my friend noticed that one of the front teeth was chipped. Closer inspection revealed that the bullet had gone into his open mouth and exploded in the brain cavity. Obviously, it didn't exit.

My varmint shooting days are over and the rifle is no longer in my possession, but that shot remains etched in my memory.

I had a 17 AH in a Cooper rifle. Used it on PDs quite a bit. It was a PITA to form brass. The cartridge and gun were very accurate but a bit temperamental to load.
I sold it cause it just did not have the splat that larger cartridges did. I shoot the 17Fb now and like it better.

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Hey Montdoug - is that the American or the Varmint?

Very nice planks on it as well, BTW.

That is the Varmint model 527 and I did indeed get lucky on the stick, the photo in no way does it justice .
I have a .17 Ackley Hornet built on a 527 American with a Pac-Nor barrel on it that also has nice furniture, seems the CZ wood Gods like me, lucky I guess. Both rounds are a real hoot!!!

quote:

Originally posted by montdoug:

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Hey Montdoug - is that the American or the Varmint?

Very nice planks on it as well, BTW.

That is the Varmint model 527 and I did indeed get lucky on the stick, the photo in no way does it justice .
I have a .17 Ackley Hornet built on a 527 American with a Pac-Nor barrel on it that also has nice furniture, seems the CZ wood Gods like me, lucky I guess. Both rounds are a real hoot!!!

Sometimes a man can be real lucky with CZ wood - sometimes not so much.

I got a 527 in .223 Varmint the other day and I can assure you the planks are such that I no longer buy Viagra - I just think of that stock and the effect is the same.

I've been using a .17 Hornet for around 20 years now and consider it very useful. Most of the varmints I shoot with it are smaller so the power of a .223 is not needed. However I've also shot several coyotes and fox, many raccoons, and two bobcats with it. It is good for coyotes to 150 yards and fox to 200 yards and seems to make noticeably less noise than a .22 center fire. My gun for it is a Thompson Center TCR 87 with a heavy custom barrel and it shoots 5/8-inch groups with either 20-grain Hornaday bullets at 3,650 fps or 15-grain Berger HP's at 3,950 fps. I also have a second light weight .17 Hornet barrel for a double triggered TCR-83 but generally prefer the heavy barreled gun.

Idahos snake River canyon where I live has some big time up drafts and the wind can be horrible..The .17s float like a leaf in wind...The .222 is my least doable Rockchuck and coyote gun. The 6x45 is much better.

Ray without meaning to hijack this and with all due respect I have to respond to the "Leaf in the wind" analogy.
I have 11 .17's counting rimfires, most of the non rimfires are Wildcats with the exception of the one .17 Hornet CZ 527 which is what the OP started the thread about. I have a similar number of .20's, all the usual suspects in .22 from rimfires, Hornets, K-Hornets, a .221 and on up. Also one 6X47 Lapua with a 1 in 12 twist Kreiger on it for Varmint weight projectiles.
Only reason I mention all that crap is while I am a big .17 fan I'm not some barn-blind fanatic that promotes .17's above all others. I Like em all!
Having said that I just looked and my ballistic program and compared the actual velocities, drops and wind drift I obtained at my altitude and punched into the computer program.

Short of it is that with my .221 Fireball moving a 40 grain V-Max at 3550FPS (which compares apples to apples with Triple Duces using full power loads cause SAAMI says max PSI for the .222 is 42,000PSI and on the .221 it's 52,000) and run that against a 20 grain V-Max out of my CZ .17 Hornet at 3650ishFPS all else being the same except a "HUGE" advantage in case capacity for the .222. At 200 yrds the 40 grain V-Max has .23 inch less drift in a full value 10 MPH cross breeze (which is never gonna actually happen but just for comparison sake). At 300 it's .6 of an inch less and at 400 it's 1.49 inches less drift. In my hand 400 yards with either of these is about the end of the earth so that's all I figured and while the the Triple Duce is better it sure ain't by much, and sure not "leaf in the wind" different. Again not discounting your most obvious experience in any way but living in Montana which is nothing but wind and being retired to the full time position of rodent eradicator It's been my experience that the .17's performance is very counter intuitive to most experience shooters cause the bullets look so small but they are long for caliber so their BC is high and they are little over achievers to be sure.
Having said all that, when we go on rodent safari's we take a bunch a back ups in various calibers .
But IMO there's nothing better on a warm summer day than popping beau-coups gophers and an occasional rock chuck out to 350ish yards, using a .17 Hornady Hornet (which is just a slightly changed to be able to standardize it with Hornady's name on it from a .17 Ackley Hornet). We have both and my .17 Ackley is actually close to 3,800ish FPS with the same bullet so it would shrink the margins even more. They don't heat up, they don't use much powder, ya see all the hits...or misses . Just love the little overachievers!!!
Way to much outta me.

Mountdoug,
I have no argument with your accurate post, however I assure you the Snake River Canyon with its strange updrafts is a whole nuther ball game, and even 22 and 6mm climb in elevation in certain canyons. Not all locations are the same there..

I had a friend come up from Texas and he took his 22-250 with 60 gr. Sierra or HOrnady HPs to defy the updrafts..I knew a specific location so we sat down with some rock rests and I poped a Chuck with a 12" low 6 oclock hold with my 6x45, as I knew how to aim from shooting that spot..He shot at 3 chucks and was shooting over a about 20 inches high on all three at 100 or so yards..Swore his gun was out of zero, We went on top and he was 1.5" high on his target. Now he was confused..Went back and aimed about 20 inches low and started connecting...I have had a lot of fun on that spot..The late Tony Barnes took me their for my first shoot at the Snake..ONce you learn the canyons, as they all differ, it changes everything. The bottom line is the bigger the round the better off you are, and the 25-06s and 243s are popular with some...but recoil after a days shoot is wearing.

I've heard a lot about the beautiful Snake River Canyon. I'm sure however that my hearing and your doing puts you "way" up on me about the Snake River Canyon..."Dang It!" Love to go there.
I defer to your experience there and only wish to spend time there someday.
As to shooting canyons, I've seen freaky canyon winds hunting elk where shooting cross canyon your bullet goes through two or three complete changes of wind condition, crazy! Holding fire is often the best choice, as Dirty Harry said in the Movie, "A man's gotta know his limitations ". Learning to dope the wind well makes a real shooter out of a guy, or so I'm told .

Have shot that area numerous times with a friend that lives out there. One time we had my 17 Rem and his Win in .222. The chucks were not very co-operative, but we shot a lot of rocks and spots across the canyon that day.
The 17 had the edge on verticle estimates, wind drift was near equell as best we could guess.

If I could only have one cartridge for gopher shooting it would be the 17 Hornet. Wish I would have had one 50 years ago, there is nothing quite like it.You can shoot all day from 10 feet to 200 yards and not worry about burning out your barrel. I do use other calibers when the occasion arrises but the 17H is my favorite. Especially when a magpie lands at 200 yds. and thinks he is safe. You kill a magpie at this distance and his buddy comes over with outstretched wings trying to get him to move, then suddenly he stops and squawks 'oh s--t' and if you are quick on the trigger you will have a second magpie!

I have 2 Kimber of Oregon, model 82s in the 17 K Hornet. Both are very accurate with Hornady vmax bullets. They are great fun to shoot and seem to be considerably less noisy than any of my 22 caliber rifles. The early kimbers had some beautiful wood.

I don't find brass forming difficult. It took me a while to get the right routine and crumpled some brass learning.