17HMR Federal V-Max vs Federal TNT HP

[Butleroutdoors]

opinions on accuracy of these two 17HMR, 17 grloads?
Any experience with expansion?
Opinion on which would be bettter (i.e. Not disintegrating on impact) for targets on surface of water or slightly below the surface?

 

[TheBeard413]

I've tried a variety of rimfire including those listed, my CZ452 loves the Hornday XTP 20gr and the CCI A17 17gr.

 

[TheBeard413]

opinions on accuracy of these two 17HMR, 17 grloads?
Any experience with expansion?
Opinion on which would be bettter (i.e. Not disintegrating on impact) for targets on surface of water or slightly below the surface?

If the projectile hits a blade of grass, it'll break up.

 

[shoot4fun]

I've shot a few thousand rounds of 17HMR over the years but I've never had anything shoot as well as the Hornady 17 grain stuff. The Federal never shot well in any of my rifles; a lot of split necks and poor accuracy.
The CCI A17 is faster and a buddy had very good accuracy with it but I'm still on my supply of the Hornady ammo..

 

[djdilliodon]

All 17gr ammo will explode on impact. The 20gr offerings are not the frangible type so if you want something with controlled expansion, 20gr offerings is what you want.

 

[JG26_Irish]

opinions on accuracy of these two 17HMR, 17 grloads?
Any experience with expansion?
Opinion on which would be bettter (i.e. Not disintegrating on impact) for targets on surface of water or slightly below the surface?

I have used both in my Sav 93R 17hmr. Comparing: Federal V-Max vs Federal TNT HP, my experience was that the HP grouped tighter and the Fed HP's were some of the most accurate. Using them on squirrels, I had some spectacular failures with the HP's where they failed to expand in creatures that small and light. The V-max is destructive and always expanded violently in even the smallest, lightest animals. If you want tight groups on paper, use the HP's. If you want rapid expansion, use the V-max. I doubt if either would work on tgts below water. At that speed, hitting water is going to be like hitting a rock, which is going to cause the bullet to fragment. I recently tested the CCI 16g "Green" lead-free ammo on paper and on squirrels. It groups very well and expands violently on squirrels. Much more so than the leaded variety. I was surprised. If you want penetration, you might try the 20g SP's from CCI. I have found most 17hmr ammo groups equally well except the Winchester brand which is measurably worse. But the Federal was some of the best if only slightly so. Hornady, CCI and and Federal were all good. Not sure why Winchester was different unless they use a different powder??

Irish

 

[eicas]

When I gave my 93R17 its makeover, I went out and found a box of just about every flavor of .17hmr I could find. Shot them all at 50yds and 100yds. For my particular gun, the A-17 stuff stood out among the rest by quite a margain. Went to the same store and bought as much of that lot number I could get.

 

[justin amateur]

CCI produces 17hmr for Remington, Federal, Hornady on the same machines as it produces it's own brand.
They are all the same except for bullet type, tip color and headstamp. Quality control is minimal.
The manufacturers date code is on the bottom of the plastic 50 round boxes and it is CCI's.

Winchester has it's own machines and from my experience the Winchester 17 hmr quality is lousy.

I use the ballistic tips and hollow points for vermin control and meat spray.
Jacketed soft points for small game hunting and 20 gr fmj for head shots.

 

[Butleroutdoors]

Thank you all for your comments, very imformative.
I too tested just about every brand of 17 gr in my 93 and the Federal V-Max was most accurate,even over the Hirnady 17 gr V-Max. When bought a T-bolt, same results, the Federal more accurate.

sounds like try 20 gr bullets for water targets is best idea although Federal 17gr TNT HP may perform somewhat better than the 17 gr V-Max.....or best yet is probably old school lead round nose 22LR

 

[JG26_Irish]

CCI produces 17hmr for Remington, Federal, Hornady on the same machines as it produces it's own brand.
Quality control is minimal.

Winchester has it's own machines and from my experience the Winchester 17 hmr quality is lousy.

Most of your comment matches what I was told as well. But I was not 100% sure if Winchester had their own 17hmr machines or not but it was clear that they are lower in quality. Still not bad really, just the others are slightly better. I often use my stocks of Winchester ammo for plinking since a miss is not that big a deal in that case and even with the worst Winchester ammo, I am able to consistently hit small shards of broken clay birds at 230y (the longest distance at the range).

As for the CCI/Hornady/Federal ammo: Why do you say that quality control is minimal? Most of it will group sub 1" at 100y. I think I once did a 6x5 at 100y with my 17hmr and it did a 0.953" ave and a 0.653" best group at that range on that day. Tack driver? No, but it is still adequate. The price point is about the same as a box of Lapua Midas+ 22 ammo and I doubt that many Sav MkII's will group much better than 1" with the Lapua ammo at 100y either. My mkII will group about the same as the 17hmr at 50y, 100y and 200y using the Lapua ammo. It has a better scope (6-25x vs 3-12x) than my 17hmr so it has a small advantage. At longer range the 17 shoots a little better as long as it is not too windy. At closer ranges like 50y I think the MkII in 22lr is slightly better. But If I shot it with only CCI or Federal 22 ammo, that might not be the case. Still, I agree with you that the Winchester ammo quality is less than the others.

Irish

 

[justin amateur]

I've learned that 17 hmr ammo is manufactured with minimal quality control
after 4 years of attempting the 6x5 and shooting across a ballistic chronograph.
Canted bullets, varying seating depths, inconsistent brass dimensions,
primer powder variations that result in fail to fire and muzzle velocities that measured
as low as 2287 fps to as high as 2756 fps from the same box of 50.
Last box of Hornady 17 gr VMAX had an ES of 242 fps. That is minimal quality control.