My new Marlin 17 HMR

[I Am Hero]

I have never owned a 17 HMR but my brother did. I shot his quite a bit and found out it was a blast and typically was more accurate than my 22 LR. I was going to get a 22 WMR but decided I was going to go with a 17 HMR instead.

So I bought this gun:




It is a fantastic shooter and I am very happy with it. Great for up to 125 yards on woodchucks (as long as there is no wind). Using 17 gr Hornady Ballistic Tips in it and I couldn't be more pleased.

I have only every owned one Marlin before and that was a lever action 30/30. I was going to go with a Savage with an accutrigger but this deal came up and I got a steal so I took it.

Haven't used it much yet besides two woodchucks and a few blackbirds. Just wondering what other peoples' opinions are on Marlin and their 17 HMR.

 

[john.suthers]

Re: My new Marlin 17 HMR

I have the Savage 17 with the same looking stock and stainless heavy barrel. I love mine. I shoot prairie dogs out to 250 yards. I feed mine the Hornady v-max and love them. Nothing brings happiness like watching a p-dog take one in the head with the v-max bullet.

 

[300winman]

Re: My new Marlin 17 HMR

Marlin makes a pretty nice gun for the money. Aguila has a nice accurizing package if you feel the need for a bit more performance

 

[J-ROD]

Re: My new Marlin 17 HMR

Beautiful Marlin! Wish I had gotten that model. I have been using a wally world centerpoint scope but just pulled the nikon off my 308 to put on my marlin so looking forward to adjusting (and trusting) the turrets for good practice as I would with my 308.
Anywho, mine was very accurate before but I have since bedded it (check bedding thread in gunsmithing forum here) which really improved the accuracy and consistency as the barrel heats up.

I use mine for Ghogs too, got 15 this past summer (on a small farm where I am not allowed to use centerfire) one of which was a 200yd shot but definitely only go for the head and I have found the 20gr XTP's hit HIGHER and buck the wind better at 200 than anything V-max.

Some random pics:

Oh, try the Federal 17gr JHP, they group amazingly well out of my gun....way better than any v-max. Below is 200yds with them.

First time bedding job.

First 100yd group after bedding, last round was a flier because I was so excited to see the group. Square is 1"x1" and ignore two mosin rounds. Off bipod & rear bag.

I chrono'd some ammo too...interesting results:

Federal 17gr TNT JHP - avg: 2608fps
CCI 17gr TNT JHP - avg: 2690fps
CCI 17gr FMJ - avg: 2445fps
Federal 17gr V-max - avg: 2549fps
Hornady 20gr XTP - avg: 2437fps