I've got one of the cheapy savages and love it, and now with my stockpile of .17HMR ammo it's likely the rifle I'll be shooting more than anything. The ranges around here are 100 yards for the most part (200 available 1 Sunday per month) so dragging the 308 or 300wsm out is just getting boring.
I looked at 22lr, hm2 and 17hmr when I picked the 17 and I don't think it was a bad choice. Rabbits just flop over when you hit them with the 17 and with good shot placement you don't waste any meat. Now that's true of any caliber, but I've actually taken an honest 125 yard head shot on a bunny in the field and I don't know if I could have done that lobbing a 22lr round at it. Haven't found a squirrel yet while out so I can't say what happens with those guys.
I've got one of the boyds stocks for mine but felt it ruined the feel of the rifle as a hunter, but was fine on the bench at the range, so I swapped back to my krylon'ed factory stock plastic thing.
I also believe the caliber is intrinsicly highly accurate. My wife is not a shooter of any skill (has gone to the range maybe 3 times in the last 8 years) and she did this with the 17 at 100 yards the first time out with the savage:
Not the best group around but that's with zero training beyond me showing her how to use the bipod and rear bag for a minute. I say that rifle/cartridge is accurate. She now refers to the 17 as "her rifle" for some reason, even though she's not shot it since.
I also like that range over a .22 when out in the hills...