.17 rimfire

[trappsy]

Hi! having just joined Pigeon watch and been an avid shooter for many years I thought I would pick your brains,ive hunted with air rifles and .22 rimfire for years, and now ive got myself a browning T- bolt .17,to cut a long story short im not having a great deal of success with it, I never intended to use it soley for rabbits as my .22 CZ is the tool for that job, I got it for longer ranges, anyway! read all the ballistic stuff on it and took it out with a 3x9x40 scope, and set a target at a 100 yds,after zeroing in I was grouping reasonably well and final shot at 140 yds exploded a can of coke, went home happy, until I took it out for bunnies on a walking shoot, ranges between 20 and 60 yards over walls that type of thing, missed more than i shot, with the Brno i wouldnt have missed any, Ide read about holding over and under at different ranges, but this rifle is supposed to have such a flat trajectory that it wasnt much, ive since changed scope to a Hawks nite eye 4-16x50, I felt I needed more magnifcation, but that has nowt to do with zeroing the rifle in, I thought about zeroing at 50yds and working out hold over and under with the mil dots at different ranges, any ideas?, Ive been using hornady V-MAX 17 grain.

[SilentKill]

i'm sure you will get various answers to this, but you could try zero'ing at say 75 and it should be fairly flat from 50 to 100 yards!

 

also dont forget depending on scope i assume our changing magnification at lower ranges so does your scope have a first focal plane reticule etc

[al4x]

zero at 100 yards is fine and gives you the best trajectory between 50 and 125 yards. Is it still shooting fine on paper?

If so its a user issue rather than anything else. If its all over the paper then it could be a few things, such as scope mounting or the barrel not being free floating etc

[wildfowler.250]

Have you cleaned it since zeroing?

 

 

In all honesty you should be just point and aim between 20 yards and 100 wth a 100 yard zero?

 

 

 

ATB

[SilentKill]

Have you cleaned it since zeroing?

 

 

In all honesty you should be just point and aim between 20 yards and 100 wth a 100 yard zero?

 

 

 

ATB

 

good point, is it a new rifle or second hand? how many rounds etc have you put through it! (theres many different theories on cleaning .17HMR)

[Redgum]

Oh the olde .17hmr, the cause of many a post from 'its the most accurate rifle I have ever owned'to' would make a better hammer than a rifle'. Basically more info is need before advice can be given. What make, is it new or secondhand etc. I was expecting much more from my CZ 16inch Varmint when I first got it out of the box. If you zero at 100yds, unlike the .22lr, its virtually cross hairs on the head from 40yds to 130yds.

After a shakey start I now love my hummer, I put it down to several things, sorting a cleaning regime and sticking with it, knowing when to use it, getting used to the extended range when moving up from .22lr and knowing what to feed it. I really think the little calibre gets better with a few hundred shots down the barrel. Be patient and get plenty of practice and you will find it a true friend.

[the enigma]

After a shakey start I now love my hummer, I put it down to several things, sorting a cleaning regime and sticking with it,

 

What cleaning regime would you recommend for a .17hmr?

[al4x]

when it looses accuracy, may be every 200 rounds may be every 500 or more. Till it goes off just use it

[the enigma]

I'm thinkin about gettin a rimmy,and I'm doin the usual head scratching over which calibre. One of the things that was putting me off .17hmr was stories of rigorous cleaning compared to .22lr.... but every 200 rounds sounds alright.

[SilentKill]

lol cant remember when i last cleaned my .22, certainly a few thousand rounds ago!

[trappsy]

good point, is it a new rifle or second hand? how many rounds etc have you put through it! (theres many different theories on cleaning .17HMR)

Ok, good point, yes its a new rifle,Browning T-bolt composite, twin 10 shot mags and its had 100 rounds thro it, cleaned everytime I return home using bore snake and wire brush pull thro, also after each outing I strip the mod ( sak )and wash and scrub that ( dirty little ******* arnt they )Ive bought some shoot n see targets and with the new scope, bipod,new glasses and a steady hand I,ll start again, and the 75 yard option sounds good, soon as ive been out I'll post again and let you know, mind about 3ft of snow at the mo so its the .22 ill be taking for a walk, wont be laying about in this weather trying to get .17 right, thanks for the advice, and its prob me more than the gun.

Edited December 8, 2010 by trappsy

[SilentKill]

Ok, good point, yes its a new rifle,Browning T-bolt composite, twin 10 shot mags and its had 100 rounds thro it, cleaned everytime I return home using bore snake and wire brush pull thro, also after each outing I strip the mod ( sak )and wash and scrub that ( dirty little ******* arnt they )Ive bought some shoot n see targets and with the new scope, bipod,new glasses and a steady hand I,ll start again, and the 75 yard option sounds good, soon as ive been out I'll post again and let you know, mind about 3ft of snow at the mo so its the .22 ill be taking for a walk, wont be laying about in this weather trying to get .17 right, thanks for the advice, and its prob me more than the gun.

 

I'd leave it for a few rounds, try 50 -100 then clean it!

[wildfowler.250]

I wouldn't clean it untill the accuracy starts to do off. Leave it for a few hundred.

 

 

 

just my 2p's worth though

[Redgum]

Ok, good point, yes its a new rifle,Browning T-bolt composite, twin 10 shot mags and its had 100 rounds thro it, cleaned everytime I return home using bore snake and wire brush pull thro, also after each outing I strip the mod ( sak )and wash and scrub that ( dirty little ******* arnt they )Ive bought some shoot n see targets and with the new scope, bipod,new glasses and a steady hand I,ll start again, and the 75 yard option sounds good, soon as ive been out I'll post again and let you know, mind about 3ft of snow at the mo so its the .22 ill be taking for a walk, wont be laying about in this weather trying to get .17 right, thanks for the advice, and its prob me more than the gun.

Now I'm sure many will disagree but I would put the wire brush pull through in a place thats hard to find. When I started with my .17hmr I was paranoid about copper fouling etc an rodded it with copper solvent etc until I was senseless. Now I just run a dry patch down it to take away any loose crud in the barrel. I find a 12 bore bronze brush is ideal for the Sak mod,fair play to you cleaning it on each outing, I have one on the .22lr and it gets a good cleaning ever 200 rnds or so.

[Shropshire_Lad]

Hi, my hmr has high mounts on it and I missed a few 20 yarders before I put a target board up and could see how low it was shooting at close range, a Rabbit flat to the ground is easy missed under the chin at very close range.

 

atvb Paul.

[Dekers]

I'm thinkin about gettin a rimmy,and I'm doin the usual head scratching over which calibre. One of the things that was putting me off .17hmr was stories of rigorous cleaning compared to .22lr.... but every 200 rounds sounds alright.

 

A lot of .22lr barrels only ever see sub sonic lead bullets, virtually every .17HMR round is copper coated, therein lies a big difference!

 

Rigorous cleaning is essential, although not necessarily regular cleaning.

 

Once you decide to clean ANY gun, you must do it thoroughly, spotless, perfect, 100%!

 

There are far too many tales banded about that guns do not shoot well after cleaning, what they should really say is after I gave them a quick once over, raised a lot of fowling and didn't get it all off they don't shoot well.

 

Clean barrels shoot straight, end of, dirty ones don't! Check with any decent target shooter how clean their barrels are!

Edited December 8, 2010 by Dekers

[malkiserow]

At a pure guess, your shooting slightly under at very (20yards ish )ranges.

 

Mine is zeroed at 100 yards and cleaned very outing or 20 or so rounds. The cleaning so far is just 2 pull throughs of a boresnake. I check the zero often and a light clean like this seems to be beneficial

 

Maybe check your barrel is floating free of the stock using a £5 note as a gauge.

 

Are your scope mounts as low as can be?

[Dekers]

Generalisation/approximation!

 

A 17 HMR, 17g round zeroed at 100 yards will have its first zero between 40-50 yards, it will then fly up to 1/2 inch high before finding true zero at 100 yards and then start to drop off more.

 

In simple terms if you zero any weight of .17 HMR ammo at 100 yards, then, as others have said, just aim at a bunnies head from about 40-140 yards and you will hit it!

[malkiserow]

Generalisation/approximation!

 

A 17 HMR, 17g round zeroed at 100 yards will have its first zero between 40-50 yards, it will then fly up to 1/2 inch high before finding true zero at 100 yards and then start to drop off more.

 

In simple terms if you zero any weight of .17 HMR ammo at 100 yards, then, as others have said, just aim at a bunnies head from about 40-140 yards and you will hit it!

 

Spot on

 

just raise the POA slightly on those very very close ones - put a target up and try it then you will see!

[vole]

The range I shoot at ; Everyone I spoke to whose opinions I would listen to say the HMR needs regular cleaning varying from 20 to 100 rounds . None of them say leave it till accuracy goes off .

[Beardo]

I agree with shropshire lad, at 20 yards you will need to hold under if it's zeroed at 100 for a headshot

[monster1971]

the last post has a good point ,if your mounts are to high it has an effect on close range targets my scope is almost touching the barrel and i have re-zeroed to 75 yards.also dont worry it will come good, remember live targets are harder to hit and you are probably fretting and making it worse.

[Redgum]

Was out with my .17hmr last night for a spot of lamping now the weather had improved. I must admit that I expected to see alot of rabbits out, but this was not the case. Maybe Mr Fox had the same idea. The last time I was out with the gun I gave it a good clean as it got quite wet.

First rabbit I shot at was around 80ish yards away, missed it and the rabbit just hopped into the hedge. The next one was sat bolt upright in the middle of a field, no more than 60yds away,I was not happy to see him sprint away into the darkness once I pulled the trigger. I was just thinking that I had maybe knocked the scope or something. On the way back to my truck I spotted another bunny sat by the hedge not 60yds away, thwack, perfect head shot. As I drove up the farm track the lights picked up a rabbit in a ajoining field, I turned the truck off and put the lamp on it, it promptly ran out into the field,eventually it stopped. I had the luxury of shooting with a solid rest( I prop my bipod across the dash and the head rests), it cartwheeled in the distance, I eventually found it stone dead hit in just above the shoulder. I paced it back to the truck knowing that my average pace is around a metre, 144 paces, my longest range rabbit and with the lamp.

Thats the nature of the .17hmr, you can love it and hate it in the space of a couple of hours.

[SilentKill]

Redgum, maybe the first two shots dirtied the barrel and improved the accuracy! Alot of people have different cleaning regimes ! Some say it shoots badly when clean!

[Redgum]

Redgum, maybe the first two shots dirtied the barrel and improved the accuracy! Alot of people have different cleaning regimes ! Some say it shoots badly when clean!

Spot on, but I have also fired on paper with a clean barrel and maybe the group has opened out half inch, still accurate enough for a head shot on a rabbit. Mind you it could have just been me. When you have been walking miles and shooting off sticks it can make so much differance.