.17HMR – Turns Seventeen, An Owner’s View

INTRODUCED by Hornady in 2002, the .17HMR is essentially a .22 Magnum case, necked down to .17 calibre. Hornady are renowned for manufacturing some excellent bullets and designed a task-specific 17 grain V-max projectile for their new cartridge that took the shooting world in the US by storm. Here in Australia, laid back old hunters (myself included) waited to see results from in the field before making judgement, rather than be caught up in the hype. When reports started coming in from Aussie fox hunters and gun writers it became apparent that this new hot-rod rimfire was living up to manufacturers’ claims.

As its popularity grew, choices in rifles and ammunition broadened and today there is a firearm and a style of ammo to suit every hunter and every purpose. You'll find ammunition readily available from Hornady, CCI, Remington, Federal and Winchester, all but the latter produced by CCI. To augment the ammunition range, along with the original 17gn ballistic tip V-max style projectiles, .17HMR ammunition is available in jacketed hollow points in 17 and 20 grains (a personal favourite), FMJ and soft point variants. There’s even a 15.5gn lead free, polymer tipped round available from Hornady, that