.17 hmr velocity question

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OlBigPoint

New member
I just bought a Marlin XT 917vrx with a heavy barrel, synthetic stock, and the profire trigger. I shot it at 100 yards and can keep all my shots within a 1" group. When I go back to 200 yards, my groups open up to around 3" and shoots approx 12" low. After looking at ballistics charts, it seems awfully low at 200. Charts say it should only be 8-9 inches low. I'm shooting the CCI 17 grain TNT round. I'm pretty impressed with the group size at 100 but I'm not too keen on the ability to shoot further distances. I know also that this is only a rimfire and I probably won't shoot anything that far but it was kind of a disappointment after the good grouping at 100. There was a little wind blowing straight toward me (head wind) but I wouldn't think it would have affected it that much. All in all it's a pretty accurate little gun for up to 100 yards. Done killed a gray fox with it at 40 yards with it and he dropped in his tracks. Am I expecting too much or does this seem normal???
 
Shooting into the wind will affect the bullet flight quite a bit. I was shooting my .204 today into a pretty strong head wind and it was dancing all over the place. Went to shooting with a cross wind and all the elevations came right back in. Then I just had to adjust for the windage to compensate.

I have the same Marlin with the wood laminated stock and it is a tack driver. Mine really likes the Hornady ammo best.
 
The only reason I've been shooting the CCI ammo is because no one here close sells the hornady and after reading the penetration test I feel more confident in it to kill my game quicker
 
The headwind is slowing the bullet down faster hence the more drop at the 200 yard target. Most any wind will really mess with those little bullets, or at least that is my experience
 
I have the stainless laminated 917. Both the TNT's and
17gr Hornady's have been through it. It likes the Hornady's
the best and gets the best groups with them. I've had no
problems with them shooting starlings, coons and fox. The
coons do need a well-placed shot with either bullet. I look
at it this way....it's better to hit exactly where you're
aiming than to be off with a bullet which "might" have a
little more penetration. Not all penetration tests equal
real world results, either.
 
Your gun may not shoot them as fast or slow as another gun. Headwinds
often loft a bullet, not push it down. I can't get CCI's tnt's 22 mags to match
my real world drops with chrono data, their charts or anyone elses. I used
SHOOTER's velocity correction and multiple bc entries in FTE to make it come
out right. So go out and get your real world data on a still day and stick with
it. And a 17 has the same energy (Is equal to) a 22 long rifle at
200 yards. They really run out of gas at 175 yards. But they do seem to stay
very accurate to 200.
 


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