17 WSM

W

William Suter

Well-known member
Has it gone by the way side? Don't seem to hear much about them these days. But, I saw a real nice little Savage today, decently priced I thought. Brown laminate stock and a stainless barrel and some kind of scope. Got home and looked for ammo and there isn't a lot out there. At least in the short time I spent looking. Another one of those don't need it but wouldn't mind having it rifles and I'm sure ammo is out there if you look hard enough. I already have a couple of 22's, a 22 Mag and a 17HMR. Why not a 17WSM?
 
I'd love one but hate the B-mag and the rugers are stupidly priced. Wished NEF was still in business or at least someone making barrels for them.
 
I had a Ruger when they first came out. Expensive and didn't impress me that much with accuracy. The Savages were half the price of the Ruger and shot as good or better. I've heard...the stainless version HB was the best for accuracy. Don't remember where I heard that or even if its factual. They look good though. LOL
 
Poor firearm support was why I never purchased one…the Bmag is junky and ruger was way too expensive for the performance. I hate buying something and having to spend more on it for it to shoot accurately.
The round itself I think is great and I’d buy one if a good platform came out for it, but I don’t see that happening.
It seems to always happens with the varmint calibers..17WSM, 17 Hornet, 17&221 Fireballs. They are niche, but have very loyal followers/shooters…Hornady needs to stop inventing cartridges and focus on what people want. Same with Firearm manufacturers. Not everything needs to be 5lbs with a threaded barrel and AR mag.
 
I have one of the HB SS Bmags that I put in a Boyd's Pro Varmint stock and had my smith bed it to the action which, due to the design of them, isn't the easiest thing to do in fact it's a real pain in the ass to bed the action and I'm talking about actually bedding the action not just squirting some JB Weld around the barrel rings. He also shortened the barrel to from 22 to 20 inches and thread it 1/2x28 because I shoot pretty much all my rimfires suppressed. Tuned the trigger up to where is breaks clean right at 2 lbs and put a different bolt handle on because the one they come with, IMO, is just flat out fugly. It turned out really well and is one hell of a good sage rat slaying machine. I stocked up on 17 WSM ammo back when they couldn't hardly give it away so I'm good for some time on ammo. I like shooting my HB SS Bmag so much better than my 17 HMR's that I hardly ever shoot them.

At Shot Show 2024 Winchester said they were coming out with a new 17 WSM bolt action and I believe Eric Meyer got to shoot one but I don't think they've actually released any for sale to the public which is kind of like the Savage A17 17 WSM we've been hearing about for the last four or five years that has never hit the shelves either.

Having shot both the 17 WSM and 17 HMR a fair amount where the 17 WSM really outshines its little HMR brother is when you get out there 125+ yards and beyond. At that yardage and further the WSM is not only easier to make hits but it hits with, considerably, more authority then does the HMR or any other rimfire for that matter.
 
Interesting round, but poor rifle options and a history of spotty ammo availability. And at current ammo prices, it's probably cheaper to just load centerfire varmint cartridges like the many 17, 20, or 223 wildcats.
 
I looked at one at one time but since I had a .17 hmr and a .17 ackley hornet I thought it was a waste of money. These two fill in all the niches.
 
17 wsm is king of the rim fires IMO, or at least out of what I own. The first sporter barreled Bmags were not good accuracy wise. Ruger finally agreed to upgrade mine to the heavy barrel and it's been pretty good ever since. Ruger has since come out with an A17WSM model which was appealing considering the cost of AR15 options, but MI just changed the law on night hunting on state land in my area, so I really no longer have a need for one. I still use my Bmag for woodchucks with success. I honestly haven't looked for ammo in a while. If it's as hard to find as I'm hearing, I'd probably opt for something else based on that alone.
 
I hit a couple of shops that sell ammo and didn't see any on the shelves. Granted, I didn't ask about it either. One place keeps their rimfire ammo behind the counter so they may or may not have had it. I did a very short search on line and IIRC there was a little to be found. Can't remember who had it, I've slept since then LOL. Not enough available for me to merit buying a rifle. In this day and time and availability of ammo and components I really don't need a firearm I can't get ammo for.
 
I bought a Franklin Armory f-17 just 2 weeks ago. Love this gun. I've been fondling it for 2-3 months at the local gun store. Managed to pick up 500 rounds for $30/50 (still expensive) just hunting gun classified sites. I shot about 30 rounds through it so far and managed a few sub MOA 5 round groups at 100 yards. I put my Dead Air Mask suppressor on it and really think I'm going to like killing armadillos and other small stuff with it. I will try it on coyotes at night with a thermal this winter.
 
17Hornet ammo is cheaper than $1.60/round..which is crazy for Rimfire ammo…the rifle situation is about the same though, and almost no options other than Savage or used.
 
Winchester has a yet to be released new bolt action 17 WSM coming out, they had it at Shot Show 2024 this year, BUT, kind of like Winchester has been with making 17 WSM ammo, they don't seem to be in any hurry to get them on the shelves. From what I saw of them it appears they're another "budget" minded product and not particularly attractive looking.

I'll be damned if I can figure Winchester or Savage out. It's almost like they got together and came up with a plan to see who could fubar the 17 WSM the fastest. Savage's initial Bmag was horrible and did nothing but make anyone who bought one really mad and put a stink on the 17 WSM in general that causes many to have to reach for their nitro pills at just the mention of anything relating to a 17 WSM and if that wasn't bad enough Winchester in all their brilliance thought it would be a genius idea to stop making 17 WSM ammo for literally years at a time. So between the two they have just about done everything they possibly can to ensure the 17 WSM never succeeds.

The folks you've go to feel the worst for are those who spent $5K to have a custom RimX 17 WSM built then can't shoot them because there isn't any ammo available. Ouch!
 
MOST of the time, I do a little research before buying a rifle that isn't quite the norm. The B-Mag I looked at perked my interest so I went home and started searching ammo. It was like looking for chicken lips or unicorns. I talked to a buddy at the local gun store and he said he hadn't had WSM ammo in two years. One of the largest stores in Tulsa didn't have it either and they usually have hard to find ammo or know where to get it. nothing there either. I just put the WSM on the back burner. I won't pay $1.60 a round for rimfire ammo when centerfire is cheaper.
 


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