Indians For Guns

I`m temporarily without a .17HMR rifle. I went shooting on Wednesday and, as I left, the farmer over whose land I was shooting asked if he could borrow my CZ 452 to try it out. He got a variation for a .17rf two or three years ago but never bothered to fill it.
I got a call from him last night - `This rifle is unbelievable !` Another convert. Of course he wanted to keep my rifle.........
I know that there are some, like Dodger, who are still unconvinced by the .17HMR and I have to admit that when I first heard of the calibre I was highly unimpressed - `who needs a b****y silly airgun calibre` - but the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating and no-one that I know who has tried a rifle in the little calibre has been anything less thn impressed with it. Accurate, remarkably flat shooting and ridiculously effective.
Combine those benefits with the incredible value for money of the CZ 452 which, in either American or Varmint specs is available for £285 with a trigger job already performed on it and it`s easy to see why the total package is so addictive. Zero the rifle at 100 yards and you don`t have to adjust the scope for any range up to that.......and it will group within half an inch at that range.
Anyway, I`m about to order my replacement CZ 452 2E ZKM Varmint......can`t do without one !

Hi Grumpy,

What are you experiences, as far as clean kills. 75-125 yards range, Jackrabbits, Groundhogs and similar critters.

How hard is the bore to clean, lead fouling etc.. Couple hundred shots a day at the range. Any problems with wind drift at 100 yards (target shooting) on windy days.

Thanks,

Satpal

Grumpy,

How much does a box of ammo sell for on your side of the pond?

Around here they go for $10-11 a box of 50.

I know that there are some, like Dodger, who are still unconvinced by the .17HMR...

True but I am only going by what other users have to say. One chap who lives in Orkney found it very difficult due to the wind drift but then again, there is a lot more of that than on mainland U.K..

Mack The Knife

Ammo here is around £8.50-9.00 a box of fifty. Seems reasonable to me......and is half the price it was when first introduced.
Fouling isn`t anything like the problem it was reckoned to be in the early days. Accuracy goes off a little after about 50 shots but the only time that I use that many cartridges is at the range. I clean the bore after every session anyway.
I`ve had very little problem with wind drift......possibly because I usually shoot prone. Wind drift is likely to be a problem with anything up in the Orkneys......It never stops blowing up there and there are damn all trees. What was it that Billy Connolly said about the wind up in the Orkneys and Shetland ? Something along the lines of `If a dog cocks its` leg up here the rain tastes of p**s in Bergen` ( Norway. ) !
I`ve taken bunnies out to 200 yards and have NEVER not achieved a clean kill. The V-Max 17 gr bullet does a lot of meat damage and induces trauma into the body tissue even with head shots. I tend to use the 20 gr XTP mostly nowadays because it doesn`t break up like the V-Max. Neatest kill was a body shot at a Rabbit at around 100 yards which I realised had killed the Rabbit behind as well. When I went to pick up I found that a third Rabbit further back had also been shot - three for the price of one. Sounds like a tall story but is absolutely true. The bullet was lodged under the skin on the far side of the third Rabbit - that was using a 20 gr XTP of course.
We don`t have Groundhogs here - ground quarry is limited to Rabbits and Hares. I`ve also taken several Squirrels, a few Pheasants, a couple of ducks and a Canada Goose - not to mention loads of Wood Pigeons and Crows. A professional pest controller that I know has shots dozens - possibly hundreds - of Foxes, all with head shots. He`s also humanely destroyed injured Muntjac and Roe Deer using head shots. He always uses the V-Max because he usually works in urban areas and can`t risk richochets. There are persistent rumours of poachers using the .17HMR on deer such as Fallow and Sika. They obviously must be using head shots exclusively.