Looking at a .17

[Luckmorne]

So I think after 6 years of playing around with Dad's 20 year old Marlin .22 Bolt action it may be time to get something of my own. I'd really like to try a lever gun as well as the new .17HMR caliber and after some looking around I think the price and features of the Ruger 96/17 are just about what I'm looking for. Has anyone had any experience with this gun? I've read some reviews where it shot just over half-inch groups with hornady ammo at 100 yds, which sounds very respectable to me... Thanks for any comments or advice!

[wickedinhere]

i was looking at the ruger but i went with the marlin 917vs stainless under 300 bucks and it shoots great and looks great also. its worth looking at when i saw it in person i just had to have it

[Sniper]

I purchased a CZ452 American. Here's a link to what's been posted on it. It's hitting quarter a 100 yards consistantly.

:sniper:

My CZ (http://www.perfectunion.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12141)

[wickedinhere]

thats a nice gun but i like the marlin stainless for 300 bucks there price is right
here is a pic

[Sniper]

$309 for the rifle and $110 for the scope.....already had a set of Millet rings.



:sniper:

[Luckmorne]

Well my parents being the great people that they are got me the one thing i asked for, for christmas - the topic of this post :-). I'll post a pic if get around to it but it looks just like the pics at Ruger's website. Anyways - this being my first forray into .17HMR i didnt know quite what to expect but was quite satisfied with the rather loud and short report of the seemingly massive amount of powder (a lot more then a .22 anyways) and the short barrel. Nothing like hearing the sound of your gun rolling off the hills 3 miles away on a clean crisp sunny winter morning. The gun fired pretty tight groups considering i was shooting at a target free stand 30yds away without having adjusted the sights while my hands froze

The action is smooth and crisp and i only expect it to get better tomorrow when i can buy some gun oil for the thing (i havent oiled it yet since i left my gun oil at school....) So anyways - if anyone else has read this and wondered about the gun im reporting that its a blast ;) haha.... gunblast.com also has a good review of it from a few years back - although ive noticed they tend to praise every gun they try - especially rugers... but hey these guys are seriously into Ruger

anyways - thanks for all the advice and everything, see you guys around the other forums (im thinking of getting a 10/22 sometime in the near future as well as a Tikka T3), im sure ill need more of it pretty soon

[Sniper]

Congratulations and Merry Christmas. Hope you have as much fun with your hummer as I've had......and still have with mine.

From my experience the Hornady and Remington 17grain are the most accurate. The CCi's are good for plinking. If you want to see something that will make you smile, take a can (soda or beer), full of liquid and shoot it.


:sniper:

[Sniper]

As I've stated in another thread, CCI does all of the loading and manufacturing of the 17HMR. Hornady and Speer are making the bullets. I guess there's something about the V-MAX bullet compared to the TNT that makes it more accurate in my rifle.

Another "action" target is a full, capped bottle of water!

:sniper:

[dakota kid]

The hornady ballistic tips will do alot more damage to a small varmit like a gopher or woodchuck than the CCI TNT rounds. in fact i don't even use the CCI anymore.

[Sniper]

Originally posted by dakota kid@Jan 29 2005, 03:04 AM
The hornady ballistic tips will do alot more damage to a small varmit like a gopher or woodchuck than the CCI TNT rounds. in fact i don't even use the CCI anymore.
I agree with you 100%. I don't know if it's the hollow point or how they're constructed but they don't shoot as accurate in my CZ. I have a few boxes left but I will probably try to sell them to some friends who have hummers and are having a time getting any kind of ammo. They live in rural areas and stores aren't carrying the round as of yet.

:sniper:

[tinman]

Hey luckmorne, if your still out there. My neighbor and I both ordered one at the same time from wally world 18 months ago. The deciding factor was a review by Jeff Quinn on Gunblast.com. The guns function very well, but due to MAJOR INACCURACY they have been sold. After reading the review of the OTB mini 14 shooting 1 inch plus groups I should have known better.
This is the same guy that wrote such a great review on the 22 rimfire accurizer which gullable me just had to get. The bullets didnt feed nor do I have a clue where they they went.
Buy a cz,marlin or a savage.

[dakota kid]

I have a 96/17 and i have never had accuracy problems with mine

[Luckmorne]

it shoots as accurately as i can hold it/see with my scope. Only problem i have with it is the high trigger pull which can make accuracy an issue. Someone over at RFC helped with that though - there are two springs that directly affect trigger pull - disengage one from its catch and you've just halved the trigger pull. This helped immensely in the accuracy department. My only complaint about the gun is how expensive the ammo is - other then that I think its great.

[tinman]

I wish I knew the trigger trick when I still had it. I smoothed out the trigger a little which helped. The long hard travel took some getting used to. I often wondered if pulling the barrel band off would have helped my issues. That gun has one smooth cycling action, the gun itself is very handy. I apologize if I came across as abrasive, I have a tendency to do that. It is wrong of me to call the gun inaccurate, because it is. But the days we shot they were no match for 2 other 17's that we were shooting with.