Why So Small?
Like a lot of people of my vintage, my first exposure to .17 caliber anything was in air guns. The standard BB shot was of a .177 diameter, as was the common lead pellet. I had a series of good old Crosman 760 BB/pellet guns. I think I wore out three of them, and since they are still made, I’m a little surprised I don’t have one now. The Crosman would kill rabbits and squirrels if you placed your shot carefully, and it had the advantage of being quiet. It was good for other assorted varmints as well. Every summer, when I was a kid, my Dad would turn me loose on the local populations of English sparrows and starlings, both of which were dirty invasive species that the folks didn’t want around. I was to get rid of as many as I could, and for that, the little .177 caliber lead pellets worked very nicely.
A few years later I started hearing about .17 caliber rifle cartridges. In those days most of them were wildcats, but the diminutive calibers started picking up some steam in the years to come.
The Cartridges
Let’s look at the ammo first. Much like the .22 caliber, the range of .17 caliber rounds includes both rimfire and centerfire options. For the purposes of this work (and so as not to explode the list), we’ll stick to only commercially offered cartridges; the list of wildcats is, shall we say, extensive.
Rimfire:
- .17 Hornady Mach 2: (.17 HM2) This round, also known as the .17 HM2, is based on the .22 Long Rifle case necked down to take a .17 caliber, 17-grain bullet (standard for the .22 Long Rifle is 40 grains). This little number churns up 2,100 feet per second (fps) in muzzle velocity, but only 166 foot-pounds (ft-lb) in energy, due to that light bullet. A fun small game round, but I’d be concerned about meat damage in a small critter due to the high velocity.
- .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire: (.17 HMR) This one is what it sounds like: The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) necked down to .17 caliber. With a 20-grain bullet, this one tosses the pill at 2,250 fps for 150 ft-lb at the muzzle. See my comments above on small game.
- .17 PMC/Aguila: (.17 High Standard) Pretty much the same as the .17 HM2, except that the HM2 used the CCI Stinger case, which is just a tiny bit longer than the .22 Long Rifle case, which the PMC/Aguila round is based on. Performance with a 20-grain bullet is 1,850 fps in velocity, and 152 ft-lb at the muzzle.
- .17 Winchester Super Magnum: (.17 WSM) Developed by Winchester in 2012, this one’s a real oddball, as it uses no pre-existing case – for a firearm. This one is based on a .27 caliber blank cartridge used in nail guns, necked to accept a .17 caliber bullet. It launches a 20-grain bullet at 3,000 fps, for 400 ft-lb of muzzle energy; see my comments on small game above, and then some.
Centerfire:
- .17 Hornet: Now we start getting into some higher-end ballistics for the 17s. This one is just like it sounds, originally a wildcat based on necking down the .22 Hornet case. It has since been picked up by Hornady as a factory loading, which they advertise as launching a 30-grain pill at 2,975 fps for 590 ft-lb of muzzle energy.
- .17 Mach IV: Now we start getting punchier, at least as much as you can get with these tiny bullets. This one is based on the .221 Remington Fireball case necked down, pushing out a 25-grain bullet at 3,890 fps (!) for 849 ft-lbs of energy.
- .17 Remington: This is the first .17 caliber centerfire round introduced by a major manufacturer, Remington, in 1971, originally offered in the Model 700 bolt gun. Based on the 223 Remington case, this round spits a 30-grain bullet (among several factory loads) at 3,839 fps for 982 ft-lb of energy.
And, finally:
- .17 Remington Fireball: Like the .17 Mach IV, this case, introduced by Remington in 2007, is based on the .221 Remington Fireball case. (The two are not interchangeable.) It’s a very efficient design, turning out performance similar to the original .17 Remington but with a smaller case and a smaller powder charge. With a 30-grain bullet, this one turns out 3,569 fps for 849 ft-lb of muzzle energy.
Now, while some of these .17 caliber rounds punch out some impressive muzzle velocities, remember that’s only at the muzzle. The measured velocities drop off quickly due to the light bullets, which can only have so much sectional density, which is what you need to retain velocity over range. And, again, I have my concerns over a bullet moving that fast, over typical small-game distances (say, 10-30 yards), tearing up edible meat on something like a rabbit or squirrel. If I had my druthers, I’d sooner have something like the old .25 Stevens rimfire, but I can’t have that, so I’ll stick with the usual standard velocity .22 Long Rifle rounds for those critters.
The Rifles
The Remington 700 was the first mass-produced factory rifle to be offered in a centerfire .17 caliber round, in 1971. Unfortunately, Big Green seems to have dropped the .17 from the Model 700’s offerings. Ruger offers the Model 77/17 in .17 Hornet and .17 WSM. Savage also has several options for the .17 Hornet and the .17 WSM.
Now, the rimfire market today is where it’s at in the 17s. There is a wealth of offerings in the various rimfire options, in all manner of actions and options: Bolt guns, lever guns, semi-autos, traditional, tacticool, you name it. Henry, the revived H&R, Ruger, and other manufacturers all offer rifles in the various .17 caliber offerings. Handguns are available as well, with revolver offerings from Taurus, Chiappa, and Ruger.
What About Now?
The Small Seventeens, as I’ve generally called them, are still something of a niche item. They are great for short-range varmint shooting, from rats to raccoons, but even the centerfire 17s are on the light side for coyotes. While I’ve never tried them, I suspect that the high velocities of most of these loads would tear up too much edible meat on smaller game like cottontails and squirrels. Even a high-velocity .22 Long Rifle round can do a lot of damage if a head shot isn’t available. That’s why I’ve always used standard velocity target rounds for such critters.
Honestly, I'm still going to keep agitating for a new .25 caliber rimfire, but I'm not optimistic about it.
Still, the unusual is always fun, too. And the Small Seventeens are nothing, if not unusual.
