Took a chance on a Henry 17 hmr, shoots abysmal!

204 AR

204 AR

Well-known member
I love the feel, handling, look and the smoothness of the action on this little rifle, but man it doesn't shoot well. 2" group at 100 yards is the best 5 shot group and most are probably double that. Anybody know any accurizing tips? I tried shooting it with the forearm off and it might have helped a little but not a lot. Sadly it looks like I will be trading my beautiful lever gun for a plain old savage or maybe cz. Actually if someone had the Ruger American with a threaded barrel that's the way I should have gone.
 
No I got 1 group that's 2". The rest were worse.

What would u accept out of it? I expect a little better than that. Shooting Hdy 17 gr vmax. Not exactly a lot available right now to test.
 
Read in RFC that if you use 17hmr 17gr poly tips in a tube fed Rifle that it can damage the tip. Try 20gr CCI Gamepoint and it may shoot better because its a SP
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I'd hang on to it till you get to try some different ammo. My Henry 22 mag is a little ammo fickle also. I don't sweat it too much since it will remain iron sighted and was bought to dispatch nuisance possums and such with more authority than a 22lr at close range. It shows a distinct preference for old school Winchester Dynapoint, of which I have about 5 boxes of. I think they may be the last 5 boxes on earth.
 
When i can get 2" out of my Henry 22 mag i'm a happy camper. But mine dont wear a scope and never will, a scope is nothing but clutter on these handy little guns.
 
I think we are all assuming that you have this rifle scoped. If its open sights, then WOW, great shooting! I would try a different load before I sold it. I have a little octagon barrel 22 that is a sweet rifle. Good luck
 
Yip scoped. Will try to find some other ammo. It is a nice rifle for sure. Actually I might try loading 1 at a time just to se if the tips are getting deformed. Let's see, I think they stock rimfire ammo on the shelf next to pickled chicken lips haha!

Thanks for the support. I tried reading up on it before I bought it but couldn't find a lot of info and was expecting a little better. It would be hard to hit a 100 yd pdog at this rate and as fun as it is to shoot I can't handicap the missus or kids with this thing.
 
I would certainly try more loads. Rimfire are picky and can be very ammo specific.

A 2 piece stock lever gun in HMR I do not feel will get much under 1-2"...just not the platform to do it...You could get lucky though.

When you find a good load, buy all in that lot number you can afford...
 
17hmr ammo is notoriously batch fickle.

pay attention to lot numbers. you'll buy a few boxes with different lot numbers and test it in your rifle. you should be able to find one that will group down around an 1-1¼" @ 100 yds. once you do buy as much of that lot number as you can find and reasonably afford. once you shoot all that, you'll have to repeat the process again. its a bummer, but unfortunatly its the way it is.

until of course someone finally offers a match grade load for it, which nobody has done to date.


the lot to lot inconsistency is probably one of the most common complaints i've seen about the 17hmr over the last 6 years or so that i've owned one and been involved on one of the caliber specific forums dedicated to it.

the other goofy thing i've seen, some of the HMR's like to be shot dirty, and others like to be shot clean. My cabbage is a dirty girl. it wont group for squat until i get a box or box and a half through it. I save what's left of my test lot boxes that the gun doesn't like to use as foulers after i do a big clean.


good luck and keep us posted!
 
Hmm well I have a different batch coming of the same ammo, Hdy vmax. If I happen to come upon different types of ammo I will snag some. The problem, as you know, is if I see some ammo, buy a box or 2 to try, it shoots good, I go back to the store and it's all gone. So I bought a couple bricks when it's available at Midsouth for $11.19 a box. Hopefully if it doesn't shoot in the Henry it will in the Alexander Arms when it shows up.
 
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