Savage Sweet 17HMR Review

[3RRL]

Loretta and I got a pair of 17HMR Savage rifles bare bones Model 93 R17GV 17HMR. The left hand one is GLV. Do a search since you can get them about anywhere. I think Big 5 has them for about $215 bucks on sale. They have wood stocks and the accutrigger which was the feature I was looking for. Comes with Weaver scope base and trigger adjustment tools and heavy varmint barrels.
The scopes I got from Sportsmans Guide.
Sportsmans Guide Scope
They are Guide brand and I got the 6 x 24 x 50mm. They come with scope rings, objective bell, with sunshade and pop-up scope covers and also an illuminated dot reticle which can be adjusted for brightness! Also fogproof, water proof and nitrogen filled. A fantastic deal like much more expensive scopes. Turns out it is a Russian (I think) Barska brand scope after all. They are on clearance right now for $62 bucks!!! For the value, it is pretty good. Optics are the most important feature on an accurate rifle, so I usually get really good ones. I went low cost and lucked out this time. These scopes are really good. Plus you don't have to buy anything else to mount them. The Savage and these scopes have Weaver bases and mounts that come with each.
Something for the varmints in her newly started garden.

These rifles are truly sweet. The cartridge is a necked down .22 magnum to .17 caliber. Not much of a bullet, but enough power and accuracy for very small game out to 150 yards or so. I couldn't find any ground squirrels in Murder Meadow by South Camp where we hunt dove too, so I shot a dove and man, it just exploded! Anyway, here are some photos of the rifles and some targets we shot. We got a righty and lefty, since Loretta is a lefty shooter. Those targets are at 75 yards and shot right out of the box after a couple cleaning rounds went through and a patch.
Then we brought the scopes in... Check out that last 5 shot group.
They shoot identical. Accutrigger is a dream with no creep...best trigger I've ever pulled.
Very fun and accurate gun to shoot.
Rob-

 

[jmc]

Rob,

I saw that ammo when I was buying some 22 mag ammo. What's the advantage of .17 vs .22 mag.? Flatter trajectory? Seems like it cost about 50% more.

John

 

[3RRL]

John,
I always wanted a .22 mag but never did get around to buying one. I've shots thousands of .22 long rifle rounds out of some pretty good rifles and ranges out to about 100 yards. So I figure the .22 mag would get out there even farther and flatter.
As far as the .17 compared to the .22 mag, I don't know if there really is an advantage or not? It is a faster round and shoots flatter for sure, but I'd have to guess there is quite a loss of energy after a hundred yards or so since the bullet is so small...maybe a little more range than that. However, the accuracy is fantastic, at least for me. I shot another bird at 175 yards and had to hold over about 3". But it was an easy shot. I imagine if I zeroed at 100 yards, (couple clicks up) I could shoot pretty flat out to about 150 yards? That bird at 175 did not explode so the bullet wasn't going so fast by then. My use for this rifle is shots up to and inside of 125 yards mostly. I imagine it would be a great ground squirrel killer and maybe even rabbit size animals. I would try to make all head shots with it when possible, and I think you can do that with this rifle and cartridge. I didn't get it for anything bigger.
Thanks for asking...

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review as well as the heads up on those scopes. I have a Sweet 17 that was on my 597 that will go on the Model 5 when it arrives. It really is a great scope and is designed for .17HMR rifles. I can't recall the price off hand though but if I find the slip I will post the price.

 

[EarPlug]

I have a BSA Sweet 17 also and am very impressed with the quality for the price. MidwayUSA has them on sale for $55 - $112 depending on model.

 

[3RRL]

I thought about getting one ... the Sweet 17 scope with trajectory compensating feature. There are several manufacturers who make them and they are all pretty reasonably priced. The main reasons I didn't get one is because first, I thought I would only be shooting within a limited distance on my property. That's why I chose to zero at 75 yards. If I zeroed at 100 yards it would shoot pretty flat (within an inch of elevation) at 50 yards out to about 150 yards. Although you can certainly shoot farther than that, the bullet loses a lot of energy and velocity beyond that, and it is dinky to start out with. Second, that scope I bought came with everything man: rings, flip up scope covers, sun shade, 50mm adjustable objective and illuminated reticle (2 batteries) for $62 bucks. Plus I am a Sportsman's Guide buyer's club member so I got another 10% off. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

But those Sweet 17 scopes are great, no doubt. Seeing now what I can do with this rifle and cartridge, perhaps I should have gotten one? How do those work? Do they have a reticle where you line up different lines on the crosshairs or can you turn the elevation dial to the yardage and hold dead on?
I know what they do for my other rifles. I have a trajectory compensating scope on my .240 Weatherby Mag, where I can reach out and touch someone effectively to 400 meters (for me). I have killed coyotes at that distance with one shot. It's a Tasco and not an expensive model either. You just dial the elevation to the yardage and you are bang on. It repeats back and forth too, so I'm pretty happy with it. With the added range of a rifle and cartridge like that, a trajectory compensating scope works great.
Of course that's only my opinion. Yours may vary.

I think I will shoot targets set at 50 yards, 100 yards and 150 yards to see what the ACTUAL bullet drop is at those yardages. I can determine my ACTUAL hold-over or under that way. I'll do it with the rifle zeroed at 75 yards where it is now.
I would like to know more about the Sweet 17 scopes and how the bullet compensation works on them. If my hold-over tests prove too much, I'd like to get one with the elevation dial like the Tasco. Perhaps you guys can tell me about yours?

 

[EarPlug]

Rob,

The Sweet 17 (and the Sweet 22) works by zeroing at 100 yds, reset the elevation turret to the 100 mark. From then on you turn the turret to the yardage you need and then just shoot to the cross hairs.

Works great for shooting at the same distance or have the time to adjust the scope for a distance change. But I thing the holdover method is a little easier for rapidly changing distances.

Jack

 

[3RRL]

Thanks Jack.
That's good to know about those scopes. I saw that Midway carried a lot of Barska scopes too. My plan is to determine whether or not I need to switch scopes or keep the one I have. I know that 200 yards will be the max I'd ever try to kill something with it ... probably I would pass on the shot unless it was a ground squirrel or something tiny.

Robert, I hope you get your deal with Remington straightened out and that their Model is a good shooter.

I did some field tests to see what the actual bullet trajectory was for the way I have these rifles set up. Mind you that the Barska 6 x 24 50mm scope came with high rings so the line of sight is higher than say a low profile scope mount. I have not measured how high the scope sits above the barrel, but I know it's higher since it's a 50mm objective and has to clear the bull barrel. My guess it's at least 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" above. This makes a difference of what the actual bullet trajectory is compared to what you read on other ballistic tests. I'm also not a professional shooter and another thing is my "bench rest" set up is not the greatest, so keep that in mind too.

You guys are probably laughing at some of these groups you'll see. I guess I should have laid off the coffee? But I shot about 200 rounds total at many targets. It took me all afternoon walking back and forth to retrieve them and move them. You can see my rickety set up includes a thermos, cardboard targets (ran out of paper plates), a cleaning rod for every 20 rounds or so, and a bunch of shop towels. I wish I could have had room to put my elbows on the shooting table. This one was Loretta's Grandmother's magazine rack I used. I shot from the basement of my log home out into a hillside in the BLM. It probably has a 2 or 3 percent slop upwards.

 

[3RRL]

I made up a bunch of targets and labeled them.
But after pacing off the distances, some were a little off by a few yards but good enough for what I'm doing though. So all the targets you see will be with the scope zeroed in at 80 yards and NO holdover. I used that Hornady V-Max ammo for all the targets. All the targets are 5 shot groups.

First thing I did was shoot several groups back at the 75-80 yard target. All the shots were about 1" low so I had to re-zero the scope. This also tells me why I had to hold over so much to shoot that bird at 175 yards in the earlier post. The scope must have settled or moved, so I tightened all the screws down and re-zeroed at 75-80 yards.
I shot several targets at 80 yards and here is one for that distance.



Then I paced off the 50 yard target and to my surprise, the bullets hit about 1/8" to 3/16" low. At first I thought they should be high? I shot several targets at this range to be sure it wasn't just me. This tells me that the closer I shoot, the lower the bullet will hit. That makes sense as if I were to fire at point blank, the bullet would be 1-1/2" or whatever the barrel is below the scope. Shooting at 50 yards requires no hold under at all because it's as good as zero to me. But closer than 50 yards will require some hold under.
That's good to know.



The next target is at 100 yards. Keep in mind that zero is at 80 yards with my set up. All the targets I shot showed the groups to be high about 3/8" or so. I also had some wind to contend with, but I held on center and did not compensate for windage or elevation either. Holding right on at 100 yards, this is still pretty close to zero.
So there is no need for holdover or hold under...or a slight hold under if anything at this distance.



Next target is at 150 yards, where all the targets I shot showed the bullets to hit about 1/2" low. My groups are spreading out a little more too at this distance. What I didn't do was check to see where the bullets hit at 125 yards. I suspect that it would be back to zero again. This is much like a 1" high scope on my 30:06 which is (approx) on paper at 25 yards and again at 100 yards....approximately. So these groups, all being about the same 1/2" low tells me it shoots pretty flat from 50 yards to 150 yards ... a pretty good over-all range to shoot while holding dead on. If anything, I could hold over a 1/2" at 150 yards.
Here is one of those targets.



While I was out there, I used several of the 150 yard targets and moved out to 200 yards just to see what that would be like at that distance. Now the bullet drop started showing up pretty good. All the targets I shot at 200 yards hit approx 2-1/2 low. Bullet drift due to the wind was amplified also as you can see. For sure I will want to hold over about 2-1/2" at 200 yards.
Here is one of those targets.



The last thing I did was set the target back to 75-80 yards to see if my scope moved or settled at all. I wanted to make sure of this since last time it did. Well, here is the last target and you can see the grouping was a little higher that original, but heck, it's not bad after walking up and down and having shot a couple hundred rounds for the day.



I'm satisfied with the field test I did to find out how my rifle REALLY shoots at those distances. The manner in which you have your scope mounted will make a difference like it did one my set up with those high rings. By sighting my rig in at 80 yard zero, I know now that I can shoot pretty flat from 50 yards to 150 yards without worrying too much about hold over or under. Doing the actual field test verifies it rather than relying solely on ballistic information. It takes a little time and many rounds, but it sure makes you learn your rifle and cartridge a lot better. Consequently, it makes you a better shot and gives you more confidence in the field. I'm sure it will help me when shooting ground squirrels and I hope this post will be of value for others.

 

[3RRL]

OK, I had the chance to shoot one of the many ground squirrels that have been eating our baby sunflower plants.
This what we got these rifles for. I held between his eyes and ears at 40 yards and should have held at the top of his head.
I know from the field test that I need to hold over a bit when shooting closer than 50 yards.
These photos show the damage that little 17 HMR can do.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS
Do not enlarge if they offend you.