17hmr for CA lead Free Compliance?

[Puddleparty]

I'm new to the board and I'm an avid shotgunner ... waterfowl is what I'm after the most but sometimes I take rabbits with my 12 gauge. with that said I'm interested in reaching out and touching some varmints from a stationary position rather than trekking through the bush and blowing them to bits with my shotgun. I was on the market for a .22LR until I looked at the selection of lead free ammo that is offered and realized .22 is probably not going to be my best option come 2019 when the state goes completely lead free. I then stumbled upon .17HMR which seems to have several very good options for "green" ammo and they can reach out to 100 yards with enough foot pounds to take out rabbits and other varmints where the lead free .22 ammo reduces you to pellet gun range (I've already got a .22 pellet gun if thats the case!!). I guess my question here is do any of you guys think there is a snow balls chance in hell there will be lead free offerings in .22lr that are viable for hunting or is that a pipe dream to think ammunition manufacturers will step up and accommodate 1 state? I guess it's tough to compare .22LR to 17hmr when 17 is closer to 22mag but in my mind 17hmr is the next logical jump from .22 when considering the lead free laws we are facing. Am I thinking clearly here that 17hmr would make a good choice considering the lead ban? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Eric Mayer]

Yes, I think it would. The 15.5 grain ammo that is out there is accurate and seems to be readily available (there is even some on the shelves here in Idaho).

If you want to move up to something with more power, the 17WSM will be a good option, once Winchester releases their 15 grain lead free ammo and gets it on the CA lead free list. It should be out soon. Your rifle choices are a bit limited, but if you want to buy an AR without worrying about all the new laws, the Franklin Armory F17 series of rifles is a great choice for accuracy, fun and it's a 17WSM.

Eric

[Puddleparty]

Yes, I think it would. The 15.5 grain ammo that is out there is accurate and seems to be readily available (there is even some on the shelves here in Idaho).

If you want to move up to something with more power, the 17WSM will be a good option, once Winchester releases their 15 grain lead free ammo and gets it on the CA lead free list. It should be out soon. Your rifle choices are a bit limited, but if you want to buy an AR without worrying about all the new laws, the Franklin Armory F17 series of rifles is a great choice for accuracy, fun and it's a 17WSM.

Eric

Thanks for the link and the reassurance ... unfortunately for me I'm a lefty so riffle selection is even more limited for me. I shot right hand bolt actions growing up but since getting a left hand autoloader 12 gauge I just can't go back to flipping the gun on its side or reaching over the action to chamber a round. I'm look at a bolt action, probably a Savage 93R17 or maybe CZ 452 left hand in 17hmr but I'm leaning toward the savage. I wish they offered more stock configurations for the lefty, though it's likely I'll upgrade to a boyds stock. My choices on left hand savage riffles are basically the standard sporter wood stock with the blued bull barrel and action in 17hmr or the thumb through stainless steel version. Personally I like the stainless action and barrel but I'm not sure I'm a fan of the thumb through stock, Guess I could always change that to a boyds stock too but that's tacking on a few hundred bucks over building the blued version the way I want it since the blued sporter comes in at abut half the price retail ... decisions

Anyway 17WSM is interesting to me but I don't really hunt predators and the goal is meat for the freezer (rabbits mostly) so I think .17hmr might be as destructive as I want to go I've seen videos of people that took heart shots and there wasn't much meat left out the back

[Ronin75]

I purchased a savage 93 in 22wmr, threw away the cheap plastic stock and purchased a Boyd's standard hunter stock for 200$, free floated the barrel and put a Leupold 3x9x40 scope. That rifle shoots a 1/2" at 100 yards. They r very accurate rifles. Good luck

[damon1272]

Love the 17 her. One of my favorite rounds. You can reliably get out to 150 yards with enough energy to anchor a rabbit. Savage does make a nice left handed heavy barrel with a laminated thumbhole stock. Very nice rifle with a great trigger. I highly recommend that combination. I normally run a 2.5x10 scope and it is more than enough scope of that combination.

[Puddleparty]

I purchased a savage 93 in 22wmr, threw away the cheap plastic stock and purchased a Boyd's standard hunter stock for 200$, free floated the barrel and put a Leupold 3x9x40 scope. That rifle shoots a 1/2" at 100 yards. They r very accurate rifles. Good luck

nice! That basically what I'm going to probably end up doing as well.

Essentially my idea is to take this model http://www.gandermountain.com/modper...cgi?i=GM416260

and swap out the stock with something like this

http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/ProductDetail/437251y1a111_rimfire-hunter-savage-93r-bull-barrel-channel-stock-nutmeg-laminate-finished

then put a decent 3x9x40 scope on it and maybe a bipod as well.

[G-forceJunkie]

There are 3 or 4 choices of lead free 17hmr, my Savage like the 15.5 Horinday. The other benefit is the flat trajectory. The only .22lr Lead free I have used is the Winchester made of tin. Its fast, like 1600 fps, but the accuracy is not great. Impact on small game is also not great, basically a through and through shot. I have experimented with hollowpointing the Winchester bullets, and in tests (water jugs, wet newspaper) it really helps dump the energy. While Imade my own, Paco make a tool to hollowpoint .22lr bullets.

[TKM]

Are you sure that you are new?

There is something about your wall of text that reminds me of members that have taken time off to be with their families.

[Puddleparty]

Are you sure that you are new?

There is something about your wall of text that reminds me of members that have taken time off to be with their families.

who needs Paragraphs when you can have one big Paragraph?

[Puddleparty]

Love the 17 her. One of my favorite rounds. You can reliably get out to 150 yards with enough energy to anchor a rabbit. Savage does make a nice left handed heavy barrel with a laminated thumbhole stock. Very nice rifle with a great trigger. I highly recommend that combination. I normally run a 2.5x10 scope and it is more than enough scope of that combination.

I know I've been eyeing that one I'm just not 100% sure I'll like the thumb through but I like the Stainless option that model offers .... might just have to try it and if it isn't for me I can change stocks.

[Puddleparty]

There are 3 or 4 choices of lead free 17hmr, my Savage like the 15.5 Horinday. The other benefit is the flat trajectory. The only .22lr Lead free I have used is the Winchester made of tin. Its fast, like 1600 fps, but the accuracy is not great. Impact on small game is also not great, basically a through and through shot. I have experimented with hollowpointing the Winchester bullets, and in tests (water jugs, wet newspaper) it really helps dump the energy. While Imade my own, Paco make a tool to hollowpoint .22lr bullets.

Have you tried the CCI TNT Speer 16 grain Hollow point 17hmr? good to know there is a non toxic round that works well with the savages i.e. the Hornady 15.5 grain.

[MongooseV8]

Both the Hornady ntx and the CCI green TNT have been very accurate for me. Never did have a chance to try on game though.

[ChuckDizzle]

Both the Hornady ntx and the CCI green TNT have been very accurate for me. Never did have a chance to try on game though.

Ditto, I recently did some accuracy testing on my 455 and while the Remington PRM was hands down the best, the TNT Green and NTX were close enough to my standard CCI A17 that I've been using that if I miss I'm blaming myself. Fortunately I can still use the cheaper A17 stuff for a bit longer.

[Spyder]

The CCI lead free stuff shoots great out of my Savage. Same POI at 100 as the CCI fmj and CCI poly tip stuff. Haven't shot it beyond that yet though.

[Darto]

Cabelas sell TNT in 17 HMR, not on a sale but their 22 WMR is on sale for $13.99. 17 HMR is $15.99

http://www.cabelas.com/product/CCI-HMR-Ammunition/740467.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dtnt