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As most readers of
Gunblast know, I have been a proponent of the .17 Hornady
Magnum Rimfire since it’s introduction. The Ruger
bolt action Model 77/17 was the first production gun tested
here that fired the new cartridge, and proved to be an accurate
and well-built performer. The accuracy of the .17 HMR in the Taurus
Tracker revolver is amazing. The .17 HMR has proven to offer
high velocity, good accuracy, and explosive terminal performance
on small pests and vermin. Many manufacturers are now building
rifles chambered for the new cartridge, and ammunition sales of
the little .17 are brisk. It looks as if the .17 HMR is here to
stay.
The latest .17 HMR
rifle with which I have been working is the new lever action
Ruger, and is the subject of this article, as most who have read
the title have figured out by now. I first learned of the Ruger
lever-action .17 magnum at the SHOT
Show in February of 2002. A Ruger executive had brought a
prototype with him that had been assembled at the last minute,
and I was instantly impressed with the idea of chambering their
lever gun for the little cartridge.
Production had
been delayed on the lever-action somewhat due to the great
success of the 77/17 bolt action. All .17 caliber barrel
production effort was going to fill the demand for the great
little bolt gun, leaving the lever action model 96/17M on the
back burner waiting for the barrels. Recently, after much
begging and groveling, I was finally able to obtain a production
gun for testing.
The model 96/17M
wears a light profile 18-½ inch barrel that measures .553 inch
at the muzzle. The rifle has a deep blue/black metal finish and
an attractive birch stock with a smooth carbine style butt
plate. The trigger pull on the test gun released with four and
three-quarters pounds of pressure. The magazine holds nine
rounds of .17 magnum ammo, and is of the excellent rotary
design. Ruger’s rimfire rifles have the best magazine design
in the industry. Most competitive .17 magnum rifles have a box
magazine that looks like an afterthought, but the Ruger design
fits flush with the bottom of the stock, and has about an eighty
percent capacity advantage over most box magazines. The barrel
wears a set of adjustable open sights, and is also supplied with
a scope mount base that attaches to the pre-drilled receiver.
While the model
77/17 bolt gun is a fine rifle, I really love the lighter weight
of the model 96 lever guns. They weigh about a pound less than
the bolt guns, and are almost four inches shorter overall. This
makes for a much handier package. The tradeoff, I suspected,
would be lower velocity in the shorter barrel, and perhaps poor
accuracy due to the barrel band on the stock of the new model
96. The lever action wears an 18-½ inch barrel that is 3-½
inches shy of the bolt gun’s 22 inch barrel. Also, sometimes a
barrel band can really screw up the accuracy of an otherwise
accurate rifle.
The short lever
throw on the model 96 is a real advantage to this design. The
style and profile of the lever reminds me of the great Savage
Model 99 lever, which I suspect was intentional, as Bill Ruger
was an admirer of the Arthur Savage design. The short
throw lever allows the shooter to keep a grasp on the stock
while working the lever, adding greatly to the speed of getting
off a follow-up shot. The cocking indicator at the rear of the
receiver can be both seen and felt to allow the shooter to
confirm the readiness of the rifle to fire.
To test the
performance of the 96/17M, I mounted a Tasco Varmint
scope atop the receiver, gathered a supply of Hornady
ammo, and proceeded to the shooting bench. As stated earlier, I
was concerned that the shorter barrel of the model 96 would
result in lower velocity. This little cartridge relies on
velocity for optimum performance, so I was anxious to see
how much velocity would be given away by using a barrel that is
3-½ inches shorter than the one on the model 77/17 bolt gun.
Setting up the PACT chronograph at a distance of ten feet
from the muzzle, I proceeded to fire a few rounds over the
skyscreens. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the
velocity readings from the model 96/17M were a bit faster than
those recorded from the longer barreled rifles that I have
tested! The velocities recorded ranged from a low reading of
2510 feet-per-second (fps) to a high of 2552 fps. This tells me
that the Hornady ammo is very efficient in the 18-½ inch Ruger
barrel, and velocity is not compromised at all by using a barrel
of this length.
My concerns of the
barrel band upon the accuracy of the gun were also unfounded.
Accuracy of the Hornady .17 ammunition in the model 96/17M is
excellent. Three shot groups at 110 yards consistently went into
just 9/16 of an inch. Rapidly firing the rifle for more than ten
shots resulted in some vertical stringing of the group as the
barrel heated, which is to be expected. Nine-sixteenths of an
inch is great accuracy from any rimfire rifle, but from a
lightweight lever-action is downright amazing! I have been very
pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the Hornady .17 in every
gun in which I have tested it. The rifle performed flawlessly in
all testing, with no failures to feed, fire, or extract any
cartridge.
Another nice
feature of the Ruger model 96/17M is that it sells for about 180
bucks less than the model 77/17 bolt action rifle. This places
the price of the Model 96 lever-action in line with some of the
lower priced bolt action .17 rifles on the market, while
offering better handling qualities and great accuracy.
The bolt of the
Ruger lever-action carries dual extractors which add a
controlled-round feed system to the rifle. As the cartridge
leaves the magazine, it is picked up by the extractors and
guided into the chamber, resulting in no bullet deformation for
greater accuracy.
The advantage of
the .17 HMR over other rimfire cartridges is that of greater
velocity. The .17 HMR also has a better bullet shape for greater
retained downrange velocity and a flatter trajectory than the
.22 magnum. As a bonus, every .17 HMR gun that I have tested
exhibited good accuracy, and this Ruger model 96/17M is one of
the best in that regard.
The Ruger 96/17M
rifle offers shooters a lightweight, handy, and easy to use
rifle that is very accurate and carries nine rounds of .17 HMR
ammo in it’s excellent rotary magazine. Check out Ruger’s
extensive line of firearms online here.
For a look at the
.17 HMR cartridge and other Hornady products go to: www.hornady.com.
In a very short
time, the .17 HMR has taken the shooting world by storm. Ruger
has embraced this little cartridge from the very beginning, and
in the 96/17M lever-action, they have a real winner. I like it.
Jeff Quinn
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Click pictures for a larger version.
Ruger's long-awaited Model 96/17M lever-action rifle in
.17 HMR is all the author hoped it would be: a handy,
inexpensive and extremely accurate rifle that delivers the
little Hornady .17 bullet with excellent velocity.
The action design of the Model 96/17M features a
short-throw lever.
Ruger's venerable rotary magazine design has been
adapted for use on the Model 96/17M. Jeff considers this to be
among the finest magazine systems ever developed, offering
good ammo capacity and smooth function in a design that fits
flush with the bottom of the rifle.
The Model 96/17M's bolt features dual extractors, which
adds a controlled-round feed system for maximum accuracy and
reliability.
A nice touch: the Model 96/17M features a highly-visible
and tactile cocking indicator in a position convenient to the
thumb of either a right-handed or left-handed shooter.
The Ruger Model 96/17M also features a smooth plastic
carbine-style buttplate.
While the accuracy of the Model 96/17M begs for a scope,
the little rifle wears a nice set of iron sights, including
Ruger's fully adjustable rear sight.
With a quality scope mounted, such as this Tasco varmint
scope, the Ruger Model 96/17M is a real tack driver!
Three-shot group of 9/16" at 100 yards is
representative of the fine accuracy of the Model 96/17M.
Author was pleasantly surprised by the level of accuracy
shown by the Ruger Model 96/17M. Such accuracy from a
production lightweight lever-action carbine is extremely rare.
Ruger has done it again!
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