Lagging behind in popularity for many years,
the little 17 caliber has been coming on strong ever since the
introduction of the rimfire 17 HMR
cartridge a few years ago. I know that I have certainly sent
my share of the diminutive bullets downrange, and have had a
wonderful time doing so. Wildcatters have played around with
.177 inch diameter bullets for decades, and the 17 Remington has
had a loyal following for a long time.
When I first learned a few months ago that
Hornady was going to legitimize the 17 Hornet, I knew that I had
to have one. At least one.
Based upon a slightly-shortened 22 Hornet
cartridge case, with the taper reduced and wearing a modern
shoulder design, the little 17 Hornet was advertised to send a
20 grain seventeen caliber V-Max bullet out the muzzle at 3650
feet-per-second. I like it already. Also, according to Hornady
literature, the 17 Hornet mimics the trajectory of a 55 grain
spitzer bullet fired from a 223 Remington, so it should reach
out to serve as an effective varmint cartridge.
Knowing already what the bullet from a 17 HMR
will do to small vermin, I expect the V-Max performance to be
spectacular, within range.
When I found out that Savage was going to
offer the new seventeen in their Model 25 rifle, the little
cartridge really piqued my interest. The Model 25 is a rifle
that is sized just right for a varmint rifle. The receiver is
slim, has a low-angle bolt lift, two-position safety, and it
wears their wonderful AccuTrigger. The particular version of the
Model 25 featured here is their Walking Varminter, and it is
perhaps the perfect launch vehicle for the new 17 Hornet
cartridge.
The Walking Varminter is the lightest in
weight of the Model 25 Lightweight Varminter series. The Walking
Varminter comes in at about one and one-third pounds lighter
than the other two variations of the Model 25. This lighter
weight is achieved by using a lightweight polymer stock instead
of the laminated wood stock, and by fitting a twenty-two inch
barrel instead of a twenty-four inch barrel. The Walking
Varminter weighed in at six pounds, fourteen ounces on my scale.
The black polymer stock of the Walking Varminter is comfortable
to hold, is well-textured where needed, wears sling studs, and
has a soft recoil pad. While no one any larger than an embryo
would consider the recoil of the 17 Hornet to be fierce, the
soft pad is a nice feature, and keeps the rifle stock
well-planted on the shoulder.
The twenty-two inch heavy barrel tapers from
.978 inch just ahead of the tubular receiver to .708 inch at the
muzzle. The barrel is carbon steel, with a good-looking matte
black finish that goes well with the rest of the rifle. The bolt
is jeweled, with the Savage name and logo etched on the side, to
be seen in the ejection port when the bolt is closed. The
detachable box magazine is a smooth-working single-stack polymer
unit, and holds four cartridges, for a fully-loaded capacity of
five.
Savage thoughtfully supplies the Model 25
with Weaver-style scope bases attached. For testing, I mounted a
superb Trijicon 5 to 20 power mil-dot AccuPoint scope. This
scope has very clear optical quality, side focus, and
finger-adjustable target turrets. The AccuPoint has tritium
illumination, backed up with adjustable fiber-optic illumination
for the center of the mil-dot reticle. This scope might seem
like overkill for the 17 Hornet, but I don’t think so. Small
target out to 300 yards are this cartridge's business, and the
Trijicon makes those targets easy to see, and easy to hit. I
mounted the AccuPoint atop the Model 25 using Trijicon steel
rings, and proceeded to the bench, as I was anxious to start
shooting.
The only ammunition that I had available to
me is the Hornady 20 grain V-Max load. I ordered dies and
bullets, but they have not yet arrived, so I went ahead without
them. The Hornady load proved to be extremely accurate, after
the barrel got seasoned a bit by shooting. The AccuTrigger,
after a small adjustment, released crisply at two and
one-quarter pounds, down from the two and one-half pounds as
delivered. That trigger makes the rifle easy to shoot very well
off the bench. After bore-sighting, I loaded the rifle, and got
everything set at twenty-five yards, then fifty, before moving
out to one hundred yards. Savage shoots every rifle for accuracy
before it leaves the factory, and the enclosed target had a
group that measured under an inch, so I knew that this rifle
would shoot. My first group out of the Model 25 measured just
seven-eighths of an inch, for three shots, and it got better
from there. As the bore became “seasoned” a bit, the groups
started shrinking. All firing was done from a solid bench. There
was no breeze stirring at all, except for the ceiling fan over
my shooting bench, and the sun was at my back, lighting the
target very well. Everything was just right. At the end of the
day, I decided to shoot a ten-shot group, and it proved to be
the tightest group fired from this rifle. Everything was just
right. I had the rifle resting in a Target
Shooting Inc. Model 500 rifle rest, and with the extremely
light recoil, I had to barely touch the rifle to fire. Looking
through the Trijicon scope, I could see the rhythm of my
heartbeat moving the reticle a little, so I backed my shoulder
slightly away from the recoil pad. Seven of those ten shots went
into the same hole, with the others pulled from the center
blamed entirely upon me. I fully expected this rifle to shoot
like a Savage, but it exceeded my expectations. The half-inch
size of that ten-shot group is a testament to the rifle, scope,
mount, trigger, and rest. I just happened to be there touching
off that trigger.
The Hornady ammunition lived up to its
billing, recording 3653 fps velocity ten feet from the muzzle.
The air was typical for Tennessee this time of year, with a
temperature of eighty-eight degrees, and humidity in the ninety
percent range while testing for velocity and accuracy, at an
elevation of approximately 541 feet above sea level. According
to the ballistics chart, those bullets should still be in excess
of 2100 fps at 300 yards, with a drop of just over six inches
when sighted dead on at 200. Hopefully, I will get to try out
those 20 grain V-Max bullets on some prairie dogs later this
summer or early fall.
There is not too much more to add, except
that this is a dandy little cartridge, providing a relatively
flat trajectory, mild report, and almost no recoil. The Model 25
Walking Varminter is lightweight, but not excessively so. The
weight is in the barrel, so it balances muzzle-heavy for a
steady hold in the field. The barrel is slow to heat up, and at
least in this particular rifle, superbly accurate. The 17 Hornet
is a welcome addition to the other cartridges that are chambered
in the Model 25, and could easily become my favorite. The Savage
Arms Walking Varminter has a suggested retail price, as of the
date of this review, of only $567 US.