.17 Rimfires

The .17 HMR, .17 Mach 2 and .17 WSM from SAAMI's own drawings and the makers' own pages: where each came from, what fits in what, every factory load, drop and wind from the makers' printed drift tables, what they do on arrival, the 2009 semi-automatic warnings, and the rifles and cost per round today.

Firearms

.17 Rimfires · Deep Dive

.17 Rimfires

On Federal's own tables a .17 HMR drifts about a third less than a .22 Magnum, not half, and a fast 30-grain .22 Magnum drifts more than a .22 Long Rifle.

The .17 HMR, .17 Mach 2 and .17 WSM from SAAMI's own drawings and the makers' own pages: where each came from, what fits in what, every factory load, drop and wind from the makers' printed drift tables, what they do on arrival, the 2009 semi-automatic warnings, and the rifles and cost per round today.

Photo: 17 HMR cartridge by Malis

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    Volumes

    1. Vol 1 Overview — Three Cartridges, One Bullet Diameter The .17 HMR, the .17 Mach 2 and the .17 Winchester Super Magnum: what they are, what the record actually shows, and the corrections this dive makes before anything else
    2. Vol 2 Origins — The 17 Aguila, Hornady's Two, and Winchester's Nail-Gun Case How the .17 HMR came from the .22 Magnum in 2002, how a patent turned CCI's Stinger case into the .17 Mach 2, and how Winchester built the .17 WSM on a case of its own
    3. Vol 3 On Paper — What SAAMI Specifies, What Fits in What, and How to Tell Them Apart The three .17 rimfires as the industry standard defines them: dimensions, headspace, pressures, test barrels and proof, the chamber mix-ups the drawings make possible, and an identification guide
    4. Vol 4 Made and Fired — The Case, the Chamber, the Barrel and the Bore How a bottlenecked rimfire is made and what happens in the chamber when it fires; pressure, barrel length and the 1:9 twist; and how to keep a .17 bore shooting
    5. Vol 5 Every Factory Load — What the Makers Print, and Where They Disagree Every current .17 HM2, .17 HMR and .17 WSM loading from Hornady, CCI, Federal, Remington and Winchester, each with the maker's own figures, read from the maker's own pages in October 2026
    6. Vol 6 Flight — Trajectory, and the Wind Argument Read From the Makers' Own Tables How flat the three .17s shoot against the .22 WMR and .22 LR, how far they drift, and how much of the .17's famous wind advantage survives a like-for-like comparison
    7. Vol 7 Arrival — What a .17 Does to a Varmint, a Predator and the Pot Terminal performance from the bullet makers' own descriptions and published energies: fragmenting varmint bullets, the loads built not to expand, the coyote question, and where the Mach 2 runs out
    8. Vol 8 The Semi-Automatic Question — 2009, Case Heads, Blowback, and What Changed The ammunition makers' warning of August 2009, Remington's recall of its .17 HMR 597, Hornady's reply, the class action that followed, and how Savage and Winchester answered the problem in steel
    9. Vol 9 Rifles, Suppressors and Cost — What Fires Them, and What They Cost to Feed The rifles chambered for each .17 rimfire in October 2026 with the makers' own prices, what a suppressor does and does not do on a .17, and availability and cost per round from sellers' own pages
    10. Vol 10 Cheatsheet The .17 HM2, .17 HMR and .17 WSM on one page: dimensions, pressures, loads, drop, drift, energy, rifles, cost and the rules