.17hmr rifling

[rossim92]

I might be coming across a remington .17hmr boltaction with a scope.. A friend just got laid off and offered to loan him money with the remington as collateral. I read somewheres that the rifling is sensitive and cleaning the barrel should be done as little as possible or non at all . What say you? any idea as to resale value? Not sure of the model yet.

[GunnyMack]

Well I can't say one way or the other about the HMR but I know my 17 Rem does tell me when it needs cleaning, accuracy go south when it's ready.
On the other hand, I don't clean my rimfire barrels.

[Bronco]

I'm with Gunny on the cleaning for a 17, at least for my 17 HMR

The 17 HMR is one of my squirrel tools! I shoot until it tells me to clean it. Then after I am done cleaning it, it take 10 to 20 rounds to get back to the basics.

[jengel]

We have seen here at the gun shop that .17 caliber rifles are far more sensitive to copper fouling that some other guns. Especially in the centerfire rifles like the 17 Rem and the 17 Fireball, we have had some shooters clean theirs after about every 50-100 rounds. We had a .17HMR in here the other day that took several bronze brushes to clean. The bullets were tumbling badly. After a good cleaning, they started shooting fine again.

I don't know where it got started that .17 caliber barrels have delicate rifling, probably by the same guy that said .22lr shotshells will ruin your barrel. LOL.

[jengel]

Well I can't say one way or the other about the HMR but I know my 17 Rem does tell me when it needs cleaning, accuracy go south when it's ready.
On the other hand, I don't clean my rimfire barrels.

Remember Theron's 10/22 that had so many rounds through it, he couldn't keep a scope on it? That thing had tons of rounds through it.

[GunnyMack]

Yes Jim I remember his 10/22 every time I see one!
My 17 Rem is good for about 50 rounds before it goes south on groups. I've been thinking about re-barreling it to 223 but I really don't need another .223! Kinda stuck because of bolt face...

OT- Jim I was texting with Bob D yesterday, he is moving from MO to Kentucky in the near future. He & his wife were both working for Midway. Now he has a job doing wood boat restoration. If I remember I'll send him your email so he can contact you.

[harry]

Yes Jim I remember his 10/22 every time I see one!
My 17 Rem is good for about 50 rounds before it goes south on groups. I've been thinking about re-barreling it to 223 but I really don't need another .223! Kinda stuck because of bolt face...

OT- Jim I was texting with Bob D yesterday, he is moving from MO to Kentucky in the near future. He & his wife were both working for Midway. Now he has a job doing wood boat restoration. If I remember I'll send him your email so he can contact you.

Have you thought about a 204 Ruger barrel

[rossim92]

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/rifles/r ... ble-today/ this the website that reviewed the .17 hmr's on the market. Read the third paragraph down about cleaning the barrel and let me know what u think about it. Thanks

[GunnyMack]

Well, a rifle barrel is steel, cleaning brushes are bronze, jags are brass. Both are SOFTER than steel. How they claim cleaning can damage the bore I'm not sure.
Yes the lands & grooves are smaller could be slightly more delicate but if you use a .17 rod & brush/jag you should be fine.
Now I'm not saying it is or isn't possible to wreck a bore by cleaning but I sure as heck wouldn't go after it with lapping compound!

[jengel]

Well, a rifle barrel is steel, cleaning brushes are bronze, jags are brass. Both are SOFTER than steel. How they claim cleaning can damage the bore I'm not sure.
Yes the lands & grooves are smaller could be slightly more delicate but if you use a .17 rod & brush/jag you should be fine.
Now I'm not saying it is or isn't possible to wreck a bore by cleaning but I sure as heck wouldn't go after it with lapping compound!

I agree. Steel barrel, bronze brushes, just like any other barrel on the market. There are times that we use lapping compound on barrels. We have a Hawkeye borescope that tells us how much chatter there is in a barrel. If you look down a Savage barrel, it looks like it was rifled by a drunk beaver. Some of them are terrible. Lapping takes the tops off of the chatter and makes them a little bit smoother. If a customer has a hard time cleaning a barrel, we may lap it to make the barrel smoother so there aren't so many holes for the copper to collect.

I personally don't like .17 caliber rifles. It seems like everyone has them out here and think they can shoot anything up to coyotes with them. I think they are great for critters like prairie dogs, squirrels, rabbits, badgers and things like that. When they go to shoot coyotes, sure, they may kill some but the bullet doesn't have the structural integrity to plow through meat and bone to get to the vitals. That's why I kind of like to shoot bullets that are heavy for the caliber.

[GunnyMack]

I shot a cotton tail with a factory 17 Rem when I first got the rifle, upon impact that rabbit came about 6' off the ground and was skinned from the ears to the paws all the way back to the rib cage. Those little 25 grain bullets at 4000 fps are hard on small critters! I've shot a few groundhogs with it out to about 200 yds and they never flinch when they are hit.

If memory serves, PO Ackley used various 17's many moons ago while shooting either camels or wild jackasses in Arizona. I remember him stating that those hit in the head would just get flattened. Although I don't remember if he was using solids or not.