still loving that lil 17 Mach 2

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
a couple years ago, I built a custom 17 Mach 2 on an older Marlin bolt action 22 rifle... relined the barrel to 17 caliber & rechambered to Mach 2, floated the barrel, bedded the action, & fitted a set of mounts & installed a 2-7 scope... I built it for use around the farm site, as it's lower noise, offer little chance of recoil, & shoots like a laser

it's both amaizingly accurate ( head shot a pidgon at 100 yards a couple months ago... & it's regular use is trying to cut down on those fast running red pine squirrels that over populate our windbreak ) & it's suprisingly powerful, because of the velocity on bigger animals... ( I dropped 5 racoons in 2 days last weekend that the farm doggie tree'd over night, one shot to the head & they drop like a rock, & MRS uses it regularly to shoot racoons the dog trees over night, that she sees after the sun comes up & I've already left for work )

I'm suprised that this little cartridge is not more popular ( 22 LR necked down to 17 caliber ) it's quiet shooting, no recoil, & has become the favorite gun of MRS MAGNUM... in fact it's replaced the .410 shotgun as the farm "closet" gun ( the gun that's close to the back door for "everyday" use )

I did see some Hornady 17 Mach 2 at Cabelas last week for the 1st time... anyone else shooting this nifty lil round ???
 
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I am also falling in love with 17 caliber rimfires after seeing how well they shoot. My shooting partner has a CZ in 17HMR that shoots pretty darn good, about moa with the right ammo. I am in the process of building a 17HMR on a Remington 580 action (new barrel, threaded the receiver, added recoil lug, will bed the action and freefloat the barrel, topped with a 2-7X scope), and I have a Remington 581 (detachable magazine version of the same rifle) that will probably get turned into a 17Mach2. I guess the main reason I did not warm up to the 17Mach2 is that ever since it was introduced, all the gun rags have been predicting its demise due to the cost of ammo (as compared to 22LR, I suppose), and I thought maybe they knew what they were talking about. 10 years later, I am kicking myself for not jumping on the bandwagon right away.
 
Most of what I've been shooting ( sighted the gun with ) is Eley

& CCI has been around, & I have several boxes, but Hornady is something pretty new... the Eley is pretty hard for me to find locally ( I usually buy bricks on line ) ... now that Hornady has jumped into the game, I think I may re-sight in the rifle for those ???

doesn't look like it's dead... & the Mach 2 is much quieter than the 17 HMR... maybe a little cheaper over all, & I have my scope dialed in on the turret to 250 yards... though at that distance, ( I've only shot paper ) a crow might be it's limit ??? & wind become a pretty big issue
 
I converted a 10-22 to 17M2 using a Green Mountain barrel and heavy bolt handle. I don't shoot it much but it fits a niche as a low noise round to use where a pass through from a 22lr is not acceptable. I've shot raccoons in barn rafters, groundhogs under feed bins, and stray cats inside the barn w/o colateral damage to surrounding material. Works great for shooting animals in the live trap since it doesn't damage the trap with pass through strikes.
 
The downfall of the bottleneck 17s is that you can't shoot them from revolvers (and SA, etc) unlike the 22 which can be shot in anything. Also, people didn't see it as adding anything that an existing round cannot do.

That said, I want one :) If I lived on the family ranch, I'd have one or two already!
 
I'd think if it's chambered for 17 HMR, then the Mach 2 would not be good to fire in it... the 22 Mag uses a standard seated bullet, the 22 LR uses a heel seated bullet ( parent cases for both rounds ) ... the HMR case is bigger around...

being the 17's are bottlenecked ( & likely ) higher pressures, a case rupture would be almost certain
 
I love the little Mach 2. The Marlin 917 I picked up a few years ago has become a favorite of mine. At 100 yards, it prints sub MOA easily. I can't believe this cartridge hasn't caught on more widely.
 
just picked up a savage mk in m2 this summer, planning on it being my goto squirrel rifle once i get it tuned. I have a 17hmr but its just too damaging, cant wait to see what the smaller 17 will do
 
I had never owned a 17 mach 2 but found a nice Marlin at a pawn shop a few weeks ago .After free floating barrel then going to the shooting range I was very impressed and wondered why everyone doesn't want one of these in their collection. Great accuracy and range. I have several 17 hmrs and 22s but have fallen in love with the 17 m2.
 
used mine just this weekend to take down 3 more of those pesky Red Pine Squirrels... they move really fast, & don't stay still for very long, but it's like a lazer if I can catch them stopped for just a second
 
I got a 17 HM2 CZ rifle when it first came out. It is one fine prairie dog pup shooter when there a lot of shots within 100 yards. I had a Cooper 57 M LVT 17 HMR so when I found a 17 HM2 Cooper for a good price I got it and sold the CZ rifle. A few years ago before the plague the two Cooper rifles shot a bit over 2,000 prairie dogs. For small pest the 17 RF rifles are the best , most of the time my 22 LR and 22 WMR rifles stay at home.
 
I always wanted to give the 17m2 a try, unfortunately it seems like cz is not offering rifles for this cartridge anymore (theyre gone from the website)...
+ i read that .17cal bullets ruin every barrel.
 
I don't know why a 17 caliber bullet would wreck a barrel... my guess is more barrels get wrecked from cleaning rods than 17 rimfires...

I did replace the barrel on my FIL's old Remington 700 in 17 Remington, & those rifles are known to eat out the throats, ( but that is a 223 case necked down to 17 caliber, & my FIL, had loads that were faster than the bullets could hold, & the bullets would come apart before they hit the target )but I don't even shoot the old 17 Remington much anymore, especially since I did the rebarrel, I changed the rifle over to 17 Fireball...

I'm sure there are many, many shooters here, that have thousands of rounds through their 17 HMR's, & they still shoot fine ( just used that example, because it's the more popular rimfire chambering )

I suppose it's possible, that if a poor quality barrel steel were used, that it would last longer in a 22 RF, than in one of the 17 RF's...

BTW... I'd expect copper fouling, before a barrel actually being shot out, with the 17 RF's
 
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