What good is the 17 HMR in a hand gun?

G

Glock20/460long

New member
A buddy of mine just bought a 6" revolver in the 17 HMR, he got a "good":rolleyes: deal on it, $200 for a Taurus.

He told me it was worth $400. I never seen the gun yet, but no way.

I'm going to tell him to sell it ASAP .

Point? I think it's a rifle round.
 
So because it's a 'rifle round' he won't be able to enjoy shooting it from a pistol? Lots of folks enjoy Ruger .30 carbine pistols, and .22 Long RIFLE is often shot from a pistol; why not the .17? I'm guessing he won't be hunting deer with it....



Larry
 
It will have twice the effective range of a .22 Magnum, if it's like my experience with each in ground hog guns. I would make sure you aren't dumping a real tack driver.
 
Don't tell the .22lr and 22mag that they're rifle rounds and can't work in a handgun. :rolleyes:

I'd LOVE a 17hmr handgun but I want an auto. It would be the same good as most of my other guns... because I want it.
 
I hate to break the news, but the 22 mag isn't a particularly good handgun round. It generates a lot of noise and amazing flash, even in daylight, for not a lot of ballistic improvement. Now I realize that there are new 22 mag loads that deal with these issues. AFAIK, there isn't any equivalent available for 17 HMR, so it will be loud, blindingly bright and slow when fired out of a handgun. A bottlenecked cartridge really needs a longer barrel to work properly.

If you want it "because I want it", then get one and Godspeed, but that's the only reason I can see to get one.
 
Well, in defense of both the .22 mag r.f. & the .17 hmr for use in handguns.
They are both much louder & will damage your hearing if ear protection isn't used.
Both are accurate rounds but handguns are notoriously less accurate than rifles.
The .17 hmr has greater range but with a handgun it is far, far, less accurate than any rifle.
Wonder why your buddy got such a deal on the Taurus revolver?
But if a person wants one then by all means a person should buy what is wanted.
( I suppose someone wants to argue that a .17 h.m.r. revolver is just as accurate as any rifle )
 
If you want it "because I want it", then get one and Godspeed, but that's the only reason I can see to get one.
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Wow, if I've got to run to my inventory and eliminate the ones that fall under that category... I'm going to be left with only a couple of firearms. Can't even bear the thought.
Both are accurate rounds but handguns are notoriously less accurate than rifles.
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At the risk of being a nit-picker, I'll have to hope you meant that handguns are notoriously more difficult to shoot accurately than rifles... because mechanically, the opposite may actually be true. Barrel harmonics.
 
The .17HMR pretty much is all velocity, very little projectile weight. A pistol barrel will sacrifice a huge amount of velocity compared to a rifle barrel. Anyone chrono .17HMR out of a pistol? I'd bet it's not too much faster than .22WMR through the same length barrel. Probably even less efficient due to it's bottle neck shape and smaller diameter neck.
It's a bit like .270 vs .30-06 many tests have shown that .270 loses significantly more velocity than .30-06 when you shorten the barrel. I suspect the same to be true for .17 vs .22WMR.

Not that it wont 'work' and that's not saying someone can't enjoy firing the weapon, but IMO, it makes for a very inefficient round in a pistol, and is likely useless for anything but target shooting, unless you're hunting very small critters at short ranges, in which case, I doubt it'll be any more effective that .22WMR or .22LR.
I highly doubt that .17WMR will have 'twice the effective range of 22WMR' from a pistol barrel.

I think it'll make a poor plinking round due to price and availability.
 
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Probably a little closer to the HK 4.6x30, either way, in a pistol length barrel 17hmr will have significantly less velocity than either 5.7x28 or 4.6x30 in the same length barrel. Probably much closer to .30 tokarev velocities (which, at the time, had decent armor penetration capabilities), with a smaller lighter bullet.
 
My oldest son's F-I-L won a .17HMR revolver at a D.U. banquet. Since my son already had a .17 rifle, his F-I-L gave it to him. It is a hoot to shoot, reasonably accurate and easy to shoot. As for hearing protection...I use it with any handgun, even the .22LR.

I'm going to tell him to sell it ASAP .
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Why? Because you don't like it? You don't have enough respect for your friend that you don't respect his wishes for his firearms? Are you that much more informed/knowledgeable than he is, that you know what's better for him? Is he that "challenged" you feel the need to be so judgmental of his choices in women and cars also? Maybe he needs some advice about the choice of his friends.
 
Heaven forbid! A rifle round in a pistol . . . . :eek:

I wonder what they were thinking when they started using the 32WCF (32-20) in pistols . . . . . that didn't work out too well for such manufacturers as Colt and Smith & Wesson . . . . or did it?

One man's "punch" is another man's "poison".

Personally, I think it would make a good "critter handgun" for woodchucks, possums, etc. . . . . even though it is a "rifle" cartridge". And I wouldn't be too worried about the noise it makes . . . . the critters would be dead by the time they heard it. :D:rolleyes:
 
Well, the big picture answer is "not much" since as mentioned, you sacrifice so much velocity, and you still get a lot of cylinder gap blast with nothing really to show for it. But whatever butters your bread - why not if it's what you want? I'd want a 6" bbl minimum on a .17 hummer revolver personally.

And it likely IS "worth it" or almost, on the open market, even if not worth it to you or me. Along those lines, I just ended up with in trade, then sold, a gun which has got to be the most useless piece of junk on the face of the planet - a GSG MP5 clone in .22lr - the pistol version - pot metal junk, yet huge and heavy, unreliable & inaccurate (by most accounts), un-concealable, un-shoulder-able, un-scope-able (as is from the factory) -- worthless - and yet amazingly, I found a 20-something dude who collects them and wanted it. These are pure, unmitigated Umarex dungheaps, yet have a following, just because they look like an MP5 and are made in Deutchland, I suppose. I wouldn't give a squirt of fluid for one, but to each his own. I could get two Phoenix HP-22 pistols and have almost $100 left over, for what this guy paid for that steaming heap, and have two small concealable .22 pistols which are just as accurate and more reliable than that GSG - sorry, just venting. At least I didn't get stuck with it - gotta be more careful on my trade deals.
 
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A buddy of mine just bought a 6" revolver in the 17 HMR, he got a "good" deal on it, $200 for a Taurus.

He told me it was worth $400. I never seen the gun yet, but no way.

I'm going to tell him to sell it ASAP .
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Good for him, and I hope he has enough smarts to not listen to you.
I take it you are a member of the "guns are nothing but tools" crowd.
Too bad, you're missing out on a lot of fun shooting.
Bet you really have some negative comments on the NAA 22 short Mini Revolver I just picked up this morning.:D
While the Taurus Tracker 17HMR or the Raging Hornet aren't on my short list I would jump at one at a really good price like your friend found.

Oh, and a few "rifle rounds" I have in a handgun (T/C Contender), 223 Remington, 35 Remington, 45-70 Govt.
 
A keltec PMR 30 chambered for the 17hmr would be pretty sweet, but would probably get labeled a cop killer. Even at reduced velocity the tiny 17 caliber bullets will most likely zip right through bp vests without trauma packs.
 
I really like the .17 HMR, and is my go-to rifle here on the farm.

One of the things , out of many, that sold me on .17 HMR, thanks to numerous gun buddies "hard sell" that I needed one, included the bullet is "less likely" to ricochet, such as a .22 RF, can and will do. I have neighbors with horses, cattle, chickens and whatever else "over that-a-way".

While I have not shot a handgun in .17 HMR, I want to play with one. For my needs, and I have not checked on this, a Ruger Single action, with 6" bbl "might" be a useful farm/property duty gun.

I like to handgun hunt, and could rationalize this round in a handgun might prove useful.

Then again I am the one that used to have fun with the .30 cal carbine round out of a Ruger as well. Oh fun to shoot, even more fun with the reactions from others when I tripped trigger. :D
 
Even at reduced velocity the tiny 17 caliber bullets will most likely zip right through bp vests without trauma packs
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I'd want to see tests before I believed that. Type II armor can hold up to .357 mag loads. Some of which are likely to match the velocity of .17hmr from a pistol. Even the venerable penetrator the 7.62x25 tokarev can't get through most modern bullet resistant vests, and without any actual chronos of a .17HMR from a pistol barrel, I'd assume that they'd develop similar muzzle velocities in pistol length barrels.

I've been told that even 5.7x28 wont penetrate vests without actual AP ammo designed for that task. 5.7 having a velocity significantly higher than that of .17HMR from a pistol barrel.
 
http://www.handgunsmag.com/2010/09/24/featured_handguns_tracker_11204/
This a a pretty good review of the Taurus Tracker 17hmr revolver with a 6.5" barrel. Velocity from the 6 1/2" barrel is still over 2000 fps. Pretty impressive IMHO, but we still can't say it can penetrate a level II bpv until someone actually tries it. I'm guessing it can though.

Edit- after reading this article I think I want one now. Not for vest penetration but for small game.
 
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