Both ends of the spectrum for me. Id really like a 50cal but would settle for a 17WSM
I don't know. If picking up brass is a consideration, then yes. But if you want a performer then the CZ 527 in 17 Hornet wins out over the 17 WSM... going away.
We shot with a doctor last year who had a WSM and it was everything my Anshutz 64 Sporter in 22 mag has going on, and maybe
a little more. BUT, it was not even in the same league with our 17 Hornets.
I suffered the 22 Hornet dilemma all the while that Bruno's had to come in through Canada and I didn't bite. Nothing else was "guaranteed" to be accurate w/o a lot of tinkering.
I am not a tinkerer, I am a varmint shooter, and I begged off, but once the restrictions were lifted I bought a CZ 22 Hornet and, and, and we were coming back from a Montana PD shoot and my partner asked: So what about this trip really impressed you? The CZ Hornet was my answer and he was in total agreement.
So since then, since my six-year old daughter wanted a rock chuck gun I tore down my contender and put her child's carbine stock on it as soon as the MGM 17 Hornet barrel arrived from EBCO.
Holy mashugana this thing is pretty extra special and an order was put in to Boyds for a man size butt stock so that I could really wring it out and also because without a hunting license Bridget could not use it last year anyway. She was then seven, but needed Hunter Ed.
Let's cut the crap. I am a bolt gun shooter who has a love for lever actions and a single shot break action rifle would never come in view on my radar screen. But with Bridget as right handed but with left master eye... I own a Contender and all is good, so that is the direction I went instead of buying a CZ for her and cutting the stock down.
But that 17 Hornet is so much of what I have lusted after that I ordered a Boyds man size stock and I left the man size stock on and shot it all last season.
As I said we shot next to a guy with a 17 WSM and he takes it to Montana, because he doesn't have to pick up brass. That doesn't factor in for me because when I wander around a PD town with my CZ in 22 Hornet I never have the magazine in it anyway. I have a Calhoon single shot adapter in it and put the empties into my left BDU jacket pocket. I have 200 loaded rounds in my right pocket and I just put the empty in my left before reloading.
The BIG consideration for me in loking at 22 Hornet was: Can I carry 200 loaded rounds around a PD town in my pocket. With 204 0r 223 that is a definite no. With 22 Hornet the answer was yes.
With the 17 Hornet the answer is also yes and I really never shoot more than a few big game cartridges per year so my 300 Wby is all I have ever wanted for that, but I loves me some varmint shooting and I always have always wanted another "something different." Now that I have a CZ 527 in 17 Hornet, and have seen that it has filled in everything from 22 LR range to 204, 22-250 or 243 range.
I am saying: If you don't have one.... You do the math. 17 WSM is going to get you half way there even if you have a 22 mag, but a 17 Hornet is going to make it so that if you are into shooting varmints with a long range center fire rifle and a 22 LR or even a 22 mag or 17 HMR one rifle in 17 Hornet is going to take you all the way out there.
I am sorry, but the 17 WSM just doesn't get you "there." The 17 Hornet is an honest 100 to 300 yard cartridge and the 17 WSM just is not. It still leaves you with a gap between the varmints you shoot at with your walking varmint rifle and what you set up benches to shoot.
In the past a 275 yard shot with my walking varmint rifle was a "hail Mary" shot. Today it is a sporting shot with a 95% chance I am GTG. A 275 yard shot when set up on benches with the big guns was "just a chip shot."
